Abd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī Bakr Jamāl al-Dīn al-Dimashqī
Native name
الجوبري
BornSyria
SubjectScience

ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī Bakr Jamāl al-Dīn al-Dimashqī, commonly known as al-Jawbarī (Arabic: الجوبري; fl. 619/1222[1]), was a medieval Syrian Arab author and scholar known for his denunciation of alchemy.[2]

Life and work

Born in Jawbar, Syria, Al-Jawbari traveled extensively throughout the Islamic Empire, including visits as far as India. Among other locations, the scholar lived in Harrân and Kôniya.[3]

Al-Jawbari wrote his Kitāb al-mukhtār fī kashf al-asrār (Book of Selected Disclosure of Secrets), exposing the fraudulence he had seen practiced by alchemists and money changers.[4] Among others, he wrote of "the people of al-Kimya (alchemists) who know three hundred ways of making dupes". The book also describes the preparation of rose water.[5]

In November 2020, a bilingual Arabic-English edition was published as The Book of Charlatans by New York University Press This edition was edited by Manuela Dengler and translated by Humphrey Davis.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Al-Hassan, A. Y. (2001). Science and Technology in Islam. The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture. Vol. 2. UNESCO. p. 56. ISBN 92-3-103830-3.
  2. ↑ Sarton, George (1975). Introduction to the History of Science. R.E. Krieger Pub. Co. p. 635. ISBN 0882751727.
  3. ↑ Lynx Qualey, Marcia (2021-12-24). ""The Book of Charlatans": Mediaeval Syria's answer to Mark Twain". qantara.de. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  4. ↑ Abrahams, Harold J. (1 July 1984). "Al-Jawbari on False Alchemists". Ambix. 31 (2): 84–88. doi:10.1179/000269884790224874.
  5. ↑ Forbes, R. J. (1970). A Short History of the Art of Distillation: From the Beginnings Up to the Death of Cellier Blumenthal. BRILL. p. 45. ISBN 9789004006171.
  6. ↑ Ǧawbarī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmân ibn ʿUmar al-Dimašqī al- (2020). Dengler, Manuela (ed.). The Book of Charlatans. Library of Arabic Literature. Translated by Davies, Humphrey. New York: New York University press. ISBN 978-1-4798-9763-6.
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