Alchemy in Medieval Islam and Abū Bakr Al-Rāzī

Abstract

This dissertation aims to establish a basis when studying the history of alchemy in medieval Islam, to make clear what is alchemists’ alchemical theory and what is not in spite of affirmative claims, to reassess understanding of alchemy among modern scholars, to explore experimentalism in alchemy and to examine al-Rāzī’s alchemy, use of experience, and the relationship between his alchemy and medicine. Through the study, the diversity in the views about alchemy throughout medieval Islam, the necessity to distinguish theories of alchemists from those of non-alchemists, and the risk of inclusion of alchemy in “occult” subjects without any condition are suggested. Regarding experimentalism, it was promising to use those existing frameworks to understand experience and experimentalism in medieval Islam. The investigation of al-Rāzī revealed his variation of the use of experiences and denial of the nature-art theory. An unstudied source attributed to al-Rāzī suggests the connection between his medicine and alchemy, which has never been found explicitly.