Editing Abu Bakr al-Razi (section)

==Alchemy<!-- [[Sirr al-asrar (al-Razi)]] redirects here; please edit the redirect (via 'what links here') when changing the name of the section heading or the place where Sirr al-asrar is discussed -->==
[[File:Rhazes, Arab physician and alchemist, in hi Wellcome V0018133.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|al-Razi in his laboratory ([[Orientalism|orientalist]] painting by Ernest Board, {{Circa|1912}})]]
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{{See also|Sulfuric acid#History}}

===The transmutation of metals===
Al-Razi's interest in alchemy and his strong belief in the possibility of [[Alchemy|transmutation]] of lesser metals to silver and gold was attested half a century after his death by [[Ibn an-Nadim]]'s book, ''The Philosopher's Stone'' (''Lapis Philosophorum'' in Latin). Nadim attributed a series of twelve books to al-Razi, plus an additional seven, including his refutation to [[al-Kindi]]'s denial of the validity of alchemy. Al-Kindi (801–873 CE) had been appointed by the Abbasid Caliph Ma'mun founder of Baghdad, to 'the [[House of Wisdom]]' in that city, he was a philosopher and an opponent of alchemy. Al-Razi's two best-known alchemical texts, which largely superseded his earlier ones: ''al-Asrar'' (الاسرار "The Secrets"), and ''Sirr al-Asrar'' (سر الاسرار "The Secret of Secrets"), which incorporates much of the previous work.

Apparently al-Razi's contemporaries believed that he had obtained the secret of turning iron and copper into gold. Biographer Khosro Moetazed reports in ''Mohammad Zakaria Razi'' that a certain General Simjur confronted al-Razi in public, and asked whether that was the underlying reason for his willingness to treat patients without a fee. "It appeared to those present that al-Razi was reluctant to answer; he looked sideways at the general and replied":<blockquote>I understand alchemy and I have been working on the characteristic properties of metals for an extended time. However, it still has not turned out to be evident to me, how one can transmute gold from copper. Despite the research from the ancient scientists done over the past centuries, there has been no answer. I very much doubt if it is possible...</blockquote>

===Major works on alchemy===
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Al-Razi's works present the first systematic classification of carefully observed and verified facts regarding chemical substances, reactions and apparatus, described in a language almost entirely free from mysticism and ambiguity.

==== ''The Secrets'' ({{transliteration|ar|Al-Asrar}}) ====

''<nowiki/>'The Secrets'<nowiki/>'' (''al-Asrar'', ''Kitāb al-Asrār'', ''<nowiki/>'Book of Secrets''') was written in response to a request from al-Razi's close friend, colleague, and former student, Abu Muhammad ibn Yunis [[Bukhara|al-Bukhari]], a Muslim mathematician, philosopher, and [[natural science|natural scientist]].

==== ''Secret of Secrets'' ({{transliteration|ar|Sirr al-Asrar}}) ====
{{Distinguish|text=[[Secretum Secretorum]] (also known as Sirr al-Asrar, 'The Secret Book of Secrets')}}This is al-Razi's most famous book. Here he gives systematic attention to basic chemical operations important to the history of pharmacy. In this book al-Razi divides the subject of "[[matter]]' into three categories, as in his previous book {{transliteration|ar|Al-Asrar}}.
# Knowledge and identification of the medical components within substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals, and descriptions of the best types for medical treatments.
# Knowledge of equipment and tools of interest to and used by either alchemists or [[apothecaries]].
# Knowledge of seven [[alchemy|alchemical]] procedures and techniques: sublimation and condensation of [[mercury (element)|mercury]], precipitation of sulfur, and arsenic calcination of [[minerals]] (gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron), salts, glass, [[talc]], [[Exoskeleton|shells]], and [[wax]]ing.

: This last category contains additional descriptions of other methods and applications used in [[Chemical synthesis|transmutation]]:
:* The added mixture and use of solvent vehicles.
:* The amount of heat (fire) used, 'bodies and stones', ({{transliteration|ar|al-ajsad}} and {{transliteration|ar|al-ahjar}}) that can or cannot be transmuted into corporal substances such of metals and salts ({{transliteration|ar|al-amlah}}).
:* The use of a liquid [[mordant]] which quickly and permanently colors lesser metals for more lucrative sale and profit.

Similar to the commentary on the 8th century text on [[Amalgam (chemistry)|amalgam]]s ascribed to [[Jabir ibn Hayyan]], al-Razi gives methods and procedures of coloring a silver object to imitate gold ([[gold leafing]]) and the reverse technique of removing its color back to silver. [[Gilding]] and [[silvering]] of other metals ([[alum]], calcium salts, iron, copper, and [[tutty]]) are also described, as well as how colors will last for years without tarnishing or changing.

Al-Razi classified minerals into six divisions:
# Four spirits ({{transliteration|ar|al-arwah}}): [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], [[sal ammoniac]], [[sulfur|sulphur]], and arsenic sulphide ([[orpiment]] and [[realgar]]).
# [[Metals of antiquity|Seven bodies]] ({{transliteration|ar|al-ajsad}}): silver, gold, copper, iron, black lead ({{transliteration|ar|plumbago}}), [[zinc]] ({{transliteration|ar|kharsind}}), and [[tin]].
# Thirteen [[Gemstone|stones]] ({{transliteration|ar|al-ahjar}}): [[Marcasite]] ({{transliteration|ar|marqashita}}), [[Periclase|magnesia]], [[malachite]], [[tutty]] ({{transliteration|ar|tutiya}}, zinc oxide), [[talcum]], [[lapis lazuli]], [[gypsum]], [[azurite]], [[haematite]] (iron oxide), arsenic oxide{{which|date=November 2021}}, [[mica]], [[asbestos]], and glass (then identified as made of sand and alkali of which the transparent crystal damascene is considered the best).
# Seven [[vitriol]]s ({{transliteration|ar|al-zajat}}): [[alum]] ({{transliteration|ar|al-shabb}} {{lang|ar|الشب}}), and white ({{transliteration|ar|qalqadis}} {{lang|ar|القلقديس}}), black, red ({{transliteration|ar|suri}} {{lang|ar|السوري}}), and yellow ({{transliteration|ar|qulqutar}} {{lang|ar|القلقطار}}) vitriols (the impure sulfates of iron, copper, etc.), green ({{transliteration|ar|qalqand}} {{lang|ar|القلقند}}).
# Seven [[borate]]s: [[natron]], and impure sodium borate.
# Eleven salts ({{transliteration|ar|al-amlah}}): including brine, [[Sodium chloride|common salt]], [[ash]]es, [[naphtha]], live [[calcium oxide|lime]], and [[urine]], [[Sodium chloride|rock]], and [[sea salt]]s. Then he separately defines and describes each of these substances, the best forms and colours of each, and the qualities of various adulterations.

Al-Razi gives also a list of apparatus used in alchemy. This consists of 2 classes:
# Instruments used for the dissolving and melting of metals such as the blacksmith's hearth, bellows, crucible, thongs (tongue or ladle), {{linktext|macerator}}, stirring rod, cutter, grinder (pestle), file, shears, {{linktext|descensory}}, and semi-cylindrical iron mould.
# Utensils used to carry out the process of transmutation and various parts of the distilling apparatus: the retort, [[alembic]], shallow iron pan, potters kiln and blowers, large oven, cylindrical stove, glass cups, flasks, [[phial]]s, beakers, glass funnel, crucible, [[aludel]], heating lamps, mortar, cauldron, hair-cloth, sand- and water-bath, sieve, flat stone mortar and chafing-dish.