Editing Jabir ibn Hayyan (section)

=== Biographical clues and legend ===
Jabir was generally known by the [[Kunya (Arabic)|''kunya'']] Abū Mūsā ("Father of Mūsā"), or sometimes Abū ʿAbd Allāh ("Father of ʿAbd Allāh"), and by the [[Nisba (onomastics)|''nisba''s]] (attributive names) al-[[Sufism|Ṣūfī]], al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, or al-Ṭūsī.<ref>{{harvnb|Nomanul Haq|1994|loc=p. 33, note 1}}. The ''kunya'' Abū ʿAbd Allāh only occurs in Ibn al-Nadīm (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xliii, note 5}}). [[Ibn Khallikan|Ibn Khallikān]] (1211–1282) gives Jabir's ''nisba'' as al-[[Tarsus, Mersin|Ṭarsūsī]], or in some manuscripts as al-[[Tartus|Tarṭūsī]], but these are most likely scribal errors for al-Ṭūsī (see Kraus 1942–1943, vol. I, p. xli, note 3).</ref> His grandfather's name is mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim as ʿAbd Allāh.<ref>{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xli, note 9}}. Kraus adds that ʿAbd Allāh as the name of Jabir's grandfather is also mentioned in Jabir's ''Kitāb al-Najīb'' (Kr. no. 977).</ref> If the attribution of the name al-Azdī to Jabir is authentic,<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1923b|p=57}} still thought the attribution to Jabir of the name al-Azdī to be false. Later sources assume its authenticity.</ref> this would point to his affiliation with the [[South Arabia|Southern-Arabian]] (Yemenite) tribe of the [[Azd]]. However, it is not clear whether Jabir was an [[Arab]] belonging to the Azd tribe, or a non-Arab Muslim client (''[[mawla|mawlā]]'') of the Azd.<ref>{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xli, note 1}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=36}}. In the 8th century, it was still necessary for non-Arabs to secure an affiliation with an Arab tribe in order to be allowed to convert to Islam.</ref> If he was a non-Arab Muslim client of the Azd, he is most likely to have been [[Persians|Persian]], given his ties with eastern Iran (his ''nisba'' al-Ṭūsī also points to [[Tus, Iran|Tus]], a city in Khurasan).<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=36}}. According to a copyist of one of the manuscripts containing Jabir's works, he also died in Tus (see Delva 2017, p. 36, note 6). Jabir was held to be an Arab by {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=29–32}}, a view still taken by {{harvnb|Forster|2018}}. He was regarded as Persian by {{harvnb|Ruska|1923b|p=57}} (cf. {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=29}}), who was echoed by such scholars as {{harvnb|Sarton|1927–1948|loc=vol. II.2, p. 1044}} and {{harvnb|Newman|1996|p=178}}.</ref> According to [[Ibn al-Nadim|Ibn al-Nadīm]], Jabir hailed from [[Khurasan]] (eastern [[Iran]]), but spent most of his life in [[Kufa]] (Iraq),<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=36–37}}.</ref> both regions where the Azd tribe was well-settled.<ref>{{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=29}}; {{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=49}}.</ref> Various late reports put his date of death between 806 (190 [[Islamic calendar|AH]]) and 816 (200 AH).<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=pp. 36−37, note 6}}.</ref>

Given the lack of independent biographical sources, most of the biographical information about Jabir can be traced back to the Jabirian writings themselves.<ref>This even holds for most of what was written by Ibn al-Nadīm; see {{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=38–39}}.</ref> There are references throughout the Jabirian corpus to the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (died 765), whom Jabir generally calls "my master" (Arabic: ''sayyidī''), and whom he represents as the original source of all his knowledge.<ref>{{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii}}. That the references are indeed to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq is made clear by the Shi'ite context in which they occur, and by the fact that Jaʿfar's [[patronymic]] "ibn Muḥammad" is sometimes included (see {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=34–35}}; {{harvnb|Ruska|1927|p=42}}). Ibn al-Nadīm's isolated statement that some claimed "my master" to refer to Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā al-Barmakī was called "arbitrary" by Kraus 1942–1943, vol. I, p. xliv, note 2.</ref> In one work, Jabir is also represented as an associate of the [[Bactria]]n vizier family of the [[Barmakids]], whereas Ibn al-Nadīm reports that some claimed Jabir to have been especially devoted to [[Ja'far ibn Yahya|Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā al-Barmakī]] (767–803), the [[Abbasid]] vizier of ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' fame.<ref>{{harvnb|Kraus|1931|pp=28–29}}; cf. {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 36, note 3}}. Kraus expressly compared the seemingly legendary tales about Jabir and the Barmakids with those of the ''One Thousand and One Nights''.</ref> Jabir's links with the Abbasids were stressed even more by later tradition, which turned him into a favorite of the Abbasid caliph [[Harun al-Rashid|Hārūn al-Rashīd]] (c. 763–809, also appearing in ''One Thousand and One Nights''), for whom Jabir would have composed a treatise on alchemy, and who is supposed to have commanded the translation of Greek works into Arabic on Jabir's instigation.<ref>This is first related by the 14th century alchemist [[Al-Jaldaki|al-Jildakī]] (see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, pp. xli–xliii}}; cf. {{harvnb|Delva|2017|loc=p. 36, note 4}}).</ref>

Given Jabir's purported ties with both the Shi'ite Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and the Barmakid family (who served the Abbasids as [[vizier]]s), or with the Abbasid caliphs themselves, it has sometimes been thought plausible that Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār ("Hayyan the Druggist"), a proto-Shi'ite activist who was fighting for the [[Abbasid Revolution|Abbasid cause]] in the early 8th century, may have been Jabir's father (Jabir's name "Ibn Hayyan" literally means "The Son of Hayyan").<ref>{{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|pp=29–32, 35}}.</ref> Although there is no direct evidence supporting this hypothesis, it fits very well in the historical context, and it allows one to think of Jabir, however obscure, as a historical figure.<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=41–42, 52}}.</ref> Because Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār was supposedly executed not long after 721, the hypothesis even made it possible to estimate Jabir's date of birth at {{circa|721}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=42}}; cf. {{harvnb|Holmyard|1927|p=32}}.</ref> However, it has recently been argued that Ḥayyān al-ʿAṭṭār probably lived at least until {{circa|744}},<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|pp=46–47}}.</ref> and that as a client (''mawlā'') of the [[Nukha (tribe)|Nakhaʿ]] tribe he is highly unlikely to have been the father of Jabir (who is supposed to have been a client/member of the Azd).<ref>{{harvnb|Delva|2017|p=49, 52}}.</ref>