Who was Jabir Ibn Hayyan?

Jabir Ibn Hayyan
Full Name- Jabir Ibn Hayyan Al-Ajdi As Sufi Al-Omabi. His father was a Haiyan of the Azdi tribe, a resident of the southern part of Arabia. He was a pharmacist from the Arab Azad tribe who migrated to Kufa from Yemen during the Umayyad Caliphate. Although he was the son of a doctor father, due to the contemporary political situation, Umayyad Caliph executed his father, but he faced extreme suffering during his childhood. Although he lived in Kufa as a child, after the death of his father, he returned to his homeland in South Arabia. There is doubt among many about the true nationality of Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Some consider him an Arab and some consider him a Persian citizen.
During his stay in Kufa, he became particularly interested in the study of alchemy. In that perspective, he also established a chemistry laboratory in Kufa. Muslim historians have called the laboratory as the first laboratory in the world. He was the first in the history of the world to invent the method of practicing the elementary processes of chemistry in a scientific manner. So he is called as ‘Father of Chemistry’. Apart from physics and chemistry, he contributed to medicine, mineralogy, philosophy, warfare, geometry, astronomy, engineering etc. He wrote about 3 thousand books. Among them, the number of medical books is about 500. His famous ‘Theory of Balance in Nature’ is mentioned in The Book on Balance.
Many important processes of modern chemistry were discovered by Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Notable among which are distillation, chelation, refining of metals, liquefaction, vaporization, hydrochloric and nitric acid synthesis. Besides, he was the first to discover the method of making steel, the method of dyeing leather and cloth. Iron rust prevention varnish is his invention. It has even contributed to hair curlers, glass, writing ink.
Jabir Ibn Hayyan divided the material world into three main parts. Spirits in the first part, metals in the second and composite substances in the third. Based on his discovery, later scientists divided the material world into different parts. He presented to the world civilization some substances which, when heated from a solid state, turn directly into vapor instead of liquid. Among them camphor, arsenic and ammonium chloride are notable. Apart from this, among pure objects, gold, silver, copper, iron, zinc etc. are notable.
Jabir Ibn Hayyan was the first to produce nitric acid. Even sulfuric acid is his discovery. He described the formula for making nitric acid in Kitabul Istitmas. He gave the name “aqua regia” to the mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid to melt gold. Jabir Ibn Hayyan could make gold and precious stones. But he was not greedy for gold or precious stones. Greed and lust for wealth could not cause him to deviate from the ideals of civilization development and research.
Most of Jabir Ibn Hayyan’s writings are illegible and cryptic. It is not possible for everyone to understand what he wrote. Experts are able to understand something. He used an elaborate chemical numbering system through Takkin’s concept and the names of various substances used in Arabia at the time.