Kimya | Kitab Al

| Metal | Planet | Symbolic Meaning | |-------|--------|------------------| | Lead | Saturn | Melancholy, time | | Tin | Jupiter | Expansion, mercy | | Iron | Mars | War, strife | | Gold | Sun | Perfection, divine light | | Copper | Venus | Beauty, desire | | Mercury | Mercury | Intellect, messenger | | Silver | Moon | Reflection, change |

This tripartite structure reveals Jābir’s Neoplatonic chain of correspondences: the same elixir works on matter, body, and soul because the cosmos is a hierarchical emanation of the One. Unlike later alchemy’s seven metals, Jābir’s list is explicitly astrological: Kitab Al Kimya

The Kitāb al-Kīmiyā explicitly cites pseudo-Democritus (the Physica et Mystica ), Zosimos of Panopolis, and Hermes Trismegistus, showing deep engagement with Hellenistic alchemy. Yet it systematically reorganizes Greek materia medica through an Islamic lens: the mīzān (balance) theory replaces chance operations with a metaphysical law of proportionality derived from the Qur’anic concept of mīzān (Q. 55:7-9). 3.1 The Theory of the Mīzān (Universal Balance) Jābir rejects the Empedoclean four-element model (earth, water, air, fire) in favor of a sulfur-mercury theory of metal composition. All metals are composed of sulfur (hot and dry) and mercury (cold and wet) in specific proportions. The mīzān provides a quantitative, numerological measure of these proportions, often linked to the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet and the 17 basic natures ( ṭabā’i‘ ). For example, gold’s perfect balance (1:1 sulfur to mercury) represents not just material purity but cosmic equilibrium. “Know that the elixir is nothing but the restoration of balance… As the mīzān in the heavens, so the mīzān in the athanor.” — Kitāb al-Kīmiyā , Bk. 3, ch. 7 (paraphrased) 3.2 The Elixir ( al-Iksīr ) as Polysemic Catalyst The al-iksīr (from Greek xerion ) is the agent that perfects base metals into gold. However, in Kitāb al-Kīmiyā , the elixir functions on three levels: | Metal | Planet | Symbolic Meaning |