EARLY POTENTIAL TRACES OF ALGEBRA IN JĀBIR IBN ḤAYYĀN’S WRITINGS

Year 2025, Volume: 39 Issue: 2, 452 - 467, 30.06.2025

Ebrahim Al-khaffaf

https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.1573483

Abstract

“Do not be angry, O my brother, if you find a discourse concerning religion in the middle of a discourse on alchemy without the latter having been completed; or if you find a discourse on alchemy after a discourse on religion before the principles of the latter have been fully established!” (Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān, qtd. in Haq, 1994, p. xxii).

This paper sheds light on the possibility that Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān (721-813), the famous alchemist, might have been the first intellectual in the Islamic world to practice algebra, long time before the foundations of this discipline were officially founded by al-Khwārizmī (780-850). It is reasonable to think that the early development of algebra might have sprung while early Muslims were studying the Arabic letters, the way Jābir did. Jābir believed in the perfection of the Arabic language, as a vehicle that would lead its practitioner to truth, after all, it is the unique language of the Qur’ān. And language, in the full sense of the word, was given by Allāh to Adam while he was in Paradise, as we are told in the Qur’ān. Consequently, the development of this field simultaneously with the flourish of religion is not a coincidence, for instance, Boyer and Merkelbach (2011) stated that both religion and mathematics developed at the same time, Pythagoras lived at the time of Buddha and Lao Tzu.

Keywords

Jabir Ibn Hayyan , Algebra , Alchemy , Al-Khwarizmi , Islamic Golden Age

CÂBİR B. HAYYÂN’IN YAZILARINDA CEBİRİN ERKEN DÖNEM POTANSİYEL İZLERİ

Abstract

"Ey kardeşim, eğer simya üzerine bir konuşmanın ortasında din hakkında bir söylem bulursan ve simya konusu tamamlanmadan geçiş yapılmışsa, ya da din hakkında bir söylem tam anlamıyla açıklanmadan simya üzerine bir söylem bulursan, sakın öfkelenme!" (Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān, aktaran Haq, 1994, syf. xxii).

Bu makale, ünlü simyacı Câbir bin Hayyân'ın (721-813), İslam dünyasında, resmi olarak el-Hârizmî (780-850) tarafından temellendirilmeden çok önce cebirle uğraşan ilk entelektüel olabileceği olasılığı hususuna değinmektedir. Cebirin ilk gelişiminin, erken dönem Müslümanların Arap harflerini incelemeleri sırasında ortaya çıkmış olabileceğini düşünmek pek de mantık dışı olarak değerlendirilemez, tıpkı Câbir’in yaptığı gibi. Câbir, Arap dilinin mükemmelliğine inanıyordu; sonuçta bu dil, Kur’ân’ın eşsiz diliydi ve kullanıcılarını gerçeğe ulaştıracak bir araç olarak görülüyordu. Ve bu dil, kelimenin tam anlamıyla, Allah tarafından Âdem'e cennette iken verilmiştir, Kur’ân’da bize bildirildiği gibi. Dolayısıyla, bu alanın gelişiminin dinin yükselişiyle eş zamanlı olması tesadüf değildir; örneğin, Boyer and Merkelbach (2011), hem dinin hem de matematiğin aynı zamanda geliştiğini, Pisagor'un Buda ve Lao Tzu zamanında yaşadığını belirtmiştir.

Keywords

Câbir bin Hayyân , Cebir , Simya , El-Hârizmî , İslam’ın Altın Çağı

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