in righteousness. The earliest person to whom we have found anything concerning alchemy attributed is Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya. He is not someone whom Muslims follow in their religion or whose judgment they consult. If the reports about him are authentic, then he was deceived, just as others were.

As for Jābir ibn Hayyān, the author of the works renowned among alchemists, he is an unknown figure, with no recognized standing among scholars or people of religion. Such men can only be in one of two positions: either they believe, out of ignorance and error, that manufactured gold is like naturally occurring gold, as others have supposed; or they know that it is not the same, but concealment and deception are involved. How many lay claim to mastery of alchemy because of people’s love of gold and silver! One of them even says:

“If a singer were to sing of it, the whole universe would dance.”

Most of them consume people’s wealth unjustly and turn others away from Allah’s path. They give the covetous the impression that they practise alchemy, only to consume their wealth and ruin their circumstances. Their stories in this regard are too well known among people to require a firmly established report. They show that practitioners of alchemy are punished with the opposite of what they intended: their wealth disappears. Having sought to increase their wealth through what Allah has forbidden, they suffer its diminution. As Allah Most High says:

“Allah destroys usury and causes charity to grow.”

Alchemy is even more strictly forbidden than usury. Judge Abū Yūsuf said: “Whoever seeks wealth through alchemy becomes bankrupt; whoever seeks religion through speculative theology becomes a heretic; and whoever pursues rare hadith reports ends up lying.” These words are also reported from Mālik and al-Shāfi‘ī