gold in mineral deposits through heat and moisture, bringing it into being there just as He creates embryos in wombs, and trees and crops in cultivated land, through heat that He creates. The heat He has placed within those bodies, through which He creates, cannot be replaced by the heat of the fires we make.
In short, these two principles—that what is naturally created cannot be manufactured, and what is manufactured cannot be naturally created, and that kinds distinguished by their particular properties cannot be transformed from one kind into another—are borne out by systematic observation, reason, and religious evidence derived from the Quran, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. Moreover, Allah has instilled rejection of this in His servants, making it common throughout His lands. The punishment of its practitioners is generally evident, even though some practise it secretly.
Furthermore, those who practise alchemy and claim that it is genuine and lawful would not buy gold offered to them as they would mined gold if they were told, “It was produced by alchemy,” even if it underwent the same tests they apply to gold they know to be genuine. Rather, people are naturally disposed to accuse anyone who does this of fraud, deceit, and deceptive imitation. People are Allah’s witnesses on earth.
Moreover, the leading practitioners of “alchemy” combine it with what they call sīmiyā (a form of magic), as was practised by Ibn Sabʿīn, al-Suhrawardī, who was put to death, and al-Hallāj