Alcohol in Ancient Islamic Chemical and Medical Texts

Nowadays, Alcohol is widely used in medicine and industry. On the other hand, it is well-known for its intoxicant and addictive effects and they were common in the past. Discovery of it was imputed to Mohamad ibn Zakaria Razi (Rhazes, ۹۲۵ AD) or Jaber ibn Hayan (Geber, ۸۱۵ AD). The Islamic researchers’ viewpoint about alcohol and their knowledge about this substance are aimed to be explored in this study.  Hence, medical texts until end of ۱۲ century were reviewed. Most of them were written in Arabic. In this way, Arabic terms like "alkohl", "alcohol" and "alqol" were used.  In this study, the books of Islamic scholars including Rhazes, Geber, Alkendi (۸۶۶ AD) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna, ۱۰۳۷ AD) were reviewed.

Keywords:

Alcohols , Ethanol , History , Islam