This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (July 2009)

This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. WikiProject History or the History Portal may be able to help recruit one. (January 2009)

Harbi al-Himyari (Arabic: حربي الحميري‎ Ḥarbī al-Ḥimyārī), was an Arab scholar from Yemen, who lived between the 7th and 8th century CE^{[citation needed]}. He is famous as the teacher of the Islamic alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan^{[citation needed]}, who is considered the Father of Chemistry. He was the author of the book Kitāb ar-Rawḍ al-mi‘tār.

[edit] Life

Biographical information about Al Himyari is extremely limited. The Encyclopaedia of Islam refers to Himyari as a faqīh born in the Maghreb. It is not known for certain the exact period in which Al Himyari lived: for instance T. Lewicki, states that he died in 1494 while others claim he died in 1326^{[citation needed]}. He was practically unheard of in the West until 1975.

[edit] Historical account

Al Himyari says in his account that the Arabs who invaded Malta in 870 – 1090 wiped out the "entire" Maltese population, thereby annihilating any traces of a Punic inheritance in Malta. Al Himyari also claims that Malta was repopulated around the year 1050 by "Arabic-speaking" people. That is around 40 years before the Arabs themselves were defeated by Count Roger I of Sicily, who reconquered Malta from the Arabs in 1091.

This conflicts with the work of modern historians. Al Himyari was writing some four centuries after the events had occurred so must have relied on various sources that may have been biased. Accounts written by many Middle East historians often do not record negative events, not even major defeats in battle, and neither the Phoenicians (Carthaginians) nor the Maltese were known for their history writing. Scientific evidence collected in 2004 shows that nearly 60% of the Maltese population carries the Y gene from the Phoenicians.^[1] During the period 870-1090 many inhabitants of the Maltese islands lived in caves so it would have been virtually impossible to chase and eradicate the whole population. There is evidence that the Arabs permitted the Maltese to remain Christian. If as Himyari contended the Maltese were eradicated and Malta was repopulated by Muslims, the population would have remained Muslim, but this was not the case.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Eric John Holmyard, Makers of Chemistry. London: Oxford University Press, 1931

This Yemeni biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This biographical article about a chemist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e