The Islamic Invasions and the Birth of Alchemy

When Muslims began to expand from the Arabian Peninsula in the early seventh century, they destroyed many works of what they considered to be idolatrous or pagan knowledge, including most of the contents of the Library of Alexandria. Copies of the Egyptian Magical Papyri survived the onslaught, however, and made their way into the personal collections of the Almoravid Caliphate. For the next several centuries, Islamic and Jewish scholars debated freely about the merits and meaning of the scrolls, some of whom may have been familiar with the Voces Magica. Abu Musa As-Saqr Jābir ibn Hayyān, a scholar in the court of the Abbasid Caliph of Persia during the eighth century, was instrumental in reinterpreting part of the collection, finding within it a treatise on advanced alchemical formulae. Naming his work the Wisdom of Egypt, or, roughly translated, Sophia Alchymia in Greek, Assager (as he was known among western scholars) rediscovered the methods for practical alchemy. Alchemists have been able to create potions and magical spell components largely through careful study of the Sophia Alchymia ever since. Although Assager's works advanced the science of poisons as well as potions, his name bears no etymological link to the word “assassin,” as some scholars assert.
Islam, for the most part, tolerates magic, with the exception of that which creates illusions, which serves only to glorify the spellcaster, or which invokes powers other than Allah. Depending upon the whim of the local authorities, however, these restrictions may be interpreted narrowly, and violations penalized severely.
The science of thaumaturgy, or non-religious magic, relies heavily upon the combined use of alchemical theory derived from the Sophia Alchymia and the incantations of the Voces Magica.