Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
An examination of the issue of the authorship of the text yields additional clues as its
authenticity. The narrative frame at the beginning of the Risāla unequivocally establishes
another authorship besides that of Khālid. The narrative voice is that of an individual who
communicated with Ghālib, Khālid’s servant and confidante, subsequent to the time of the
dialog between Khālid and Morienus; it is likely that this unnamed individual is the actual
author of the text. Inasmuch as the narrative frame is reminiscent of such frames found in
Plato’s dialogs, and therefore modeled on them, the picture of the author that emerges is
that of a member of an urban literati, well-versed in Greek language and literature, who
would have flourished during the Golden Age of Arabic belles-lettres (ca. 700-1300 CE/80-700
AH), at a time when there was widespread translation of Greek texts into Arabic. It was no
doubt this author who was heavily involved in Alchemical pursuits and concerned with
recording oral traditions s/he believed to be on the verge of extinction. This author would
have found an avenue to Khālid’s patronage via his relationship with Ghālib. Moreover, since
the description of cultural milieu in the narrative frame implies low levels of Arabicization and
Islamicization (since Arabic-speaking Muslim intellectuals like Ibn Yazīd still relied on Greek
and Syriac speakers for their education), an early date of composition is indicated, perhaps as
early as the Umayyad period in which the text purports the events of the narrative to have
occurred.6 It is possible that the author was either elaborating upon a pre-existing and not
implausible tradition of the historical Khālid’s Alchemical mastery. It is also possible that the
author wrote under the historical Khālid’s patronage, and sought to honor his/her patron by
featuring him in a flattering but fictitious philosophical dialog (which would make the Risāla
the source of the tradition of Khālid’s Alchemical mastery). Pending further research into the