The pearl stone in the Arab Scientific heritage from the Umayyad Era to the end of the Mamluk Era (41- 923 AH/ 662-1517AD): A cultural historical study

Abstract

The study begins by documenting the remarkable Arabic lexical and taxonomic richness. It then proceeds to the core thesis: an analysis of the theory that pearls form from raindrops. The study meticulously uncovers a pattern of "false attribution"; it demonstrates that what influential Arabic sources such as al-Tīfāshī and al-Qabjāqī transmitted as Aristotle's teaching was, in truth, a hybrid Eastern myth falsely ascribed to him to confer legitimacy. This reveals a case of "circular reporting." While later exegetes like Sheikh al-Rabwa resorted to an "interpretive retreat," claiming the pseudo-Aristotelian text was merely "symbol and allegory," the research highlights the genius of a parallel, empirically grounded track embodied by al-Bīrūnī. It is worth mentioning that al-Birūni deliberately avoided explaining the pearl's origin, focusing instead on a precise physical analysis of its behavior. The study then lays facts outside the Aristotelian myth, particularly those of Yūḥannā Ibn Māsawayh. It shows how Ibn Māsawayh produced the earliest geopolitical atlas of pearl fisheries, pioneering principles of marine resource "sustainability management" by documenting the "fallowing" system (a 14-year diving moratorium). He also developed a morphological and economic classification of pearls that surpassed later works. In the medical domain, the analysis traces a shift from magical to laboratory-based application, documenting how al-Bīrūnī and al-Tīfāshī transformed the pearl into an "examined substance" through purification protocols, with al-Tīfāshī notably applying a comparative experimental method to its dissolution in acids.