The Alchemist’s work: Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs and the reception of his collection of alchemical poems Shudhūr al-dhahab

In recent years, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to the social contexts of Islamic manuscripts related to the occult sciences. With regard to manuscripts dealing with Arabic alchemy, however, in-depth studies are still lacking. This article aims at shedding some light on the readers and owners of Arabic alchemical literature, focusing on Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs, a Moroccan alchemist of the twelfth century, and his collection of poems entitled (“The Splinters of Gold”). In the centuries following Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs’s death, his became a “bestseller” and was copied numerous times in many parts of the Islamicate world. The 94 extant manuscripts bear witness to this incredible success and allow us to take a closer look at the milieus in which this text circulated.