into pieces. Sulphur cannot make it part from gold, since they both
undergo combustion with it when together. It remains attached to gold
as an evil slave remains attached to his master. It cannot be separated
also without melting polypody. Just as they both part silver from copper, they make lead saturate them. Sulphur cannot part both of them,
although it burns both of them. With the axis of gold as the standard,
the weight of shibh is 44-7/8.
It is God Who prospers and assists.
ISFlDRU
The word, isfidru', is a Persian word, meaning white copper. It is
called sujr too, but it is more appropriate to call it shibh on account of
its pallor. Abu Tammam thus says:
The excess of yellowness right and left has glorified the splendour of
gold.
Abu Sa'id bin Dust says:
When I contented myself with a pittance, people admonished me not
to extend my contentment to gold. Even though my heart is not
empty of the desire to acquire wealth, yet what will I do, since I have
neither silver nor gold?
It is said that isfidru had its beginning in the days of Hajjaj who
ordered that all the vessels in 'Iraq and Iran be broken and imposed strict
sanctions upon wine bibbing. FTruz, the lord of Husayn, felt considerable distress in quaffing from glass goblets, and said that whenever he
saw them, he was forced to recall the earlier days. His goblets were,
therefore, made from silver alloyed with copper. Later, the silver in the
goblets for him was substituted by rasas.
Isfidru is used in making food utensils, water cups, pickle-jars and
wash-tubs, since it neither rusts nor collects dirt. The people of Sistan
are especially experts at their manufacture. They make them with great
care and use them extensively. The Saffari family was engaged in their
manufacture and till they became rulers, they were looked down upon.
Good copper is found in Sifulah-Zanj; it does not blacken upon fire but
becomes peacock-coloured. When the artisans poured (molten) copper
upon it, it became shibh-like and malleable. It is not like Sufr which is
non-malleable and non-ductible.
The temperament of Sufr is real, as they both cannot be made to
part in any manner after union, and regain their original individual
states. They persist together and become corrupted together.
Physicists are in general agreement that heat and fire bring homogeneous substances together and segregate heterogenous substances.
Al-Kindi explaining this point says:
