Greek knowledge passes to Arab civilization The Islamic world inherited a rich intellectual legacy from the Hellenistic world, and scholarship flourished in Arab civilization after the birth of Islam. This was true in the sciences as in other areas. The first well-known Islamic alchemist was Jabir ibn Hayyan (c. 721–c. 815). Works attributed to him first introduce the idea that metals were made of varying proportions of sulfur and mercury. This notion would influence both Islamic and Western alchemy for centuries.