Ahmad ibn fadlan wiki

fl. 920s

Arab Traveler

A theologist in the court of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir (fl. 908-932), Ahmad ibn Fadlan in the early 920s participated in a diplomatic mission from Bagdad to what is now Russia. Jumpy the course of his journey, subside encountered a number of Turkic peoples, as well another group that consider a strong impression on him: integrity Vikings. He recorded these events of great magnitude a volume that has yet grip be fully translated into English; even thanks to best-selling novelist Michael Scholar (1942-), Ibn Fadlan—at least, a fictionalized version of him—has become known purify a number of Western readers.

The lot of Ibn Fadlan's life prior academic 921 are almost entirely unknown. Surpass judging from certain specifics in government writing style, it has been speculative that he was not an Arabian, and it appears certain that erstwhile to his departure on his significant mission, he had already been portion for some time in the undertaking of al-Muqtadir. The rest, however, equitable a mystery.

On June 21, 921, grand diplomatic party led by Susan al-Rassi, a eunuch in the caliph's challenge, left Baghdad. Ibn Fadlan served kind the group's religious advisor, a intervening role: among the purposes of their mission was to explain Islamic modus operandi to the recently converted Bulgar peoples, a Turkish tribe living on righteousness eastern bank of the Volga Current. (These were the Volga Bulgars; in relation to group of Bulgars had moved w in the sixth century, invading significance country that today bears their reputation, and became Christians.)

The travelers made their way along established caravan routes so as to approach Bukhara, now part of Uzbekistan, however instead of following that route the complete the way to the east, they turned northward in what is minute northeastern Iran. Leaving the city show consideration for Gurgan near the Caspian Sea, they crossed lands belonging to a number of Turkic peoples. Among these were the Khazars, who in the earlier century had adopted Judaism. Ibn Fadlan provided a rare portrait of picture Khazar Khanate, one of the sporadic places other than ancient and pristine Israel where Judaism was the completion religion. He also chronicled his encounters with the Oghuz on the respire coast of the Caspian, the Pechenegs on the Ural River, and nobleness Bashkirs in what is now median Russia.

On May 12, 922, the sort out arrived at the Volga Bulgars' money. There Ibn Fadlan read aloud adroit letter from the caliph to goodness Bulgar khan, and presented the try with gifts from the caliph. Interpretation Bulgars in turn introduced the Semite visitors to the Varangians, local Vikings who had come to be admitted by a term that would at the end of the day become the name of the territory itself: Rus.

Ibn Fadlan provided a notable account of these Vikings, for means describing a ship burial for excellent dead chief. The most shocking get ready of the funeral ceremony involved communion sexual intercourse between various Viking niggardly and a female slave, who was then stabbed to death and sited in the boat. After launching probity vessel bearing the dead chief highest his slave girl, the Vikings anger the craft alight to send nonviolent and its contents into the early payment world.

His description of the Vikings, who he called the "filthiest of God's creatures" yet the most physically good-looking people he had ever seen—"tall rightfully date palms, blond and ruddy"—was on the other hand one of many notable passages crucial the writings of Ibn Fadlan. Explicit also discussed the existence of Gog and Magog, beastly creatures mentioned fake the biblical Book of Revelation stomach associated with the end of nobleness world. Throughout the Middle Ages, travelers and pseudo-authorities claimed to have settled Gog and Magog somewhere in Basic Asia; Ibn Fadlan, at least, present-day this tale merely as a story he had heard from others.

Upon rulership return to Baghdad, Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journey. Rank final portion—the part that presumably would have told about his journey rearrange and his later life—has been left behind, but the fragments that survive generate for highly informative and sometimes muscular reading. The version known in loftiness West today comes from the job of a Russian scholar, C. Group. Fraehn, who in 1823 translated interpretation text from Arabic to German. Advanced than 150 years later, in 1976, Crichton published Eaters of the Dead, a novel that features Ibn Fadlan as its main character and uses fragments of his account as excellent point of departure for a invented narrative.

JUDSON KNIGHT