The first major stop that Ibn Fadlan describes is his caravan\u2019s stay in Bukhara. This is a settlement some miles away from the Jayhun river (Amu Darya). Ibn Fadlan must cross the Amul desert via camel and rent a boat to cross the river. He then stays in Baykand before finally ending up in Bukhara (4).<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The nature of their stay is different from their other stops (which are primarily utilized to rest and recharge). Ibn Fadlan and his caravan are expecting to meet Ahmad Ibn Musa during the first few days of their stay in Bukhara. The Amir, Nasr ibn Ahmad, is supposed to give the money (taken from a Fadl Ibn Musa\u2019s estate due to a form of legal action) to Ahmad Ibn Musa so the caravan can bring it to the King of the Bulghars (5). However, Ibn Fadlan waits for twenty-eight days, and Ahmad Ibn Musa never shows up, so the caravan must carry on because of the weather.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While in Bukhara, Ibn Fadlan does not mention much about the place or the people. He does, however, write about the money in Bukhara: \u201cI saw different kinds of dirhams in Bukhara, some called ghitrifi<\/em>dirhams, made of copper, brass and bronze\u201d (6). He says this form of money is used to pay marriage dowries and the selling of slaves and property. He iterates this in a neutral way; however, he does mention that the coins are \u201ccounted out, without being weighed\u201d (6). This remark makes Ibn Fadlan come off as skeptical like he does not trust this method of payment. Considering he is encountering this different form of payment for the first time, he could have added this passage to inform others (the Caliph and anyone else who may read his writing) and exercise caution around new coinage as it may not be exact in worth. Additionally, Ibn Fadlan\u2019s interest in the coinage of Bukhara is likely because the caravan stopped there to collect a sum of money and failed. Therefore, he writes about the money and its possible fraudulence as a mode of defense.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In this passage as a whole, Ibn Fadlan is very detailed when talking about meeting with the Amir and what happened to Ahmad Ibn Musa (he gets captured by people working for Fadl Ibn Musa). He is also very certain of himself when reiterating what happened to Ahmad Ibn Musa (despite the likelihood that he did not find out Ibn Musa\u2019s fate for some time) using phrases like \u201cin fact\u201d and \u201che wrote as follows\u201d (5). Ibn Fadlan\u2019s purpose for this could be to defend himself and his caravan from retaliation from the Caliph or the King of the Bulghars due to their failure to obtain the money. Ibn Fadlan writes that he was told, \u201cIf we stay any longer, winter will come and we will not be able to travel\u201d (6). For the sake of the mission as a whole, the caravan had to leave. Ibn Fadlan is making sure to write this down; they had no other choice, and they did all they could.<\/p>\n \n Ibn Fadl\u0101n.\u00a0Ibn Fadl\u0101n and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travelers in the Far North.<\/em>Translated by Paul Lunde, Penguin Classic, 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first major stop that Ibn Fadlan describes is his caravan\u2019s stay in Bukhara. This is a settlement some miles away from the Jayhun river (Amu Darya). Ibn Fadlan must cross the Amul desert via camel and rent a boat to cross the river. He then stays in Baykand before finally ending up in Bukhara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5606,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ibn-fadlan","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5606"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}