Category: Ibn Fadlan (Page 3 of 7)

When describing the Bajanāk, Ibn Fadlān mentions what landmarks are near by the encampment and what the people looked like, but he focuses on the way that sheep forage for food in the area. Along with this, he says that the Bajanāk are poor in comparison with the Ghuzz. Rather than directly say whether or not the tribe is Muslim, he mentions in their physical description that their chins are shaved. This does not mean that none of the Bajanāk are Muslim, but the fact that Ibn Fadlān doesn’t even mention it speaks to the value that he places on these people. It might be that he doesn’t think they are consequential enough to call for conversion efforts. His description of the tribe is, no doubt, stunted by the fact that the group only stayed one night with the Bajanāk. Ibn Fadlān says that they are camped by “the edge of a body of water resembling a sea, for it was not flowing” (22). This could be the upper part of the Caspian Sea, but this seems suspect since the sea is far away from the pathway mapped out in the front of the book. Yet, it does not seem like Ibn Fadlān would mistake a smaller body of water for a sea. This might give reason to reconsidering how long one day’s travel is for this caravan. 

What caught my attention about Ibn Fadlān’s description of this group is that he mentioned them at all. He spends one paragraph describing them and immediately moves on. He also basically only references them based on their material difference from the Ghuzz turks. This implies that wealth is of interest to Ibn Fadlān, even though he mentions it in negative ways when it comes to modesty in other passages. He also describes very specifically how hard it is for the sheep of the Bajanāk to get food in the winter yet how thin they get in the summer, saying that “the sheep mostly graze on what lies under the snow, which they scrape aside with their hooves in order to get to the grass. When they cannot find any, they nibble snow and become very fat. When summer comes, they eat grass and grow thin” (22). So, the ability to feed and keep healthy livestock is important, too. This information might come together to describe a poor people who are not well sustained and could be taken over very easily. But it could also speak to the worth of such an action. What would the point be of taking over territory where it is difficult to raise healthy sheep? Extending this idea, could these people sustain themselves under the caliphate or would they, ultimately, need to be supported by it? Even though the group only stayed with the Bajanāk for one night, it seems as though Ibn Fadlān is doing a quick cost benefit analysis in order to be as transparent as possible in his report back to the caliph. How impactful such a short description could be is debatable, but this passage is at least helpful in tracking the group’s route north.  

While Ibn Fadlan is in Saqaliba, he comes across a people camped by the Itil river called the Rus. In Saqaliba for trade, the Rus appear to be from the North. Fadlan first recalls their “beauty,” describing their appearance. Here he mentions race for one of the only times in his travel narrative. He says they are “fair and ruddy.” Then he talks about their dress, specifically their weapons, and then he mentions that they have tattoos and how their women wear expensive jewelry. After he is done talking about their “beauty,” he talks about their “uncleanliness.” From literal dirtiness to “disgusting habits,” Fadlan spends pages ranting about the Rus and their inferiority. He belittles their religious practices, describing Rus rituals revolving around slavery and money. He focuses on practices, true or not, that the Islamic world would consider immoral. For example, abandoning sick people, cruel and unusual punishment, sex-slavery, and especially sacrilegious burials.  

In Islam, burning bodies is considered mutilation and is forbidden, so Fadlan is extremely disturbed by this. He talks in-depth about the Ritual, about slaves and animals buried with their masters and about the burning of boats. He recalls that, when a man dies, an enslaved girl and all the man’s horses must be sacrificed with him, then they are burned together.  

Fadlan’s account of the Rus is most peculiar because of his contradictions. First, he says he “has never seen bodies more perfect than theirs,” then he calls them, “the filthiest of God’s creatures.” It is almost as if he wrote the former one day, and the latter, unfavorable entries, after he had learned of the practices and culture of the Rus. Sacrilege practices like tattoos or the indulgence of jewelry does not bother Fadlan until he learns that they burn their dead. Also, Fadlan is not bothered by the treatment of enslaved people or slavery itself, until he meets the Rus.  

The day-to-night-like switch of Fadlan’s stance on the Rus suggests that his opinions on peoples and cultures are heavily dependent on how they align with his own religious culture and values. Furthermore, how he portrays a group of people is reflective of how he wants other people to think about said group of people. Here with the Rus, he wants his audience to fear and dehumanizes the Rus –to “other” them. Fadlan does not want his audience to believe that the Rus are a civilized culture worthy to interact with, to trade with, etc. 

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Situated between the river Yanghindi and the city Jit, Ibn Fadlan encounters “The Ghuzz Turks.” He calls them nomads, rightly so considering he does not give the location where he meets them a name. He is mainly focused on culture and practices, rather than the people themselves or the environment and buildings. He mentions that the Ghuzz live in tents, but only when he explained the nomad way of life. One of the first insights on the Ghuzz Fadlan gives is their lack of God. Fadlan reports, “they live in poverty, like wandering asses. They do not worship God, nor do they have recourse to reason.” From the start of his account of the Ghuzz, Fadlan’s distain for the culture is obvious and centered around their lack of worship.  

Despite his disdain for their Godlessness, Fadlan regards the Turks as having very good hospitality. He says that “no Muslim can cross their country without having made friends with one of them with whom he stays and to whom he brings gifts from Islam.” He even reports that the Turks value their hospitality so much so that if a guest dies their host, is subsequently responsible for their death. It is interesting how Fadlan emphasizes that the Ghuzz, who are apparently Godless, favor specifically Muslims who “cross their country.” Fadlan is a devote Muslim and notorious for attempting to convert those he meets on his travels. This emphasis of the kindness of Muslim guests who bring their hosts “gifts from the lands of Islam,” is most likely an exaggerated interpretation of Fadlan’s to paint those who worship Islam in a good light and highlight the areas susceptibility to conversion for his audience. 

While Fadlan describes the Ghuzz Turks as hospitable people, he does not negate accounting all their ‘unfavorable’ customs. He highlights many customs that would be considered ‘sinful’ or ‘unclean’ by Fadlan’s readers. For example, the “taboo on washing,” “filth and immodesty,” “horse sacrifices,” and plucked “facial hair.” Not only does Fadlan highlight the customs that oppose Islam ones, but he also addresses the faulty of their legal system. He explains that when “pederasty” is committed both parties must be put to death or the perpetrating party must pay a ransom. Highlighting he inequity of the two punishments for the same crime and the arbitrariness of deciding between the two, reinforces Fadlan’s idea that the Ghuzz people are uncivilized and in need of conversion. 

Fadlan talks little about specific people in the Ghuzz, however he does talk about a king named Inal the Younger. He aptly calls the section, “A fragile conversion.” When Inal the Younger converted, his people, according to Fadlan, said to him, “If you become Muslim, you will no longer be our leader.” So Inal the Younger renounced Islam. Upon Fadlan’s and Inal’s next encounter with each other, Fadlan showers Inal with gifts and Inal gets on the floor and “prostrated himself before” Fadlan. Also, in this section Fadlan notes that his caravan came across an “ugly man, wretched looking… really ignoble,” when they were leaving Inal the Younger. Fadlan accounts that he gave the man a piece of bread in order to curb the man’s “violent cloudburst.” Fadlan’s record of events portray Muslims as very generous and benevolent people, and the Ghuzz as well-meaning but unknowledgeable and pitiful. Regadless if the events are true or not, the picture Fadlan painted of the Ghuzz would prompt a readers to believe these people are in need of saving by way of religion, specifically Islam.