When Ibn Fadlan reaches Khwarazm, he first describes the weather. It is incredibly cold because of winter, which he admits to being warned about, and yet he still travels to the city of Khawarzm via boat. In fact, he writes, \u201cit was impossible to travel all day because of the intense cold,\u201d (6).<\/p>\n
Once he arrives in Khwarazm, Ibn Fadlan goes directly to see the ruler of the \u201ctown, the Khwarazm Shah Muhammad ibn \u2018Iraq,\u201d who lodges him in a house (7). Three days later, Ibn Fadlan is \u201csummoned\u201d to discuss his intent to visit the land of the Turks, which Ibn \u2018Iraq is strictly against and refuses Ibn Fadlan permission. He claims that \u201cthis is all a trick\u201d and that \u201cbetween the country of which you speak and where you are now, there are a thousand tribes of unbelievers,\u201d (7). Ibn Fadlan continues to request permission to continue, which eventually, Ibn \u2018Iraq grants, however reluctantly.<\/p>\n
While still on the topic of Khwarazm, Ibn Fadlan briefly mentions the monetary systems of the city as well as the language, which he describes as sounding like \u201cthe cries of starlings\u201d as well as the language of a nearby village in which \u2018their speech sounds exactly like the croaking of frogs,\u201d (8). Ibn Fadlan also finds it prudent to mention that these people \u201cdeny the legitimacy of the Commander of the Faithful\u2026at the end of each prayer\u201d (8).<\/p>\n
The tie between religion and safety is evident in this passage, particularly in the statement of Ibn \u2018Iraq when he warns Ibn Fadlan of the \u201cthousand tribes of unbelievers\u201d he would have to travail in order to continue his journey. The juxtaposition of Ibn Fadlan\u2019s journey as a \u201ctrick\u201d paired with the statement and reasoning that he cannot continue because of these \u201cunbelievers\u201d suggests that there is danger in passing through a territory of non-Muslims, especially for a Muslim traveler such as Ibn Fadlan. This also implies that there is an assumed level of safety guaranteed by passing through Muslim territory. Not only does this statement on behalf of the ruler of Khwarazm signify unity and cohesion within the Islamic Empire, but it also illustrates the fear of other, non-Muslim religions. The view of the \u201cunbelievers\u201d is rooted in both a fear of those not like themselves as well as a degraded, prejudiced view of those who are not Muslim. Though we later learn that Ibn Fadlan fares well in the land of the Turks, both Ghuzz and Bashghird, there is the underlying sense of fear and judgment that he carries with him, based almost exclusively on religious practices and cultural differences that directly or indirectly oppose those of Islam.<\/p>\n
Ironically, though, Ibn Fadlan likens the language of the Khwarazm people to the sounds of animals, both starlings and frogs, displaying a degree of disrespect for them, despite the presumed alliance between himself and their ruler. He describes them as \u201cthe most barbarous of people, both in speech and customs,\u201d and although we do get a description of what he finds so \u201cbarbarous\u201d in their speech, he gives us no hints towards customs, so one can only imagine that he is referring to their denial of \u201cthe legitimacy of the Commander of the Faithful\u2026at the end of each prayer,\u201d (7, 8). This perception would fall in line with Ibn Fadlan\u2019s trend of disregarding people who do not practice the same rites that he hold dear, and even a small difference such as this leads him to label them as \u201cbarbarous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Ibn Fadlan reaches Khwarazm, he first describes the weather. It is incredibly cold because of winter, which he admits to being warned about, and yet he still travels to the city of Khawarzm via boat. In fact, he writes, \u201cit was impossible to travel all day because of the intense cold,\u201d (6). Once he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3775,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143610],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ibn-fadlan","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3775"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}