Ibn Fadlan, a religious scholar in the tenth century, underwent a voyage to the kingdom of the Volga Bulghars in modern day Russia. Along the way he chronicled his journey, his account becoming an important source in, among other things, piecing together the early history of Russia.
Background
The tenth century is sometimes overlooked as an intellectual blip in human history- a dark age steeped in ignorance and superstition. While this may well be true for Europe, it was not the case for the Islamic world.
By now, Muslim territories stretched as far as Spain in the west, India in the east, and were expanding northwards into parts of modern day Russia. The Abbasids had ruled from Baghdad for almost two centuries. Politically their power was waning, resulting in the ascension of various regional dynasties, but culturally, the Islamic world was thriving. Baghdad, with its libraries and schools of translation, had been the intellectual centre of the world for more than a century. Cordova, under the Umayyads of Spain, could now rival its claims, while the Fatimids of Egypt were, in a matter of decades, to establish al-Azhar in what would soon be built as their new capital, ‘al-Qahirah’.
Travellers from around the world would have been able to recognise a land ruled by Muslims; through the movement of peoples and dynasties, craftsmen and tradesmen, particular external forms, became associated with ‘the Islamic world’. Buildings and objects, such as books and textiles, betrayed a certain style that became known as ‘Islamic’.[i]
Ibn Fadlan
It was in this climate that Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rāšid ibn Hammād was sent by the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir (d.932) to the kingdom of the Volga Bulghars in modern day Russia. Having recently converted to Islam, the king had requested that a religious scholar be sent in order to instruct the new converts on matters of faith. Little more is known about Ibn Fadlan, and less still would have been known had it not been for the journal he kept to chronicle his journey, leaving us with an invaluable historical document.
His work is one of the earliest sources on ancient Russia and the first Arab account describing non-Muslims. In a section entitled ‘al-Rus’, Ibn Fadlan describes his encounter with a band of traders, west of the river Volga. Little would he have known that centuries later his observations would place him as an important source in piecing together the early history of Russia and its people, about which there is still no clear consensus.
Historians have long debated the identity of these Rus people, with Swedish Vikings, controversially, as one of the contenders.[ii] Using the opportunity to observe their manners and customs, Ibn Fadlan describes their “perfect physiques” likening them to palm trees. Documenting their way of life, parts of his account contain lurid details regarding sexual practices and are shocking even for a modern reader. Regarding the use of slave girls by Rus men, he notes:
They are accompanied by beautiful slave girls for trading. One man will have intercourse with his slave girl while his companion looks on. Sometimes a group of them comes together to do this, each in front of the other.
After hearing that chieftains and important people are cremated once they die, he states “ I was very keen to verify this, when I learned of the death of one of their great men.” This leads us to one of the most vivid and somewhat gruesome scenes of his account. Describing in detail the funerary practice, which lasts for days and consists of various rituals, the important man is prepared for cremation, along-side one of his slave-girls who has volunteered to die with him. After several men have intercourse with her, a rope is placed around her neck by a woman Ibn Fadlan refers to as ‘The Angel of Death’, who then proceeds to stab her with a dagger while two men throttle her with the rope. Her lifeless body is then placed on the boat to be cremated alongside her master.
So what did a tenth century religious scholar from Baghdad make of a band of idol worshipping traders who are “addicted to alcohol” and practise ritual human sacrifice?
Despite a few unfavourable comparisons (he likens them to asses in terms of their hygiene), interestingly, Ibn Fadlan’s account does not moralise or pass judgment on those he observes. In making observations that would no doubt have been shocking to a Muslim of his time (and indeed most modern observers), his tone is not condescending, and nor does he attempt to sensationalise his observations in writing. With his straightforward style, he leaves the reader with the impression that he is merely describing what he perceives as fact, rather than stating his own opinion. Regarding their use of alcohol, he notes “Sometimes one of them dies with the cup still in his hand” and changes the subject abruptly without passing judgement.
Unsurprisingly, Ibn Fadlan chooses to note aspects of the Rus peoples’ lives that differ from or are contrary to common Islamic practises or values. In regard to their hygiene habits, or rather, what he perceives as their lack of hygiene, he labels them as the “filthiest of all Allah’s creatures” as “they do not clean themselves after excreting or urinating or wash themselves when in a state of ritual impurity (i.e. after coitus).” Watching several men conduct their daily ablutions with a communal bowl of water, he observes, “There is no filthy impurity which he will not do in this water.” For a Muslim like Ibn Fadlan, this scene would be particularly distasteful due to the Islamic prohibition of using stagnant or reused water for ablution.
Writing as an eye-witness, Ibn Fadlan is both scholarly and inquisitorial. Since he generally omits his own personal views, one can perhaps assume that the intended readers of his work were not the general public, but rather that his observations were for some sort of an official government record. But even so, since the main reason for his journey to the region was to instruct the king of the Bulghars on matters of the Islamic faith, we can assume that he was a pious scholar of the religion. With this in mind, one would expect him to view matters through the lens of his faith and go much further than he does in condemning the ‘wrongful’ actions that he witnesses.
As the first known Muslim account describing non-Muslims, his approach is particularly noteworthy. Shocking as many of the events that Ibn Fadlan witnesses and describes are, it is what he doesn’t say, in an age often indiscriminately labelled as dark, that leaves the lasting impression.
Read the full text
References
[i] Albert Hourani. 2005. A History of the Arab Peoples: 54-5.
[ii] Ibn Fadlan. 2005. Ibn Fadlan’s Journey to Russia. Trans. by Richard Frye: iv.
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