The journey of Ibn Fadlan... Date or fiction?

Ahmad ibn Fadlan: a real figure

When I was ten years old, I first saw The Thirteenth Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas, who played Ahmad ibn Fadlan — an Arab traveler who recorded his remarkable journey to the lands of the Turks, the Saqlaba (Volga Bulgars), the Khazars and the Vikings in a work known as "The Letter of Ibn Fadlan." At the time I did not know that Ahmad ibn Fadlan was a real person. I was struck by the importance of his voyage: what he wrote is the earliest historical source documenting the lives of the Saqlaba, the Khazars and the Vikings, predating European historians by nearly 500 years.

Ahmad ibn Fadlan: a real character

When I was ten years old, I first saw The Thirteenth Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas, who played Ahmad ibn Fadlan — an Arab traveler who recorded his remarkable journey to the lands of the Turks, the Saqlaba (Volga Bulgars), the Khazars and the Vikings in a work known as "The Letter of Ibn Fadlan." At the time I did not know that Ahmad ibn Fadlan was a real person. I was struck by the importance of his voyage: what he wrote is the earliest historical source documenting the lives of the Saqlaba, the Khazars and the Vikings, predating European historians by nearly 500 years.

Reason for the trip

In 921, the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir bi-llah, based in Baghdad, received a letter from the ruler of the Saqlaba, Almish ibn Shilki, announcing his conversion to Islam. He asked the caliph to send someone to teach Islam, build a mosque and erect a platform for public preaching. He also requested help building a fortress to protect his realm from the Khazars, who were imposing heavy taxes and marrying Saqlaba women against their will. The caliph acceded to these requests and entrusted Ahmad ibn Fadlan with the mission. Ibn Fadlan set out from Baghdad bearing gifts and headed for the capital of the Saqlaba, Bolghar, located near the Volga. He read the caliphs message to Almish and delivered the gifts he carried, but he was unable to deliver the funds that had been intended to finance the fortifications. Those funds, which were meant to help defend the Saqlaba and secure the release of the kings son from Khazar captivity, never reached their destination.

Details of the trip to Bukhara

Ibn Fadlan says little about himself in his account, but he gave detailed descriptions of everything he saw during his nearly year-long journey. The Arab world showed little interest in the trip at the time, but European orientalists later gave it great attention because it contained social and historical information not recorded by any earlier traveler or historian. The Letter includes customs and traditions of peoples that had not been described before. Curiously, the account does not describe Ibn Fadlans return to Baghdad, which led some to conclude that he remained in the Volga kingdom of Bolghar under King Almish, who eagerly embraced Islam and took the name Ja'far ibn Abdullah.

Ibn Fadlans journey to the land of the Bulgars was full of strange events, and his manuscript has been tampered with in some of its sources. Some scholars argue that chapters were added after Ibn Fadlans death; these additions, they say, attribute actions to him that contradict his reputation for piety and righteousness. The final chapter differs stylistically from the rest and mentions Ibn Fadlans passage through the city of Itil, the Khazar capital — an event for which there is no clear evidence.

Itinerary

Ahmad ibn Fadlan set out from Baghdad for Bukhara to collect the funds that were to be sent to the Saqlabas ruler for building fortifications. The sum promised was 4,000 gold dinars. The plan was to avoid passing through Khazar territory, so the Khazars would not learn of an emerging alliance between the Saqlaba and the Abbasids. Ibn Fadlan waited a long time in Bukhara, then the capital of the Samanid state, remaining there for nearly three months, but the money never arrived.

After that, Ibn Fadlan continued to the Saqlaba capital, Bolghar, which lies in the area of present-day Kazan, the capital of Russias Republic of Tatarstan. He chose this longer route for two reasons: to avoid Khazar territory, which was under Jewish influence at the time, and to avoid the difficult mountain roads through the Caucasus. Even so, the journey remained arduous.

Why wasn't Ibn Fadlan's account famous at the time?

The lands of the Bulgars were far from the Abbasid heartland, and Arabs had little interest in the region at that time. The extreme cold and dangerous roads discouraged travel. For these reasons, Ibn Fadlans journey attracted little attention until European scholars rediscovered it. They were fascinated by his detailed accounts of the customs and practices of European peoples that had previously gone undocumented. He witnessed events that no one else recorded, such as the funeral rituals performed by the Vikings.

We conclude with one of Ibn Fadlans striking descriptions of an animal unknown to Arabs at the time:

"Near a vast desert, they mention an animal that is neither a camel nor an ox. Its head is like a camels and its tail like an oxs; its body resembles a mules, and its hooves are like an oxs. In the middle of its head there is a single thick, round horn, which tapers until it looks like the teeth of a spear, measuring from three to five cubits, more or less. It grazes on leaves."