by Caroline Stone
In AD 921, an embassy set off from Baghdad – one of the wealthiest and most sophisticated cities in the world – to visit the Bulgar capital to the north, hardly more than a campsite on a bend of the Volga. The distance in miles was not vast, less than from Baghdad to Córdoba, but the cultural distance was immense, far from the familiar worlds of the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea and their hinterlands. The secretary of the expedition, Ibn Fadlan, not only survived the journey, but set down his experiences. He left us a rare glimpse of a part of the world little known even today, at a moment when its people were turning from the old religions, polytheistic or shaman orientated, to the newer faiths of Christianity, Judaism or Islam.
Little is known about Ibn Fadlan, though he is much quoted by Yaqut and other geographers who succeeded him. Had he been a poet or an expert in religious law, he would have found his place in the biographical dictionaries, but as it is, all we can do is glean hints of his personality from his text and from a few sentences by later authors. Clearly he was courageous and resourceful. Although he was not in fact the ambassador, he played a leading role in the often difficult negotiations with the only lightly Islamized Bulgar king, dealing with financial problems as well as questions of religious law. And he worked constantly to spread his faith.
Ibn Fadlān was curious, observant and interested in everything he saw. His all too brief narrative, of which the surviving version seems to be an abridgement, is a series of vivid scenes in which the Northern Lights, fossil rhinoceroses, the customs of the Slavs, a descendant of Gog Magog, the wild berries for which the northern forests are famous, a nobleman’s burial, all find their place.
The embassy itself was sent by the Caliph al-Muqtadir in response to a request from the recently converted king of the Bulgars for someone to teach his people the correct practice of Islam, and for financial help to build a castle to repel the incursions of the Khazars (Turks who had recently converted to Judaism). The mission met with only limited success. There were problems over money. The king was not always amenable to the suggested changes. The women refused to veil. Despite these difficulties, however, the mission was not a disaster, and Ibn Fadlan got home to Baghdad in AD 922. Regrettably the last part of his account is missing and we know nothing of the return journey.
