Academic literature on the topic 'Ahmad ibn Fadlan'

Islam is the oldest established religion among Bulghar entity, the residents along the riverbanks of the Volga-Kama triangle. This valley was famous as the first Islamic country erected in the Eastern European region. The presence of Islam in the region has raised the name of the ruler of Volga Bulgaria and was reinforced by relationship with Baghdad. The Islamisation of the Bulghar society is relevant to the role played by Ahmad ibn Fadlan, the ambassador of the Abbasid government based in Baghdad. Therefore, this article aims to examine the role played by Ibn Fadlan in the Islamization of the Bulghar society. For this study, a qualitative method using historical descriptive approach was employed, which involved compilation and evaluation of the facts of the Risalah Ibn Fadlān. Data for this study were obtained through library research. The data analyses were conducted through texts and document analyses, as well as comparison method. This study finds that Ibn Fadlan plays an important role in the islamisation of the Bulghar society, not just as an ambassador of Abbasid government but as a teacher, preacher and counselor to the Bulghar king and the whole nation.

Notes by Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Obsequies of the Noble Rus in Bulgar by H. Siemiradsky In the book Historical Sketches of Folk Literature in Art F.I. Buslaev developed the idea that „getting closer to their primitive source, the elements of literature and art enter each other; and sometimes the author becomes an illustrator of his manuscript; and so a literary historian often through miniatures decorating the manuscript understands the idea of the text before it opens in its lines”. The validity of these lines becomes apparent when we compare the passage from the Notes by ibn Fadlan to Henryk Siemiradzki’s Obsequies of the Noble Rus in Bulgar, located in the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Записки Ахмеда ибн Фадлана и Похороны знатного руса в Булгаре Г.И. Семирадского В книге Исторические очерки народной словесности в искусстве, посвященной этой теме, Ф.И. Буслаев развил мысль о том, что «чем ближе к своему первобытному источнику, тем сплошнее друг в друга входят элементы литературные и художественные; и как писец, а иногда и автор, был вместе и иллюминатором своей рукописи, так и историк литературы очень часто в миниатюрах, которыми украшена рукопись, дочитывает до конца мысль пи- сания, не вполне выраженную в строках». Справедливость этих строк становится очевид- ной, если сравнить отрывок из Записок ибн Фадлана с произведением Г.И. Семирадского Погребение знатного руса в Булгаре, которое находится в Государственном Историческом музее в Москве.

This article attempts to localize the fortresses of the Volga Bulgars (first of all, fortresses Marj and Tehshu) known from medieval authors reportedly Najib Hamadani and Ahmed at-Tusi. In the course of solving this problem the question of these authors data reliability is raised, as well as the common source of this information borrowing. There is a good reason to see this in the source known among the Arab-Persian historical and geographical medieval manuscripts as Rizal by Ahmed ibn Fadlan, the Secretary of Abbasid embassy to the Volga Bulgars Elteber Almush, who visited the Volga in 922. This fact explains the absence of Bulgarian cities known from other sources in the given lists as well as the question of uniqueness of Hamadani and at-Tusis information. On the basis of the sources synthesis, place-and folklore studies, the article proposes some options for localization of some of these forts and etymology options of Bulgarian oikonyms mentioned in the papers by the considered authors. The author proves the importance of place names data at the present stage of Bulgar study research, especially of Volga Bulgaria historical geography as well as further studies are planned.

This essay takes its start in the problematic situation concerning source material in the study of the Norse religion before the Christianization of Scandinavia. There is a lack of written sources from the time when the religion was still practiced. There are plenty of archeological sources economic situation than their religious beliefs. The Icelandic stories written in the 13th and 14th centuries give us a broad pictureof the Norse mythology, but the writers were Christians which makes their reliability questionable. The focus of this essay is therefore on two texts written during the time when the Norse religion was still in practice. The first source is the travel notes written in 922 by the Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Fadlan who met a group of the Rus’ people. The Rus’ were mainly Scandinavians (possibly from Sweden) and their religious practices hence falls under the category of Norse religion. Ibn Fadlan showed a great interest in the Rus’ and describes their ritual sacrifices and a funeral of theirs in great detail. The second source is the description of the heathen cult in the Swedish town of Uppsala written in 1076 by the Christian scholar Adam of Bremen. He describes Uppsala as the last outpost of the religion and among other things he describes their practices, their ritual sacrifices and a golden temple. I’ve used a comparative method as well as a historical critical method in order to findcredible similarities between the two sources. The focus is placed on the descriptions of the ritual sacrifices in both of the texts and how they can be understood in their context. This is done to find a common ground within the religion in order to construct a framework from which further research may find its foundation. With the help from earlier research on these two texts, on other written material, such as thethe Icelandic stories, and on archeological findings I’ve found many similarities between my two sources which can be considered as real parts of the Norse religion. These are the sacrifice to images of the gods, the sacrifice of different animals, the sacrifice in sacred groves and the hanging of scarified animals in trees and on treelike poles, the central role of sacrificing heads of animals and different ritual practices in order to experience a higher reality. Human sacrifice can be strongly questioned and both of the texts point to hanging as a mean of execution instead of sacrifice.