Editing Ahmad ibn Fadlan (section)

==Ethnographic writing==

===Manuscript tradition===
For a long time, only an incomplete version of the account was known, transmitted as quotations in the geographical dictionary of [[Yaqut al-Hamawi|Yaqut]] (under the headings [[Volga River|Atil]], [[Bashgird]], [[Volga Bulgars|Bulghār]], [[Khazar]], [[Khwarizm|Khwārizm]], [[Kievan Rus'|Rūs]]),{{sfn|Lunde|Stone| 2011|p=xxxiv-xxxv}} published in 1823 by [[Christian Martin Frähn]].{{sfn|Ibn Faḍlān|Frähn|1823}}

Only in 1923 was a manuscript discovered by [[Zeki Velidi Togan]] in the [[Astane Quds Museum]], [[Mashhad]], [[Iran]].{{sfn|Hermes|2012|pages=80–84}} The manuscript, [[Ridawiya Library, MS 5229|Razawi Library MS 5229]], dates from the 13th century (7th century [[Hijri year|Hijra]]) and consists of 420 pages (210 folia). Besides other geographical treatises, it contains a fuller version of Ibn Fadlan's text (pp.&nbsp;390–420). Additional passages not preserved in MS 5229 are quoted in the work of the 16th century [[geographer]] [[Amīn Rāzī|Amin Razi]] called ''Haft Iqlīm'' ("Seven [[Clime]]s").

Neither source seems to record Ibn Fadlān's complete report. Yāqūt offers excerpts and several times claims that Ibn Fadlān also recounted his return to Bagdad, but does not quote such material. Meanwhile, the text in Razawi Library MS 5229 breaks off part way through describing the Khazars.{{sfn|Lunde|Stone|2011|p=xxxv-xxxvi}}

===Account of the Volga Bulgars===
One noteworthy aspect of the Volga Bulgars that Ibn Fadlan focused on was their religion and the institution of [[Islam in Central Asia|Islam in these territories]]. The Bulgar king had invited religious instruction as a gesture of homage to the Abbasids in exchange for financial and military support, and Ibn Fadlan's mission as a ''faqih'' was one of proselytization as well as diplomacy.<ref>{{harvnb|Hermes|2012}}: "...what was ultimately sought by Almish had more to do with politics and money than with spirituality and religion. As a growing number of scholars have observed, there seemed to be a political agreement between the Bulghar king and the Abbasid caliph. With this arrangement, the former would receive financial and military help in exchange for paying religious-political homage to the Abbasids."</ref>

For example, Ibn Fadlan details in his encounter that the Volga Bulgar Khan commits an error in his prayer exhortations by repeating the prayer twice. One scholar calls it an "illuminating episode" in the text where Ibn Fadlan expresses his great anger and disgust over the fact that the Khan and the Volga Bulgars in general are practicing some form of imperfect and doctrinally unsound Islam. In general, Ibn Fadlan recognized and judged the peoples of central [[Eurasia]] he encountered by the possession and practice of Islam, along with their efforts put forth to utilize, implement, and foster Islamic faith and social practice in their respective society. Consequently, many of the peoples and societies to Ibn Fadlan were "like asses gone astray. They have no religious bonds with God, nor do they have recourse to reason".{{sfn|Perry|2009|p=159–60}}

{{quote box|width=25%|quote=''I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the [[Volga|Itil]]. I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy; they wear neither [[tunic]]s nor [[kaftan]]s, but the men wear a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free. Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife, and keeps each by him at all times. Each woman wears on either breast a box of iron, silver, copper, or gold; the value of the box indicates the wealth of the husband. Each box has a ring from which depends a knife. The women wear neck-rings of gold and silver. Their most prized ornaments are green glass beads. They string them as necklaces for their women.''|source='''Ibn Fadlan''', ''on the Rus merchants at Itil, 922''.
}}

===Account of the Rus'===
{{Further|Rus' people}}
A substantial portion of Ibn Fadlan's account is dedicated to the description of a people he called the ''[[Rus' (people)|Rūs]]'' ({{lang|ar|روس}}) or ''Rūsiyyah''. Though the identification of the people Ibn Fadlan describes is uncertain,{{sfn|Montgomery|2000}} they are generally assumed to be [[Volga Vikings]]; the traders were likely of Scandinavian origin while their crews also included [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finns]], [[Slavs]], and others.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilson|first=Joseph Daniel|date=Spring 2014|title=Black banner and white nights: The world of Ibn Fadlan|url=https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1526&context=honors201019|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=JMU Scholarly Commons}}</ref> The Rūs appear as traders who set up shop on the river banks nearby the Bolğar camp. They are described as having bodies tall as (date) palm trees, with blond hair and ruddy skin. Each is [[tattoo]]ed from "the tips of his toes to his neck" with dark blue or dark green "designs" and all men are armed with an axe, sword, and long knife.{{sfn|Lunde|Stone|2011|p=45-46}}

Ibn Fadlan describes the Rus as perfect physical specimens and the hygiene of the ''Rūsiyyah'' as disgusting and shameless, especially regarding to sex (which they perform openly even in groups), and considers them vulgar and unsophisticated. In that, his account contrasts with that of the traveler [[Ibn Rustah]], whose impressions of the Rus were more favorable, although it has been attributed to a possibly intentional mistranslation with the original texts being more in line with Ibn Fadlan's narrative.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Russ/X/Garkavi_mus_pis/23.htm|title=See footnote 35|website=www.vostlit.info|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref> He also describes in great detail [[Viking funeral#Ibn Fadlan's account|the funeral of one of their chieftains]] (a [[ship burial]] involving [[human sacrifice]]).{{sfn|Lunde|Stone|2011|p=45-54}} Some scholars believe that it took place in the modern [[Balymer complex]].<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://sm-k.narod.ru/archives/2002/jan/3/13.htm Сибирский курьер. Тайны древнего кургана]</ref>

{{Quote|text=They are the filthiest of all God's creatures: they do not purify themselves after excreting or urinating or wash themselves when in a state of [[ritual impurity]] after coitus and do not even wash their hands after food.|source=<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jakobsen |first=Hanne |date=2013-07-17 |title=Old Arabic texts describe dirty Vikings |url=https://www.sciencenorway.no/archaeology-history-art-and-literature-forskningno/old-arabic-texts-describe-dirty-vikings/1388613 |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=www.sciencenorway.no |language=en-GB}}</ref>|author=Ibn Fadlan}}

===Editions and translations===
(In chronological order)
* {{cite book |title=Ibn Foszląn's und anderer Araber Berichte über die Russen älterer Zeit. Text und Übersetzung mit kritisch-philologischen Ammerkungen. Nebst drei Breilagen über sogenannte Russen-Stämme und Kiew, die Warenger und das Warenger-Meer, und das Land Wisu, ebenfalls nach arabischen Schriftstellern |last1=Ibn Faḍlān |first1=Aḥmad |last2=Frähn |first2=Christian Martin |author-link2=Christian Martin Frähn |year=1823 |language=de |publisher=aus der Buchdruckerei der Akademie |location=Saint-Petersburg |oclc=457333793 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Togan |first1=Ahmed Zeki Velidi |title=Ibn Fadlan's Reisebericht |location=Leipzig |publisher=Kommissionsverlag F. A. Brockhaus |year=1939 |language=de}} &#91;from Razawi Library MS 5229&#93;
*{{cite book |last=Kovalevskii |first=A. P. |title=Kniga Akhmeda Ibn-Fadlana o ego Puteschestvii na Volgu 921-922 gg |publisher=Kharkov |year=1956 |language=ru}} &#91;Includes photographic reproduction of Razawi Library MS 5229.&#93;
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Canard |first=Marius |title=La relation du voyage d'Ibn Fadlân chez les Bulgares de la Volga |encyclopedia=Annales de l'Institut d'Etudes Orientales de l'Université d'Alger |year=1958 |pages=41–116 |lang=fr}}
*{{cite book |last=Dahhan |first=S. |title=Risālat Ibn Fadlān |location=Damascus |publisher=al-Jāmi‘ al-‘Ilmī al-‘Arabī |year=1959}}
*{{cite book |last=McKeithen |first=James E. |year=1979 |title=The Risalah of Ibn Fadlan: An Annotated Translation with Introduction}}
* {{cite book |title=Ibn Fadlân, Voyage chez les Bulgares de la Volga |language=fr |last=Ibn-Faḍlān |first= Ahmad |translator-last1=Canard |translator-first1=Marius |translator-last2=Miquel |translator-first2=Andre |year=1988 |publisher=Sindbad |location=Paris |oclc=255663160}} &#91;French translation, including additions to the text of Razawi Library MS 5229 from Yāqūt's quotations.&#93;
* {{cite book |title=Collection of Geographical Works: Reproduced from MS 5229 Riḍawīya Library, Mashhad |last=al-Faqih |first=Ibn |author2=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad |author3=Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān |author4=Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil Abū Dulaf al-Khazrajī |author5=Fuat Sezgin |author6=M. Amawi |author7=A. Jokhosha |author8=E. Neubauer |year=1987 |publisher=I. H. A. I. S. at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University |location=Frankfurt am Main |oclc=469349123}}
*{{cite book |first1=Л.-М. |title=Ibn Fadlan - Index |last1=Бораджиева |first2=Г. |last2=Наумов |language=bg |url=http://www.kroraina.com/fadlan/fadl_index.html |script-title=bg:Ибн Фадлан, Пътешествие до Волжска |location=България ИК "Аргес", София |year=1992}}
* {{cite book |title=Ibn Fadlan's Travel-Report: As It Concerns the Scandinavian Rüs |last=Flowers |first=Stephen E.|author-link=Stephen Flowers |year=1998 |publisher= Rûna-Raven |location=Smithville, TX |oclc=496024366}}
*{{cite journal |last=Montgomery |first=James E. |url=https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/JAIS/article/viewFile/4553/4006 |title=Ibn Faḍlān and the Rūsiyyah |journal=Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies |volume=3 |date=2000 |pages=1–25|doi=10.5617/jais.4553 |doi-access=free|ref=none }} &#91;Translates the section on the ''Rūsiyyah''.&#93;
*{{cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard N. |title=Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghdad to the Volga River |location=Princeton |publisher=Marcus Weiner Publishers |year=2005|ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last=Simon |first=Róbert |title=Ibn Fadlán: Beszámoló a volgai bolgárok földjén tett utazásról |location=Budapest |publisher=Corvina Kiadó |year=2007|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |translator-last1=Lunde |translator-first1=Paul |translator-last2=Stone |translator-first2=Caroline E.M. |title=Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Classics |isbn=978-0140455076}}
* Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān, ''Mission to the Volga'', trans. by James E. Montgomery (New York: New York University Press, 2017), {{ISBN|9781479899890}}
* {{cite book |title=Viagem ao Volga |language=pt-br |last=Ibn Faḍlān |first= Ahmad |translator-last1=Criado |translator-first1=Pedro Martins |year=2018 |publisher=Carambaia |location=São Paulo |isbn=978-85-69002-40-6}}