Ibn Jubayr, in full Abu al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al-Kinani, (b. September 1, 1145, Valencia, Emirate of Balansiya [Taifa of Valencia] -- d. November 29, 1217, Alexandria, Ayyubid dynasty, Egypt), was a Spanish Muslim known for his book -- his Rihlah -- recounting his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Ibn Jubayr, also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey, he passed through Christian Sicily, which had been recaptured from the Muslims only a century before. In Sicily, Ibn Jubayr made several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture that flourished there.
Ibn Jubayr was born in 1145 CC in Valencia, Andalus, to an Arab family of the Kinanah tribe. He was a descendant of 'Abdal-Salam ibn Jabayr, who, in 740 CC, had accompanied an army sent by the Caliph of Damascus to put down a Berber uprising in his Spanish provinces. Ibn Jubayr studied in the town of Xativa, where his father worked as a civil servant. He later became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada.
The son of a civil servant, Ibn Jubayr became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, but he left that post for his pilgrimage, which began on February 3, 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185.
Ibn Jubayr wrote a lively account of this journey, Riḥlah (Eng. trans. by R.J.C. Broadhurst, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, 1952; French trans. by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Voyages, 1949–56).
Ibn Jubayr's Rihlah is a valuable source for the history of the time, containing memorable descriptions of his voyages across the Mediterranean in Genoese ships; his unhappy encounters with both Christian and Muslim customs collectors; his depiction of the Cairo of Saladin; his observations during his trip up the Nile to Upper Egypt, and across the Red Sea to Jidda, Mecca, and Medina; and of his return by way of Iraq, Syria, and Sicily. Ibn Jubayr journeyed east twice more without recording his travels. The second trip lasted from 1189 to 1191; the third, begun in 1217, was ended by his death in Egypt on November 29, 1217.
In his Rihlah, Ibn Jubayr provides a highly-detailed and graphic description of the places he visited during his travels. The book differs from other contemporary accounts in not being a mere collection of toponyms and descriptions of monuments but rather containing observation of geographical details as well as cultural, religious and political matters. Particularly interesting are Ibn Jubayr's notes about the declining faith of his fellow Muslims in Palermo, Sicily after the then recent Norman conquest and about what he perceived as the Muslim-influenced customs of King William II of Sicily under the Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture.
Ibn Jubayr's writing is a foundation of the genre of work called Rihla (Rihlah), -- the creative travelogue. It is a mix of personal narrative, description of the areas traveled and personal anecdotes.
Ibn Jubayr's travel chronicle served as a model for later authors, some of whom copied from it without attribution. Ibn Juzayy, who wrote the account of Ibn Battuta's travels in around 1355 CC, copied passages that had been written 170 years earlier by Ibn Jubayr that described Damascus, Mecca, Medina and other places in the Middle East.
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Rihla refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, -- a travelogue. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of travel in search of knowledge, the rihla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj -- the pilgrimage to Mecca --, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route. The classical rihla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta (known commonly as The Rihla) and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities experienced by the traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance the 19th century rihlas of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the rihla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.
The Rihla travel practice originated in Middle Ages Morocco and served to connect Muslims of Morocco to the collective consciousness of the ummah across the Islamic world, thereby generating a larger sense of community. The Rihla genre consists of three types:
- Rihla - journey within Morocco, typically to meet with other pilgrims before traveling beyond the local area.
- Rihla hijaziyya - journey to the Hejaz which would be transmitted via an oral or written report.
- Rihla sifariyya - journey to foreign lands including to embassies and missions in territories in Dar al-Harb. Events on these journeys would be the basis of the extant travel literature.
The performance of Rihla was considered in Moorish al-Andalus as a qualifier for teachers and political leaders. These journeys also coincided with the end of the Mongol invasions and a new opportunity for Islamic expansion.
The travel narratives of Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta are perceived as archetypical exponents of the flowering of the rihla genre, but should not be perceived as its founders. Concerning Ibn Jubayr's journey to Mecca in 1183, one writer claimed that "...his two-year journey made a considerable impact on literary history. His account of his travels and tribulations in the East served as the foundational work of a new genre of writing, the rihla, or the creative travelogue: a mix of personal narrative, description, opinion and anecdote. In following centuries, countless people emulated and even plagiarized him." Travel narratives were written prior to Ibn Jubayr's; for example, the 12th century rihla of Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, and accounts of foreign lands visited by merchants and diplomats (such as the 9th century accounts of India and China by Abu Zayd al-Sirafi, and the 10th century rihla by Ibn Fadlan with the Abbasid mission to the Volga) long predate Ibn Jubayr's travelogue.
The best known rihla narrative is Ibn Battuta's Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling (Tuḥfat an-Nuzzar fi Gharaʾib al-Amsar wa ʿAjaʾib al-Asfar), often referred to as the Travels of Ibn Battuta, or Rihlat Ibn Batutah). The Travels was dictated to Ibn Juzayy on orders from the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris who was impressed by the story of Ibn Battuta. Although Ibn Battuta was an accomplished and well-documented explorer, his travels were unknown outside the Islamic world for many years.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Jubayr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihla
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Jubayr
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