Ibn Fadlan: an Arab Among the Vikings of Russia
Overview
In 921, the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan (fl. 920s) went on a diplomatic mission to what is now Russia. There he encountered numerous Turkic peoples, among them the Khazars, one of the few groups in history outside of Israel to adopt Judaism. But perhaps the most memorable passages in the Risala, his account of his journeys, concern the Varangians, a group of Vikings known by a term that would eventually become the name of the surrounding country itself: Rus.
Background
Ibn Fadlan traveled on orders from al-Muqtadir (r. 908-932), ruler of the Abbasid caliphate. Though by Ibn Fadlan's time the influence of the caliphs—imperial leaders who possessed religious as well as political authority—had declined somewhat, the Abbasid dynasty still remained the single most powerful force east of the Byzantine Empire and west of China. Through military might, combined with their fervent belief in Islam, the soldiers of the Umayyad caliphate (661-750) had extended Arab influence from Spain to India; and though the Abbasids (750-1258) proved less aggressive militarily, they were nonetheless eager missionaries for the Muslim faith.
Hence the purpose of Ibn Fadlan's mission: to explain Islamic law to the recently converted Volga Bulgars.
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