What is Ibn Fadlan’s attitude toward peoples whose practices differ from those in the Islamic world?
What is Ibn Fadlan’s attitude toward peoples whose practices differ from those in the Islamic world?
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What is Ibn Fadlan’s attitude toward peoples whose practices differ from those in the Islamic world?
Transcribed Image Text:Ibn Fadlan's Description of a Rus Burial
Ithough Ibn Fadlan, an envoy from the
Abbasid court, looked down on the Rus
I las coarse and uncivilized, his account of a
king's funeral is the most detailed description of
pre-Christian Rus religious beliefs and practices sur-
viving today. It is particularly moving because he
was able to observe a young girl who died so that
she could be buried with her lord. The Angel of
Death who kills the girl may have been a priestess
of either Frey or Odin, whose devotees sometimes
engaged in sex as part of their fertility rites. While
A
Ibn Fadlan clearly finds the Rus funerary practices
strange, the Scandinavian he quotes at the end
of this selection finds the Islamic practice of burial
equally alien.
Source: From James E Montgomery, "Ibn Fadlan and
the Rusiyyah," Joumal of Arabic and Isamic Studies 3
(2000): 12-20. http://www.lancs.ac.uk/jais/volume/docs/
vol3/3_001-25_MÓNTGOljun24a.pdf. Reprinted by
pemission of Lancaster University.
I was told that when their chieftalns die, the
least they do is cremate them. I was very keen
to verify this, when I learned of the death
of one of their great men. They placed him
in his grave and erected a canopy over it for
ten days, until they had finished making and
sewing his funeral garments.
In the case of a poor man they build a
small boat, place him inside and burn it. In
the case of a rich man, they gather together his
possessions and divide them into three, one
third for his family, one third to use for his
funeral garments, and one third with which
they purchase alcohol which they drink on
the day when his slave-girl kills herself and is
cremated together with her master. (They are
addicted to alcohol, which they drink night
and day. Sometimes one of them dies with
the cup still in his hand.)
When their chieftain dies, his family ask
his slave-girls and slave-boys, "Who among
you will die with him?" and some of them
reply, "I shall." Having said this, it becomes
incumbent on the person and it is impossl-
ble ever to tum back. Should that person try
to, he is not permitted to do so. It is usually
slave-girls who make this offer.
will die with him?" and one of them sald, "I
shall." So they placed two slave-girls in charge
of her to take care of her and accompany her
wherever she went, even to the polnt of oc-
caslonally washing her feet with their own
hands. They set about attending to the dead
man, preparing his clothes for him and set-
ting right all that he needed. Every day the
slave-girl would drink alcohol and would sing
merrily and cheerfully.
On the day when he and the slave-girl
were to be burned I arrived at the river where
his ship was. To my surprise I discovered that
It had been beached and that four planks
of birch and other types of wood had been
placed in such a way as to resemble scaffold-
Ing. Then the ship was hauled and placed on
top of this wood. They advanced, going to
and fro around the boat uttering words which
I did not understand, while he was still in his
grave and had not been exhumed.
Then they produced a couch and placed
It on the ship, covering it with quilts made of
Byzantine silk brocade and cushions made of
Byzantine silk brocade. Then a crone arrived
whom they called the "Angel of Death" and
she spread on the couch the coverings we
have mentioned. She is responsible for hav-
Ing his garments sewn up and putting him in
When that man whom I mentioned
earlier died, they sald to his slave-girls, "Who
![order and it is she who kills the slave-glrls. I
myself saw her: a gloomy, corpulent woman,
nelther young nor old.
When they came to his grave, they re-
moved the soil from the wood and then
his male-slaves. He summons me, so bring
me to him."...
The men came with their shields and
sticks and handed her a cup of alcohol over
which she chanted and then drank.
removed the wood, exhuming him still
dressed in the izar [clothing] in which he had
died.... They carried him inside the pavilion
on the ship and laid him to rest on the quilt,
propping him with cushions. ... Next they
brought bread, meat, and onions, which they
cast in front of him, a dog, which they cut
in two and which they threw onto the ship,
and all of his weaponry, which they placed
beside him....
At the time of the evening prayer on
Friday, they brought the slave-girl to a thing
they had constructed, like a door-frame. She
placed her feet on the hands of the men
and was ralsed above the door-frame. She
Six men entered the pavilion and all had
intercourse with the slave girl. They laid her
down beside her master and two of them took
hold of her feet, two her hands. The crone
called the "Angel of Death" placed a rope
around her neck in such a way that the ends
crossed one another and handed it to two of
the men to pull on it. She advanced with a
broad-bladed dagger and began to thrust it
in and out between her ribs, now here, now
there, while the two men throttled her with
the rope until she died.
Then the deceased's next of kin ap-
proached and took hold of a plece of wood
and set fire to it....A dreadful wind arose and
sald something and they brought her down.
[This happened two more times.] They next
the flames leapt higher and blazed flercely.
One of the Rus stood beside me and Iheard
handed her a hen. She cut off its head and
threw it away. They took the hen and threw it
on board the ship.
I quizzed the interpreter about her ac-
tions and he sald, "The first time they lifted
her, she sald, "Behold, I see my father and my
mother.' The second time she sald, 'Behold,
I see all of my dead kindred, seated.' The
third time she said, 'Behold I see my master,
him speaking to my interpreter. I quizzed him
about what he had sald, and he replied, "He
sald, You Arabs are a foolish lot!" So I sald,
"Why is that?" and he replied, "Because you
purposely take those who are dearest to you
and whom you hold in highest esteem and
throw them under the earth, where they are
eaten by the earth, by vermin and by worms,
whereas we bum them in the fire there and
seated in Paradise. Paradise is beautiful and
then, so that they enter Paradise immediately."
Then he laughed loud and long.
verdant. He is accompanied by his men and](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2Fbcc4ce57-063b-4a68-8ec2-495110c1a914%2F807ac599-0402-44a2-a773-977d8fc87bb0%2Fciex7mw_processed.png&w=3840&q=75)
Transcribed Image Text:order and it is she who kills the slave-glrls. I
myself saw her: a gloomy, corpulent woman,
nelther young nor old.
When they came to his grave, they re-
moved the soil from the wood and then
his male-slaves. He summons me, so bring
me to him."...
The men came with their shields and
sticks and handed her a cup of alcohol over
which she chanted and then drank.
removed the wood, exhuming him still
dressed in the izar [clothing] in which he had
died.... They carried him inside the pavilion
on the ship and laid him to rest on the quilt,
propping him with cushions. ... Next they
brought bread, meat, and onions, which they
cast in front of him, a dog, which they cut
in two and which they threw onto the ship,
and all of his weaponry, which they placed
beside him....
At the time of the evening prayer on
Friday, they brought the slave-girl to a thing
they had constructed, like a door-frame. She
placed her feet on the hands of the men
and was ralsed above the door-frame. She
Six men entered the pavilion and all had
intercourse with the slave girl. They laid her
down beside her master and two of them took
hold of her feet, two her hands. The crone
called the "Angel of Death" placed a rope
around her neck in such a way that the ends
crossed one another and handed it to two of
the men to pull on it. She advanced with a
broad-bladed dagger and began to thrust it
in and out between her ribs, now here, now
there, while the two men throttled her with
the rope until she died.
Then the deceased's next of kin ap-
proached and took hold of a plece of wood
and set fire to it....A dreadful wind arose and
sald something and they brought her down.
[This happened two more times.] They next
the flames leapt higher and blazed flercely.
One of the Rus stood beside me and Iheard
handed her a hen. She cut off its head and
threw it away. They took the hen and threw it
on board the ship.
I quizzed the interpreter about her ac-
tions and he sald, "The first time they lifted
her, she sald, "Behold, I see my father and my
mother.' The second time she sald, 'Behold,
I see all of my dead kindred, seated.' The
third time she said, 'Behold I see my master,
him speaking to my interpreter. I quizzed him
about what he had sald, and he replied, "He
sald, You Arabs are a foolish lot!" So I sald,
"Why is that?" and he replied, "Because you
purposely take those who are dearest to you
and whom you hold in highest esteem and
throw them under the earth, where they are
eaten by the earth, by vermin and by worms,
whereas we bum them in the fire there and
seated in Paradise. Paradise is beautiful and
then, so that they enter Paradise immediately."
Then he laughed loud and long.
verdant. He is accompanied by his men and
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