Mapping Frontiers Across Medieval Islam

Geography, Translation and the 'Abbasid Empire

Travis Zadeh

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786721310
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

The story of the 9th-century caliphal mission from Baghdad to discover the legendary barrier against the apocalyptic nations of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Quran, has been either dismissed as superstition or treated as historical fact. By exploring the intellectual and literary history surrounding the production and early reception of this adventure, Travis Zadeh traces the conceptualization of frontiers within early 'Abbasid society and re-evaluates the modern treatment of marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Islamic descriptions of the world. Examining the roles of translation, descriptive geography, and salvation history in the projection of early 'Abbasid imperial power, this book is essential for all those interested in Islamic studies, the 'Abbasid dynasty and its politics, geography, religion, Arabic and Persian literature and European Orientalism.

APPENDIX 1

THE DISSEMINATION OF THE ADVENTURE

Manuscripts of Ibn Khurradādhbih, al-Masālik wa ‘l-mamālik

Bodleian Library, Oxford University

B = MS Hunt 433, al-Masālik wa ‘l-mamālik fī ṣifat al-arḍ [Uri, Bibliothecae Bodleianae, §993], 82 fols. An abridgment, dated 631/1232. Opening folio in a different hand. Lacuna between fol. 81b–82a.

H = MS Hunt 538, excerpt of Ibn Khurradādhbih in Ibn Ḥawqal, al-Masālik wa ‘l-mamālik [Uri, Bibliothecae Bodleianae, §963], fols. 139b–145b.

Bibliothèque national de France, Paris

P = Supplément arabe 895, Kitāb fīhi ṣifat al-arḍ. . . wa ‘l-masālik wa ‘l-mamālik [de Slane, Catalogue des manuscrits arabes, §2213], 54 fols. A nineteenth-century copy based on Bodleian, MS Hunt 433.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

V = MS Mixt. 783, Kitāb masālik wa ‘l-mamālik ʿan Ibn Khurradādhbih [Loebenstein, Katalog, §2403], 77 fols. Undated, provenance note dated 756/1355. Worm-eaten, damaged by moisture, several portions have been taped over and recopied, three different hands, last section appears to be a later addition, fols. 75a–77a.

Figure 3: Recensions of Sallām’s Adventure

APPENDIX 2

THE VIENNA RECENSION

The following is a translation of Sallām’s adventure as it appears in the copy of al-Masālik wa ‘l-mamālik, housed in Vienna MS Mixt. 783 [MS V, fols. 68b–72a]. Double brackets mark sections that have been copied or glued over in the manuscript and recopied; bracketed parentheses indicate marginal notes, while single brackets indicate my own clarifications. The paragraph numbers are collated with appendices 3 and 4; the asterisks mark notable divergences, and paragraph numbers marked with asterisks indicate sections not present in the Bodleian and Paris recensions.

Description of the Barrier of Gog and Magog

[§1] Sallām the Interpreter informed me that when al-Wāthiq bi‘llāh dreamt in his sleep that the barrier which Dhū ‘l-Qarnayn had built between us and Gog and Magog had opened, he asked for a man to set out to its location and seek information about its condition.

[§2*] So Ashinās said, “There is no one more appropriate than Sallām the Interpreter.” [For] he could speak thirty languages.

[§3] [Sallām] said: So al-Wāthiq summoned me and said, “I want you to set out for the wall in order to inspect it and return to me with an account (khabar) of it.”

[§4*] He outfitted me with fifty strong young men and gave me five thousand dinars and a personal indemnity of ten thousand dirhams and he ordered that each man be given a thousand dirhams and daily sustenance to last a year.

[§5*] He ordered that there be prepared for the men felt coats wrapped in leather, and that there be made ready for them fur saddlecloths and wooden stirrups. [§6] He gave me two hundred mules for carrying supplies and water.

[§7] So we set out [V 69a] from Sāmarrāʾ with a dispatch from al-Wāthiq bi‘llāh to Isḥāq b. Ismāʿīl, the ruler of Armenia. He was in Tiflīs on our arrival. Isḥāq dispatched us to the ruler of al-Sarīr and the ruler of al-Sarīr dispatched us to the king of the Alāns and the king of the Alāns dispatched us to the Fīlān Shāh and the Fīlān Shāh dispatched us to the Ṭarkhān, king of the Khazar. We remained with the king of the Khazar for a day and a night, until he sent us off with five guides. We traveled away from [the king of the Khazar] for twenty-six days.

[§8] Then we came upon a putrid black land. Before entering this land, we had prepared for ourselves vinegar to smell in lieu of the vile odor. For ten days we traveled in this land. Then we reached ruined cities and we traveled through them for twenty days.* We inquired about these cities and were informed that Gog and Magog had breached them and then destroyed them. Then we traveled through fortifications near the mountain range on a branch [of which] is located the barrier [cf. Masālik, 163, note i].

[§9] A tribe who speak Arabic and Persian populate these fortifications. They are Muslims and they recite the Qurʾān; they have Qurʾānic schools and mosques. They asked about us and where we were from. We informed them that we were messengers of the Commander of the Faithful.

They grew astonished and exclaimed, “The Commander of the Faithful!?”

We replied, “Yes.”

They asked, “Is he old or young?”

We replied, “He is young.”

They were equally astonished and inquired, “Where is he?” We responded, “In Iraq, in a city called Sāmarrāʾ.”

They replied, “We have never heard of this before.”

[§10*] The distance between one fortification to the next ranges from one to two farasakhs.

[§11*] Then we traveled [69b] [[to a city called Unkuh [?]. Its perimeter is ten farsakhs and it has iron gates which are lowered from above]]. In the city are cultivated fields and mills. This is the city in which Dhū ‘l-Qarnayn resided with his army. A distance of three days’ journey separates the city from the rampart. Fortifications and towns line the way until the rampart is reached on the third day. The barrier is [located in] a mountain enclosure.

[§12*] They say that Gog and Magog live in [this enclosure] and that they are of two kinds. They mention that [those of] Gog are taller than [those of] Magog and that one of them is an arm’s length or an arm’s length and a half tall [[more or less]].

[§13*] Then [[we reached a high mountain on which is a fortification and the barrier]] that Dhū ‘l-Qarnayn had built. This is the pass, [(which is a valley)], between the two mountain sides, the width of which is two hundred cubits. This is the path from which [Gog and Magog] will set off to scatter across the earth.

[§14*] So [Dhū ‘l-Qarnayn] dug the foundation of the rampart thirty cubits into the ground and he built it up with iron and copper until the foundation reached the surface of the earth. Then he erected two doorposts, which are next to the mountain on both sides of the pass.

[§15] The width of each doorpost is twenty-five cubits, and they are fifty cubits high. [(At their base each of these posts protrudes ten cubits from the gate.)] All of this is constructed with bricks of iron set into copper.

[§16] Each brick measures a cubit and a half squared by four fingers thick.

[§17] A lintel (darwand) of iron, five cubits thick, stretches across the two doorposts, the length of which is one hundred and twenty-five cubits, mounted over the doorposts extending on each side for a distance of ten cubits.

[§18] Over the lintel [V 70a] is a wall of iron bricks set in copper that extends to the top of the mountain. It rises as far as the eye can see, stretching above the lintel for about sixty cubits.*

[§19] Above this are iron merlons; on top of each merlon are two angled points (qurnatān) that face each other.

[§20*] Each merlon is five cubits tall by four cubits wide, and there are a total of thirty-seven merlons [lining the wall].

[§21] As for the iron gate, it has two door panels which are sealed shut, each panel is fifty cubits long, seventy-five cubits high, and five cubits thick.* The two panels hinge on thick vertical pivot bars set into the lintel.

[§22*] No wind enters either through the gate or the mountain pass, as though it were made of one single mass.

[§23] On the gate is a bolt, which is seven cubits long and the thickness of an arm-span in circumference.

[§24*] Two men alone would be unable to fasten the bolt.

[§25] The bolt is twenty-five cubits above the ground. Five cubits above the bolt is the lock, which is longer than the bolt. It is secured by two hasps, which are each two cubits long. On the lock is attached a key, which is a cubit and a half long; it has twelve teeth, each tooth is in the form of a pestle used in mortars. The key’s circumference is four handspans; it is connected to a chain welded to the gate,* which is eight cubits long and four fingers thick in circumference. Each ring on the chain is like the ring of a ballista.

[§26] The lower threshold (ʿataba) of the gate is ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits long, not including what is under the base of the two doorposts, and rises up five cubits. [V 70b] All of this is measured [[in the black cubit.

[§27] Along the gate are two fortifications]], a fresh spring is located [[at the gates of each of these two fortifications]] and before [[each one are two trees. Located in one of the fortifications]] are the construction tools with which the barrier was built, including iron cauldrons and iron mixing rods. On each trivet are four cauldrons, similar to cauldrons for making soap. Here the remaining iron bricks have all clumped together with rust.

[§28] The guardian of these fortifications rides in every Monday and Thursday.* They inherit [watch over] the gate just as the caliphs inherit the caliphate.* He rides in with three men who bear around their necks an iron mallet.

[§29*] At the gate are stairs which he climbs to the highest step, whereupon he strikes the bolt, once in the early morning, in order to listen to [Gog and Magog], who clamor up like a nest of hornets, and only after a while do they quiet down. In the afternoon he will strike it once more, and he will lean in with his ear against the gate. They clamor the second time more fiercely than the first, and after a bit they quiet down. Come evening he will strike it a third time and again they will make tremendous noise. He will then wait until sunset.

[§31] Then once again he will strike the bolt so that those behind [the gate] can hear and understand that there are guards there. And the guards inspect to see that those on the other side have not damaged the gate in any way.

[§32] Near this spot is a large fortification ten farsakhs by ten farsakhs, with an area of one hundred farsakhs.

[§33*] Sallām said: I asked those who were present from the people of the fortifications [V 71a], “Has there ever been any kind of damage to the gate?”

They said, “Nothing has ever occurred except for this crack.” The crack was the width of a thin thread.

I then replied, “Are you nervous at all about [this crack]?”

They responded, “No. For this gate is five cubits wide using the Alexandrian cubit.” This cubit measures a cubit and a half according to the black cubit. Each cubit was the length of Alexander’s forearm.

Sallām stated: I drew close and I took out from my leggings a knife and I scraped the spot of the crack, and there broke off a piece the size of half a dirham. So I packed it securely into a cloth in order to show it to al-Wāthiq bi‘llāh.

High above the right doorpost there was an inscription in iron, written in the first language: When the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will flatten [the rampart], the promise of my Lord is true [Q. 18:98].

[§34*] We examined the structure and the majority of it is lined with rows of yellow bricks made from copper and rows of black bricks made from iron.

[§35*] There was a place dug out on the mountain in which the gates were cast, along with the location where the cauldrons were used to mix the copper, and where the lead and copper were poured out. The cauldrons looked to be of brass. On each one were ha...