The people of Siraf (8) also make this voyage. And I myself have sailed on this sea, setting off from Sohar (or Sanjar), the capital of Oman,  in the company of Sirafi ship-owners who were ship captains Muhammad bin Zaidabud and Jawhar bin Ahmed surnamed Ibn Sirah, who was later lost at sea with his ship.

My last voyage from Qanbalu (7) to Oman was in A.H. 304 (AD 916) on the ship belonging to Ahmad and Abd al-Samad, who were the brothers of Abd al-Rahim ibn Ja'far al-Sirafi, a native from Mikan, which is a quarter of Siraf (8). They were both lost at sea with all their goods later on. The Amir of Oman at the time of my last voyage was Ahmed ibn Hilal (62), son of a sister of al-Qital (63).

I have sailed much on the seas, those of China, Rum, the Khazar (15), Qulzum (Red Sea) and Yemen, but no sea is more dangerous than the Bahr al-Zanj. 

It is there that you meet the fish called el-owal (whale), which measures sometimes up to 4 to 500 elbows omari, which is the measure in this country, but its normal length is 100 elbows. Often, in calm weather, it comes partly above water his "arms" look like big sails of a boot, with intervals, he puts his head up and blows out a water column which goes higher then an arrow can fly. The sailors being day and night afright of him threw pieces of wood at him or play the drum to keep him away. It is with his tail and "arms" that he moves and brings the fish on which he feeds into his mouth.... 

P236

The sea of the Zendj still has several other kind of fish, who present the most different forms. Without the  human tendency to ignore what one does not know, and the habit to reject everything that is different from his normal experiences we would be able to talk about a big number of wonderful things in this sea, about snakes and the animals that are in it and in general all the phenomenon that belong to the seas. 

But let us return to our subject and describe the ramifications of the Abyssinian Sea, its channels, gulfs, and coastal lands that it forms. An other canal derived from the sea of Abyssinia goes up to the town of Kolzoum (Red Sea), in the territory of Egypt, and three days distant from Fostat (old Cairo) This channel, which passes by Eilah (Eilat), Hedjaz (16), Djeddah (17) and Yemen, has a length of 1400 miles by 200 miles wide, at its smallest and 700 miles wide at its largest. In front of Hedjah (16) and the town of Eilah (Eilat), on the western side of the gulf, you find the land of Allaki, the territories of Aidab (18) situated in upper Egypt and in the land of Bedjah (19), then comes the land of the Abyssinians and the Negroes till there where the Gulf joins the extend of the land of the Zendjs, not to far from the land of Sofala. At the Sofalah of the country of the Zanj another gulf branches off, and this is the Persian sea which comes up to el-Obollah (20), to the Khashabat (21), (the wooden sea-marks), and to Abbadan (22) which belongs to el-Basrah.

P241

On this sea (Persian Gulf) extending from China along India, Faris (23), Oman, Al Basra, Al Bahrein, Yemen, Abyssinia, Al Hejaz (5), Al Kulzum (Red Sea), Az Zanj, As Sind (1) and the islands which it surrounds are so many and various nations that their description and number is known only to the Almighty. From the countries which form the coast of this sea, come different sorts of perfumes, scents, ambergris, various drugs used in medicine, plantains, cinnamon, cinnabar and incense.

P242-243

The sea that is collectively known as the sea of Abyssinie, and its subdivisions which have particular names, like the sea of Fars (23), the sea of Yemen, of Kolzoum, Abyssinie, Zendj, Sind (1), India, Kalah (in Malaysia), of Zabedj (Sumatra), and of China, all are subject to different winds.

P245

The ebb is the going out of the water, and rests on laws which are the reverse of those of the flow.

This may be observed in the Abyssinian sea, which comprehends the seas of China, India, and the gulfs of el-Berbera and Faris (Fars in Iran), as we have said in the preceding chapter.

P268

Such is the adventure of Amran, son of Jabir (24), who went up the Nile to its source and crossed the sea on the back of an animal which he held strongly by the mane. It is a marine animal of such size, that to measure it only up to a small part of its legs, it exceeds the disc of the sun, from the beginning of its rising until its sunset. The monster had its mouth open in the direction of the sun, as if to suck it. Amran passed the sea clinging to the animal's mane while he was moving; he thus saw the water of the Nile coming from paradise and springing from some golden castles. After having received from the king a bunch of grapes, he returned to the man who had seen him leave, and who had taught him how he should go to the source of the Nile; but he found him dead. Then Amran, with his bunch of grapes, had to deal with the devil. This story, and other more wonderful still invented after the fact, are due to the imagination of the traditionalists.

P282

I have noticed that the sailors of Siraf and Oman, who travel the seas of China, India, Sind, Zendj (Zanguebar) of Yemen Kolzoum and Abyssinia, never were generally in agreement with the philosophers, of which we retraced the opinions, about the vastness of those seas, they even say that at certain places the sea is unlimitedly big. (25)

P333

The collective sea of Abyssinia; it holds in its immensity the sea of Zendj, and reaches the shores of that country. Amber is rare in the sea of Larewi (26), but it is found in big quantities on the Zendj shores and the coast of ech-Chihr (27) in Arabia.

P334

The best Amber (57) is that found in the islands and on the shores of the Zanj sea: it is round and pale blue, sometimes as big as an ostrich egg; sometimes slightly less. The fish called the whale, which I have already mentioned, swallows it: when the sea is very rough it vomits up pieces of amber as large as rocks, which are later swallowed by other fish. It is asphyxiated by them and then swims up to the surface. Then the Zanj, or men from other lands, who have been biding their time in their boats, seize the fish with harpoons and tackle, cut its stomach open, and take the amber out. The pieces found near the bowels have a nauseating smell, and are called mand by the Iraqi and Persian chemists: but the pieces found near the back are purer then those which have been a long time in the inner part of the body... Amber comes from the bottom of the sea, where it is formed like the bitumen white or black. (57)

P356

The king of China, of the Turks, of India, of the Zandj and the other parts of the world, all view the king of Babel (28) as their superior; they agree he is the first king of the universe. This was the case in ancient times. But now…

P367

The principal ingredients of perfumes are five musk camphor aloes ambergris and saffron they all come from India except saffron and ambergris which are found in the country of the Zanj in esh Shihr and Spain

P371

Let us come back to the different Kings of the earth and the list of the Kingdoms which we still have to describe on the coast of Abyssinia. The king of Zanj is called Flimi (59); the one of the Alains (29), Kerkendadj; the one of Hirah (30), of the family of the Beni-Nasr Noman and Mondir; the one from the mountains of Tabarestan (31), Karen...

P381

Later in this book when we talk about the land of the Zendj, we will speak about the elephant and his way of living in those parts, where they are more numerous then anywhere else, and where they live in the wild.    

P386-387

The rhino horn is white, with a black figure in the middle, which represents men, or a bird with a big tail, or a fish, or the rhino itself or a different animal from those regions. With ropes they make belts of it in which the pieces of horn are put with gold and silver or a mixture with other metals. The kings and the important ones of China like these jewelry above all, they even pay as much as 2000 or 3000 dinars (32) for it. Gold is used in it and the total is of such splendor and also strong, sometimes different kinds of precious stones are put in it, fixed in it with gold nails. The images of which we talked are normally traced in black onto the white of the horn, sometimes the opposite. Sometimes however with horns from different regions, the horn does not show these drawings.

 

PART 2

P230

However, the wild elephants, originating from the Zendjes country, are several cubits (33) taller than the ones we are talking about, and we can judge by the tusks that come from this country: some weigh from one hundred fifty to two hundred men (maund) , weighing two ratals (0.8kg), Baghdad's pounds. So the size of the tusks is always proportionate to that of the body of the elephant.

P292

All the princes who reigned over the Greeks after Alexander, son of Philip, were called Ptolemy, of a name which was common to them all, as the title of Kosroes was to all the kings of Persia, that of Caesar. to all the kings of Rome, that of Tobbah to all the kings of Yemen, that of Nedjachi to all the kings of Abyssinia, and that of Flimi (59) to all the princes of Zendj.

P361

(When talking about the Nile) We already spoke in our previous books about the mountain el-Komr where its source is.

P378

Ibn Tulun, who was appointed governor of Egypt in 868, learned of an aged Copt from Upper Egypt who was said to be 130 years old. As the old man was reputed to have "journeyed to numerous lands and realms" and to be "highly knowledgeable about their cities and about Egypt and its blessed Nile," Ibn Tulun ordered him brought in. "When the man was brought to the court, the signs of his decrepitude were obvious, but he still had a clear mind, was fully cognizant of what was said to him and thoroughly lucid in his responses."

After Ibn Tulun inquired into the secret behind the old man's longevity, he went on to ask about the sources of the Nile. The aged Copt responded, "The source of the Nile is a vast lake which is located at that geographical point where night and day are always of equal duration."

P383

Behind the land of Alawah (34) (Lowata), there lives a numerous population of blacks called Bekneh (35) (Bedjneh); they are naked as the Zendj; there are gold mines in their territory.  It is in this country that the Nile splits, and gives birth to a big canal that when separating from the Nile, becomes green. The main river, the real Nile, goes without changes towards the land of the Nubiens. But at certain times of the year the big branch of the Nile, becomes white, while the small one becomes green. This canal divides in several small branches through inhabited valleys, then it arrives at the southern desert at the coast of the Zendjs where it throws itself into the sea.

 

PART 3

P1-2-3-4-5

Noah's posterity began to spread all over the earth, the sons of Kush, sons of Canaan (Cham) followed a western direction and crossed the Nile. There they formed new groups, some of them, the Nubians, Beeljah (35) and the Zinj, turned to the right  between the east and the west. The others, in great numbers, went westwards in the direction of Zagawah (36), Canem, Makah, Ghanah (37), and other parts of the land of the Blacks and the Dendemeh (3). Those who had taken the right between east and west soon separated again, thus forming several tribes of the Zinj such as the Makir (38) (or Mekir), Maskar (or Mechkir), the Marira and  others (16).

The land of the Zanj produces wild leopard skins. The people wear them as clothes, or export them to Muslim countries. They are the largest leopard skins and the most beautiful for making saddles.

The Sea of Zanj and that of Abyssinia lie on right of the sea of India and join up. They also export tortoise-shell for making combs, for which ivory is likewise used as well as bracelets and several kinds of jewelry. The most common animal in these countries is the giraffe: it generally lives in Nubia, and is not found in any part of Abyssinia. People do not agree on the origin of the giraffe. The ones consider them as a variety of the camel, others say that its form is due to crossing a camel with a panther, others still say it is a distinct species just like the horse, the donkey and the bull, and not a crossbreed, like the mule, which you get by crossing a horse with a donkey. The giraffe is called in Persian uchturgav. It got send as a present from Nubia to Persia, as it got later offered to the Arabs, to the first Abbasite Caliphs and to the governors of Egypt. This animal has the front legs and the neck very long, the rear legs way smaller. The front legs are the only ones having a knee. El-Djahiz (6), in his book on animals, gives long details on the origin of the giraffe. According to him a big amount of wild beasts come together, during the summer heads, on the shores of the vast watery plains at the extremity of Nubia. From the crossing that results from it, some are sterile, while others give birth to very varied forms among them the giraffe. This animal has forked feet, its back is backwards inclined because his rear legs are very short. The origin of the giraffe has given birth to a lot of discussion. 

P6-7-8-9

A long discussion about the giraffe is found in the big book of animals of Aristotle (39); that author explains there the function of each part of the giraffe and in general for all animals. We borrowed from him in our book Questions and Experience, everything that is good to know on this subject. The giraffe is remarkable by his softness and the affection that it gives to its family. In this species, just like among the elephants, there are wild individuals and domestic ones.                 

The Zinj , with other Abyssinian tribes spread themselves to the right of the Nile, down to the extremity of the Sea of Abyssinia. Of all the Abyssinian (Ahabish) tribes the Zinj were the only ones who had crossed a tributary of the Nile (the Jubb (40)) which flowed into a bay or canal, which in turn opened into the Indian Ocean. Only the  Zendjs cross the arm that splits of from the upper Nile, and throws itself in the sea that wears the name of those people, they fix themselves on the beaches, and extend their homes up to Sofala, which is the limit of their land. Their country goes down as far as the country of Sofala and the Waqwaq. There is the furthest limit for the voyages from Oman and Siraf on the Sea of the Zanj. In the same way that the sea of china ends with the lands of Sirla (Japan), the sea of Zanj ends with the land of Sofala and the Waq-waq, which produces gold and many other wonderful things. It has a wonderful climate and is fertile.

It is there that the Zanj build their capital (dar mamlaka): then they elected whom they called Waklimi (or Flimi) (or Ouaqlimi)(59) (the word means son of the supreme Lord "ibn er-Rabb el-Kebir"). This name… has always been that of their sovereigns. The Waklimi has  under him all the other Zanj kings, and commands three hundred thousand men. The Zanj use the ox (80) as a beast of burden, for their country has no horses or mules or camels and they do not even know these animals. Snow and hail are unknown to them as to all Abyssinians. Some of their tribes have sharpened teeth and are cannibals. The land of Zanj begins with a branch which leaves the upper Nile and continues to the land of Sofala and the waqwaq. Their settlements extend over an area of about 700 parasangs (12) in length and in breath; this country  is divided by valleys, mountains and stony deserts. Elephants are extremely common in the land of the Zinj; but they are wild and none are kept in captivity. The natives do not employ them in warfare nor for any other purpose, but they hunt them merely to kill them. When they want to catch them, they throw in the water the leaves, bark and branches of a certain tree which grows in their country: then they wait in ambush until the elephant comes to drink. The water makes them drunk and sick. They fall down and can not get up: their limbs will not move anymore. The Zanj rush upon them, armed with very long spears and kill them for their ivory.

It is from this country that large elephant tusks of fifty pounds and more are obtained. (Tusks from the country of Zanj) go generally to Oman, and from there are send on to China and India. This is the chief trade route, and were it otherwise, ivory would be very abundant in Muslim countries. In China the kings and their military and civilian officers use carrying-chairs of ivory; no official or person of rank would dare to visit the king in an iron chair, and ivory alone is used for this purpose. Thus they seek after strait tusks in preference to the curved, to make the things we talked about. They also burn ivory before their idols and sense their altars with it, just as Christians use the Mary incense and other perfumes. The Chinese make no use of the elephant, and consider it unlucky to use it for domestic purposes or for war. This fear has its origin in a tradition about one of their most ancient expeditions. Ivory is much prized in India; there it is made into handles for the daggers known as harari as well as for the hilts of curved swords called kartal. But the biggest use of ivory is in the manufacture of chessmen and gaming pieces.               

Several pieces of chess represent figures of people or animals, sometimes a bit bigger then one empan (22-25 cm), this makes that the players sometimes have during their game an assistant to carry the pieces from one place to another.

P11

In the Land of the Zinj the elephant lives about 400 years, according to what the people say, and they speak with certainty of having met an elephant so tall that it was impossible to kill him…

P18

It is only in the land of Zenj and in India that elephants reproduce. In India and in Sind their ivory is not as much developed then at the Zendjes, these ones as well as the Indians make belts with the skin of the elephant, who really do not have the strength of those that come from China, Tibet or the Bedja (19). The leather is inferior to the one that has been formed in the milk…

P25

People watch to explain why the elephant can only be found with the Zendjs and in Sind, why it does not exists outside there, why it dislikes an animal as enormous as the rhinoceros and flies when meeting a cat.

 

P26

Now let us return to our subject of the beginning of the chapter, the Zanj, the description of their country and of the other people of Abyssinia. The Zanj, although always busied hunting the elephant and collecting its ivory, make no use of it for domestic purposes. The zanj use iron for ornament instead of gold and silver just as they use oxen (80), as we said previously to carry loads as well as for war, instead of camels and horses.

P29

To come back to the Zanj of Sofala and their kings, the name of the king of the country is Waklimi which means supreme lord; they give this title to their sovereign because he has been chosen to govern them justly. If he becomes tyrannical  or strayed from the truth he is killed and his seed excluded from the throne for ever, for they claim that in thus conducting himself he ceases to be the son of the Master, that is to say of the king of heaven and earth. They call God by the name of Maklandjalu (58), which means supreme Master (er-rabb el-kebir)...

P30-31

The Zanj speak  elegantly, and they have orators in their own language. Often a ascetic (zahid) man of the country, will get up and address a large crowd exhorting them to draw near to their god and render him obedience; frightening them with his punishment and authority, recalling them to the example of their former kings and ancestors (60). They have no revealed law to turn to but the customs of their kings.

The Zanj eat bananas, which are as abundant with them as in India, but the basis of their food is dhurra (sorghum), a plant called al-kalari (jams) which they take from the ground like a truffle. It is plentiful in Aden and the neighboring part of Yemen near to the town. It is like the cucumber of Egypt and Syria. They also have honey and meat. Each worships what he pleases, a plant, an animal, a mineral. They possess a great number of islands where the coconut grows, a fruit that is eaten by all the peoples of the Zanj. One of these islands, placed one or two days' journey from the coast , has inhabitants who are Muslims (fiha khala'iq min al-Muslimin) who provide the royal family. This is the Qanbalu (7) about which we have written elsewhere in this book.

 

P44

The second species (of emerald) is named maritime (bahri): it is given this name because the kings of the maritime countries like India, Sind, Zendj and China, consider it a lot and look for it to adorn their tiaras, their crowns, their rings and their bracelets.

P338

Avarice is the preserve of the Khazar (15) and the people of Harran (41), in the region of Diar-Modar (65). Rapacity is common in Persia, and parsimony in food is peculiar to Isfahan (42). Spread-out feet and flat noses are native faults in the Sudan, and gaiety is the privilege of the inhabitants of Zendj. The existence among all these peoples of the distinctive characters which we have enumerated is one of the secrets of nature, and an element of the mysterious influence of sublime beings and celestial bodies.

 

PART 4

P39

 ... the country of the Nubiens, of which the king is called Nedjachi (66), 1500 parasangs (12), by 400; the country of the Zendjes, in the east, 7600 parasangs (12) by 500 , the land of Ostoula (43), which belongs...

P59

(In a second temple build by the kings of the Slaves -in Europe) Under the right foot (of the statue) one could see …. are the feathers of birds such as black crows and other birds and also people of strange forms that belonged to the race of the Abyssinians and the Zendjes.

 

PART 6

P151

(In a discussion between an Arab an a young lady)

The Arab: By God; I’m not from among the Nomeir (67)

The young lady: From where are you?

The Arab: The Tagleb (44)

The young Lady: Do you know who has said: Do not search your ancestors among the Tagleb (44); the once of the Zendj are still better than theirs.

P276

Ahnaf ibn Qais enumerates the merits of Basra versus those of Kufa (45) (68):

Basra has reed below, woods in the middle and meadows above. We have more teak than you, more ivory and silk brocade, and likewise more sugar and more coin. Truly it is a city I always enter with joy and leave with regret.

 

PART 7

P405

Under the Caliph Moutazz, in 252 A.H. (69) we have the first symptoms of discord between the Bellalities and the Saadites (46) breaking out in Basrah; the revolt of the Zendj was the consequence of those troubles.

 

PART 8

P31

The revolt of the Zendj breaks out in Basrah, under the reign of Mouhtadi in 255 A.H. (70)That man made himself pass as Ali, son of Mohammed (son of Ahmed, son of Yca, son of Zeid, son of Ali, son of El-Hucein, son of Ali, son of Abou Talib), but according to the general opinion, this was a wrong genealogy and needs to be rejected. He came from a village called Verzenin, which depends from the province of Rey (47). His behavior proves that the accusations brought against him of belonging to the sect of the Kharijites (48) called Azrakites (49) is true; because he killed the women, the children, the old and all those of whom the live has to be spared, this proves how much this accusation is real. We have also preserved one of his sayings, which starts with the words; (profession of faith of the Kharedjites); God is great, God is Great, there is no other God then God, God is great, to God alone belongs the command, he also kept to saying that all sin makes you into an infidel. He puts himself at the head of the Zendj, they revolt in Bir Nakhl (the holes of the palm trees) between Medinet el-Fath and Kerkh-Basrah (50), Thursday third day before the end of the Ramadan, in 255 A.H., they conquer Basrah in 257 and got killed Saturday 2 of safer (53) 270, under the Caliph Moutamid-Alallah (51).

P57-58-59-60-61

Mouaffak (52) starts his campaign against the chef of the Zendj in the month of safar 267 A.H. he orders his son Abou'l-Abbas to march to Souq el-Khamis (54), where Charani, one from the Alevide (that means one of the chef of the Zendj), had been with a big party of Zendj. Abou l'Abbas conquerors that place and everything that is in there, he conquers several other towns and massacres all he meets of Zendj. From his side Mouaffak (52) enters the province of Ahwaz (55) and repairs the destruction made by the enemy, then he returns to Basrah and does not leave fighting the Zendj till he kills them. This rebel, of which the domination went on for 14 years had killed without pity kids, old people, man and women, everywhere he had brought fire and plunder. In one single battle fought close to Basrah, he had killed 300,000 people.

 Mohallebi, one of the principal officers of Ali ben Mohammed (chef of the Zendj) lived in Basrah after this battle. He had put up a seat in the quarter called 'Cemetery of the Benou-Yachkor (72). There he recites the solemn prayers, and the Friday prayer. He first calls the name of his boss Ali ben Mohammed and asks Gods protection for Abou Bekr and Omar; but he leaves out the names of Otman and Ali (71) in his reciting. Then he talks about the tyrants of the Abbas family, as well as Abou Mouca el-Achari (73), Amr, son of El-Ass (74), and Moawiah, son of Abou Sofian (75). We have earlier talked about his doctrines and added that he belongs to the sect of the Kharedijtes, called Azrakites. As those of that party who were still staying in Basrah still clung strongly to the opinion of Mohallebi and continued to united on certain Fridays, they were put outside the law. Some united to save themselves, the others were massacred or drawn. Many among them went into hiding in houses and holes, they only showed up at night and hunted dogs, rats and cats, who they killed for food, but soon those resources were exhausted and there was nothing left to eat. Then they started eating the bodies of their people who died; they waited their dead impatiently, the stronger ones killing the weaker ones. With this came a lack of drinking water. The story is told of a women being close to one of her family close to dead, the sister of the dying one was there, all those women sitting in a circle waiting for her dead to have her meat. This is what literally is the witness said; She still hadn't stopped breading, we throw us on her, and cut her in pieces, and started to devour her. Her sister was with us, while we were in a place called Yca ben Abi Harb, she starts crying. When asked why, she answered; Those women assembled around my sister, and without letting her die a natural dead, they cut her in pieces. And they stole from me the body of my sister of whom they only left me the head. And she continued this way to lament the wrong that was done to her when dividing the body. There were many scenes of this kind and even worse ones.

The Zendj army was such that they sold publicly the women of the family of Hacan, Hucein (76), and Abbas (77), the descendents of Hachem (78), of Koreich (79) and the most noble Arab families. A young girl sells for 2 to 3 dirhams, the caller screaming the genealogy in the following words; this one, daughter of , of such a family. Every black owned 10 , 20 and even 30 of those women, they served as concubines to the blacks and had to be the most humble of the slaves. One of those captives, who descended through Hacan, from Ali, son of Abou Talib, belonged to a black; she begged the chef of the Zendj, Ali ben Mahammed, to give her another master instead of the one who owned her. No answered the chef, he is your owner and fits you better then an other one.

There is speculation, about how many people died in those war years. Some make very big estimates, others with more moderation. According to the first the figure is impossible to calculate. It is only God in his complete knowledge who can know what the taking of those towns, districts and villages and the massacres that resulted from it cost in lives. The more moderates estimate the total loss in live at a half million. But both opinions rest upon unverified figures, and all absolute calculations are impossible.          

The chef of the Zendj died in 270, under the Caliph of Moutamid, as we said higher. 

P164

(a performer in front of the caliph)

I gave him my imitations of Bedouin, grammarians, transvestites, judges, gypsies, Nabateans (56), Sindi, Zanj, eunuchs and Turks…

(1) Sind: now in Pakistan.

(2) Sanf: Champa in Indochina

(3) Dendemes, Dendemeh; Dandama: East African people living in the interior, close to the sources of the Nile; also mentioned by Al Masudi (916); Al Idrisi (1150); Ibn Said (1250); Ibn al Jawzi (1257); Harrani (1300); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Abulfida (1331); Nuwayri (1333); Cowar el-aqalim (1347); Said Abd al Aziz al Dairini (d1385); Ibn Khaldun (1406); Al Qalqashandi (d1418) and Ibn al Wardi (1456) speaks about Demadam; al Himyari (1461).

(4) Galen: Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (129 – c. 216 CE), was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire.

Galen: In the black ten qualities not found or not present in the other: this statement is repeated endless: Al Amsati al Hanafi (1478), Al-Mas'udi (916), Al-Dimashqi (1325), Al-Qazwini(d. 1283); Ibn al Jawzi (1257); Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067), At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250); Abulfida (1331)

(5) Al Kindi: Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq as Sabbah al-Kindi: (d873)

(6) Amr, son of Bahr el Djahiz: see my webpage Jahiz: Sudan (d869)

(7) Qanbalu: The island of Qanbalu from where the Zanj slaves were imported till the great Zanj revolt in Basra. (Zanzibar or Pemba)

James Kirkman, the first archaeologist to excavate at the Ras Mkumbuu Ruins, located on the west coast of the Tanzanian island of Pemba in the 1950s, proposed to connect his findings with the "Qanbalu" of Jahiz (d869) en Masudi (916) and many others after them. This is however still not proven.

(8) Syraf (Siraf): was the harbour of Shiraz province of Persia; and the place of big trade with East Africa.

(9) Said: most southern part of Egypt.

(10) Beurberian: the gulf of Berbera.

(11) Al-Fazari: see my webpage Al Fazari (722).

(12) parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.

(13) Jafonni (or Djafouna)(Ras Hafoun): Hafouni: Ras Djafary or Cape Hafun; a promontory in the northeastern Bari region of Somalia.

(14) Tribe of Azd: Al-Azd: is one of the largest Arab tribes which descended from the Nabataeans, and was the first tribe to inhabit Arabia.

(15) Khazar: Semi nomadic people from south Russia, south Ukraine, Crimea, Kazakhstan.

(16) Hedjah: Hedjaz or Hijaz: the province of Mecca.

(17) Djeddah: town at the shore, close to Mecca.

(18) Aidab: Aydhab: medieval port of the Red Sea controlled by Egypt.

(19) Bedjah, Bedjneh, Beeljah : Beja people from Sudan. The Egyptians leaving from Aswan;  the southern border town on the Nile; have to cross their territory to reach the harbours on the Red Sea.

(20) el-Obollah: close to Basra.

(21) Khashabat: wooden light-houses in the Persian Gulf near Abbadan

(22) Abbadan: Abadan in the southwest of Iran.

(23)Faris: Fars province in Iran.

(24) Repeated by the following authors: Masudi (916): Amran, son of Jabir; Al-Muqaddasi: (985) has Imran; Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi  (15th): Amran ibn-Folan ibn-al-Aiss ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim; in Dawadari (1335): a man from the son of Al-Ais bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim; Suyuti (1505): Umran ben ‘Ays; Grandsonn of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126).   

(25) The philosophers had the wrong ideas, they believed that African continent went to the east; while it is in fact going south. Siraf was the harbour of Shiraz province of Persia; and the place of big trade with East Africa.

(26) sea of Larewi: In the 9th century AD, author Ya'qubi wrote: The second sea begins at Ra’s al-Jumha and is called Larwi. (=The Arabian Sea).

(27) ech-Chihr: al-shihr; coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen;

(28) Babel: Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire. The site of the ancient city lies just south of present-day Baghdad.

(29) Alains: The Alans were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus.

(30) Hirah: Al-Hirah (4th-7th centuries) served as the capital of the Lakhmids, an Arab vassal kingdom of the Sasanian Empire.

(31) Tabarestan: was the name applied to a mountainous region located in the Caspian coast of northern Iran.

(32) Dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold).

(33) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).

(34) Alawah (Lowata): one of the three Medieval Christian kingdoms in Sudan on the Nile.

(35) Bekneh (Bedjneh): Beja in N Sudan. The Egyptians leaving from Aswan;  the southern border town on the Nile; have to cross their territory to reach the harbours on the Red Sea.

(36) Zagawah: also called Beri or Zakhawa, are a Sahelian Muslim ethnic group primarily residing in Fezzan North-eastern Chad, and western Sudan, including Darfur.

(37) Canem, Makah, Ghanah, and other parts of the land of the Blacks: All in West Africa.

(38) Makir (or Mekir), Maskar (or Mechkir), the Marira and  others: No other writer mentions these tribes.

(39) Aristotle: was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.

(40) Jubb : a dug, non-masoned waterhole (according to Marcel Devic p70); the name still exists in the name of the river Jubba. Must have been close to present day Kismayo. Is mostly mentioned by Chinese authors: Yakut (1220); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Fei-Hsin (1436) has Giumbo; Xuanzong Shih-lu (1438) has Zhu-bu;  Zhang, Tingyu: Ming Shi (1739); Luo Maodeng (1597). Some authors say the channel mentioned by al Masudi (916) is the Jubba.: “…Zinj were the only ones who had crossed a tributary of the Nile (the Jubb) which flowed into a bay or canal, which in turn opened into the Indian Ocean…”.

(41) Harran, in the region of Diar-Modar: Diyar Mudar the region of the middle course of the river Euphrates.

(42) Isfahan: is a city in central Iran.

(43) Ostoula: Muslim country close to the Zanj (??)

(44)Tagleb: Banu Taglib (Tagleb): also known as Taghlib ibn Wa'il, were an Arab tribe that originated in Najd (central Arabia), but later migrated and inhabited the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) from the late 6th century onward.

This is repeated by: Al-Jahiz Al-Fakhar al-Sudan (869); Ahmed bin Yahya bin Jabir (893); Masudi (916); Ibn al-Qaysarani (1113); Ibn Al Athir (1231). Do you know who has said: Do not search your ancestors among the Tagleb; the once of the Zendj are still better than theirs: Garir (=Jarir) b. Al-Hatafa (728) in his war of poems with the black poet al-Akhtal of the Taghlibi tribe.

Ghiyath ibn Ghawth ibn al-Salt ibn Tariqa al-Taghlibi commonly known as al-Akhtal, was one of the most famous Arab poets of the Umayyad period. He belonged to the Banu Taghlib tribe, and was, like his fellow-tribesmen, a Christian.

(45) Kufa: is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres south of Baghdad.

(46) Bellalities and the Saadites: The Saadites , or Beni Sad , are the pastoral Arabs among whom Mahomet had been nurtured in his childhood.

(47) Rey: Ray is the oldest existing city in Tehran Province.

(48) Kharijites: Only the Ibadi sect in Oman (and Zanzibar) are still left of them.

(49) Azrakites: the Kharijite factions of the Azaria and Najdat came to control large areas in Persia and Arabia for a short time.

(50) Medinet el-Fath and Kerkh-Basrah: Alexandre Popovic says there is no place called Fath in the province and proposes to replace it by al-Maftha (a hamlet between Basra and Wacit).

(51) Caliph Moutamid-Alallah: Al-Muʿtamid was the Abbasid Caliph from 870 to 892.

(52) Mouaffak: the caliphal regent Abu Ahmad ibn al-Mutawakkil (known by his honorific of al-Muwaffaq).

(53) safar: is the second month of the lunar based Islamic calendar.

(54) Souq el-Khamis: literally Thursday Market

(55) Ahwaz: al-Ahwaz: is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province Iran.

(56) Nabateans: were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant.

(57) His account on ambergris: The earliest source in which this information is found is Ibn Masawaih (857), others who repeated it are: Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (d897), Ibn Rosteh (903), al Masudi (916), Ibn Serapion (950), al Tamimi (980), Abu al Mutahhar al Azdi (1010); Ibn Butlan (1066); Ibn al-Wafid (1074); Nuwayri (1333); Musa Ud-Damiri (1405); Al Qalqashandi (1418). Off course much was added and discarded on the way. The most extensive article on ambergris is from Musa Ud-Damiri (1405).

(58) Among the Zanj God is called: Al Masudi (916): Maklandjalu; Nuwairi (1333) Maklandjalu; Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903): Lamaklujlu; Abou'l Maali (1092): Falkouy Halouy; Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi (966): Malalori and Djahr; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1209): Malakira Jalawa.

(59) See note on Rulers among the Zanj on the bottom of this webpage.

(60) literary language in their own tongue, see on this: Al-Jahiz (869); Abu Zaid al Hassan(916); Al Masudi (916); Ibn al-Nadim: (987); Ibn al Jawzi (1200); Wasif Shah (1209); Dimashqi (1325); Nuwayri (1333).

(61) This comes close to the very well known hadith: Beware of the Zinj, they are a distorted creation. This hadith is repeated by: Abu Nu’aym al Isfahani 1038; Abu Ubayd al Bakri 1067; Ibn Qudama al Maqdisi 1223; Ibn al Jawzi 1257; Ibn abd al Rahman al Mizzi 1342; al Dhahabi 1348; (and many others). Al Kulayni 939 was maybe the first to use it.

(62) Ahmed ibn Hilal was a ruler of the Banu Sama State in Oman which lasted: 894-928.

(63) Al-Qital literally means war.

(64) Maunds: unit of weight, about 37 kg

(65) Diar-Modar. Diyar Mudar is the medieval Arabic name of the westernmost of the three provinces of al-Jazira, the land between Tigris and Euphrates.

(66) Nedjachi: Nedjachy (or najashi): Najashi was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum who reigned from 614–631 CE. He gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615–616 at Axum.

(67) Nomeir: Arab tribe in Yemen.

(68) Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903) in his Kitab al Buldan has a debate of the qualities of Basra in comparison with Kufa. a certain Abu Bakr al-Hudali as well as Ahnaf ibn Qais  defend Basra in front of the first Abbasid Caliph (750-754AD)

(69) Caliph Moutazz, in 252 A.H (866AD); al-Muʿtazz bi-ʾllāh was the Abbasid caliph from 866 to 869, during a period of extreme internal instability within the Abbasid Caliphate.

(70) Mouhtadi in 255 A.H.(869AD) Al-Muhtadi becomes 14^th Abbasid Caliph in 869 till 870 the former one Moutazz was assassinated. He is also assassinated.

(71) These are the first four Caliph of Islam.

(72) Benou-Yachkor: Banu Yashkur: originally from Al-Yamama and had control over this region in the pre-Islamic period.

(73) Abu Musa Abd Allah ibn Qays al-Ash'ari (602-665), better known as Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was a companion of Muhammad and an important figure in early Islamic history. He was at various times governor of Basra and Kufa and was involved in the early Muslim conquest of Persia. Wikipedia

(74) Amrou ibn al Asi: Amr ibn al-As al-Sahmi (c. 573 – 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664.

(75) Mouawiya: Moawia: Mu'awiya ibn Yazid (c. 664 – 684 CE), was the third Umayyad caliph. He ruled briefly in 683-684. After his dead Umayyad power temporarily collapsed until Marwan I took back control.

(76)Hassan and Hussein; the grandsons of the Prophet.

(77) abbas was the halfbrother of Hassan and Hussein.

(78) The Hashemites are descendants of the Prophet.

(79) Koreich: Quraysh; Quaresh: a mercantile Arab tribe that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Ka'ba; to which the Prophet Mohammed belonged.

(80) Taken from: Man in Southern Africa The Southern Nguni by Shaw and Davison 1973:p12 The Southern Nguni were still riding cattle in the nineteenth century.

Note on Rulers among the Zanj

----------------------------------------

…… hey call God by the name of Maklandjalu, which means supreme Master (er-rabb el-kebir)...

……  they elected whom they called Waklimi (or Flimi) (or Ouaqlimi) (the word means son of the supreme Lord "ibn er-Rabb el-Kebir"). This name… has always been that of their sovereigns. The Waklimi has  under him all the other Zanj kings,………..

These few words from the local language Masudi picked up at the East African coast. Have been used to try to prove that the people were Bantu.

Neville Chittick in The People of the East African Coast p24: The case for equating this word waqlimi or waflimi with the Bantu mfalme (king)is strengthened by the similarity of the Zanj word for God, mklnjlu (mkulunjulu?) which is said by Masudi to mean Great Lord, to a Southern Bantu word for God u-nkulu-nkulu. It might equally be related to the Bantu mkuu (great person)or juu (above). However even if these words are Bantu, we cannot go on to deduce that Swahili was being spoken.

 

Taken from: The Shona and Ndebele of Southern Rhodesia by Kuper, Highes and Van Velsen 1954:p103

Masudi’s name for the High God, Namkulunjulu, ‘the Great One Above’, may be compared to that of present-day Nguni language of the Ndebele: Unkulunkulu. ( They live in the western parts of Southern Zimbabwe.)

 

Taken from: Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere - Volumes 17-20 - P115 1989

The title of the ruler waqlimi / 'son of the great Lord’. The term lord' is undoubtedly to be interpreted as a compound that consists of Oromo waak'a meaning 'god' and ilma 'son' and indirect confirmation that Mas'udi speaks of peoples, which can be found in present-day Ethiopia.

Note: this has Daniel Ayana in 2019 to make waklimi to be the transposed form of Ilma Waak.

 

Taken from: Man in Southern Africa The Southern Nguni by Shaw and Davison 1973:p12

The Southern Nguni were still riding cattle in the nineteenth century.

 

LIST WITH NAMES OF RULERS AMONG THE ZANG

Masudi (916): The king of Zanj is called Flimi.

Al-Khwarizmi: (d997) Almehraj: King Alzabaj and Zinj.

Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067): And the Flymy (title of king) has three hundred thousand cavalry.

Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109): Al Buhraja: sahib al Zunj.

Al-Qazwini(d. 1283). Atar al Bilad: And they have a King named Aokulaim.

Muhammad al Fasi, Maliki: (d1429-30): Al Hyaj: the king of Zinj and Ghana.

Wasif Shah (1209): Their principal king is called Kunah; he resides on the shore of the sea, in a place called Kandu.

Ibn al jawzi (1257): Al-Jahez said: The king of Zinj is called: falimin, meaning the Son of the Great Lord.

Al-Dimashqi (1325): The supreme king is called Touqlim (or tuqlim or buqlim) meaning 'son of the Lord'

Al-Bakuvi (1430) a king called Aklim

Note: Charles Guillain: ( Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie et le commerce de l'Afrique…. P173) gives several versions on how different translators translated the word Flimi (King) of Masudi (916): M. Reinaud: Oklimen; M. Quatremère: Wakliman; M. Sprenger: Afliman; Deguignes: Phalimi and Aphlimi.