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Ibn-al
Mujawir(1232)(Tarikh al-Mustabsir)(Guide to Arabia) Iran
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Ibn al-Mujawir, Yusuf ibn Yaʻqub, (1205-1292). The Tarikh al-Mustabsir is an account of the western and southern areas of the Arabian Peninsula by a man probably from Khurasan in Iran. Ibn al-Mujawir was making the pilgrimage to Mecca and thereafter travelling to further his business interests. His route began in Mecca and ran south into the Yemen. He paused long in Aden. His route then continued along the southern coast of Arabia into the Gulf and returned home via Iraq.
Note: With Ibn al Mujawir talking about the tombs of Mogadishu I have the opportunity to mention some old inscriptions on tomb stones and in mosques from the same period and also from Mogadishu.
The earliest is one of which there is a cast in the National Museum in Mogadishu, with a date 579AH (AD 1184) other casts in the museum are of inscriptions from 625AH; two from 707AH; 758AH; and 785AH.
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The inscription of this picture is : 'The Mosque of Abdul Aziz and the Mnara tower in Mogadishu in 1882'.
The tower around independence .
And destroyed during the civil war.
And rebuild by the Turkish embassy.
In the dunes east of Shangani (where the mosque of Abdul Aziz is situated) is a gravestone of a man with the name: Abu Abdallah b. Razi b. Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Naysaburi al-Khurasani; meaning from the town of Nishapur in Khurasan (in Persia) dated AH 614 (AD 1217) and another tomb nearby is dated AH 660. There are five more dated tombs there; one more of the 13th century, three of the 14th century, and one of the 17th century.
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Top: the Fakhr ad-Din mosque in the Sheikh Mumin quarter it has a tablet within the mihrab in the name of Hajji b. Muhamed b. Abdallah 667AH (1269AD).
Plaster cast of Portal Fakhr al din
Mihrab Fakhr al din
On the bottom the remains of the carved marble that decorated the columns of the Fakhr al din Mosque.
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Left the mosque of Arba Rukun; before the civil war, on the left of the mihrab there were two inscription. The upper band of the wood was intricately carved with a circular floral pattern while the lower one in glazed tile, carries an inscription: The weak servant in need of the mercy of Allah Khusrau ibn Muhammad al-Shirazi A.H. 667/1269. This means that the man died in 1269 and that he most probably was the founder of the mosque. (This is the earliest mention of a Shirazi in east Africa).
Right: the by Turkey restored mosque in 2015. The historical inscriptions have disappeared and the interior is covered with Turkish tiles.
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This is the minaret of the Jami or congregational mosque in Xamar Weyne (at least 14th century). By now only this minaret and the inscription in the mihrab (under) are original.
On top the entrance to the minaret of the Jami or Friday mosque with the date: 1238
Right from a picture by Revoil 1882.
Left: the mihrab in the Jami. The inscription reads: Mihraab created by Kululah bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz may Allah forgive him and his parents.
And right again the entrance to the minaret.
Also in Mogadishu there is a tombstone which allows the conclusion that the 22 august 1365 fell into a Saturday year. (Saturday year; ayaan loon ; the day of the cattle giving rise also to 7 year cycles. (30)
Tombstone of a women found in Mogadishu dated to c. 729ce. It commemorates one Fatima binti Cabdi Samad bin Yaquut.
Another tombstone (of a women in Mogadishu) of 138 AH (752 CE) commemorating an El Haajiya binti Maxamed Midqaani.
It is an ancient funereal stele sculpted from alabaster, on which is commemorated the death in 138 at Hegira of a lady of the name Hajia Bibi. However: The scholar Freeman-Grenville retains that,
although the inscription is intact, the date 138 H should be read as 1138 H. He sustains that there are other examples, both in Mombasa and Mbweni, Tanzania, of this omission of the first number
of the date when referring to the years following 1100 H
About the inscription of the 729CE stone (or 101 AH) Neville Chittick says: this should surely be read 1101 the style of writting is not first century and omitting the first 1 is happening
more.
Ibn al Mujawir added several maps to his manuscript. Given here left (and under) his maps of Aden and right the island of Socotra.
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Tarikh al-Mustabsir
Taken from: Neville Chittick: East Africa and the Orient.
James Hornell: Journal of the Royal anthropological Institute 64 (1934)
G. Rex Smith: Studies in the Medieval History of the Yemen
G. Rex Smith (Editor): A Traveller in Thirteenth-century Arabia:
Ibn Al-mujawir's Tarikh Al-mustabsir 2007
p111
The women of Zanzibar, black slave girls, ………. All these people including qadis (1), mystics, imams, and the general public are like pilgrims, as God-….. has said: …. Shaving your heads, cutting
short.
p121
When this community died out, some Arabs called al-Marabun (from the region of Aden) settled the land and lived there until it became isolated and some were lost. They left. I was told by Rayhan,
the client of Ali b. Masud b. Ali as follows. They settled in East Africa (Barbarah) and its regions and their offspring remained in Africa (Barr al Sudan), known as al-Marabun, and they are now
organized in tribes and families.
p122
After the Banu Majid (2) people were driven from the Mundhiriyya region of the Yemen in 1159 they split into three sections, one settling in Zafar (3), another in Zaila (Zeila) (4) and the third
in Mogadishu.
p137-138
Founding of Aden: When the empire of the pharaohs came to an end, this place (Aden) became deserted in consequence. The peninsula was inhabited only by fishermen who plied their craft in the
neighboring waters. They lived there for a long time, provided by Allah with the things needful for their material life. This lasted until the arrival of the people of Al-Komr (5) its ships
carrying a great number of men. These took possession of the peninsula, expelled the fishermen by force, and established themselves on the heights of Jebel Ahhmar (the red mountain), Hukkat and
Jebel Munzhir, which dominate the buildings of the port. The mountains built by this people exist to this day; their construction is durable, being built with stone and cement obtained from the
valleys and mountains of this country. (6)
The poet says:
As for me, weep copiously; for their houses have become empty,
And the leader of their camels has departed.
The anguish of separation makes me mad.
I stand on their habitations raving about them and asking:-
O houses; have you no news of them?
Return me an answer quickly.
It was answered me from the houses wailing and crying:-
Weep blood, O neglectful one;
The caravans have departed.
My slave girl is with them: in elegance and qualities perfect;
In face and form rose-like and thorn-like.
p138-139
These people, sailing from Al-Komr (5) in convoy, reached Aden in a single monsoon. Ibn Al-Mujawir says that these people are dead, their power ended, and the route closed by which they came.
There is nobody left who has knowledge of the maritime activities of this people or can tell under what conditions they lived and what they did.
Ibn Al-Mujawir says: From Aden to Mogadishu one monsoon (mawsim) (is required to perform the voyage); from Mogadishu to Kilwa a second monsoon (mawsim) is requisite, and from Kilwa to Al-Komr a
third.
Formerly these people (of Al Komr) were accustomed to perform the three seasons (or monsoons) journey in a single monsoon; one ship actually performed the voyage from Al-Komr (5) to Aden in this
way in the year 626 A.H. (1228-9 AD); sailing from Al-Komr and bound for Kilwa, the vessel came to anchor at Aden.
Their ships have outriggers because the seas (of Al-Komr) are narrow, shallow and difficult of navigation on account of the currents.
When the power of these people became enfeebled, the Barabar (Arabians of the neighboring country) who had come to live among them, (rose and ) overpowered them, driving them out. These Barabar
occupied the place and settled in the valley, where mat huts are actually now found. They were the first people who constructed mat huts in Aden. Subsequently the place was abandoned, and
remained in this state till the immigration of the men of Siraf (7), of whom we have already written. The Sultan Shah bin Jamshid bin As'ad bin Kaysar arrived at Aden, disembarked, settled there
and re-peopled the place. He wished to bring drinking water from Zayla (4), but as the distance was to great, he caused cisterns to be constructed for the storage of rain water. Because of that
clay got brought from the region of Abyan (8) according to some; from Zayla according to the others. When the population of Aden was big enough; one constructed baths: one bath got constructed at
Djalas ad-dam. In 622 AH (1225) there were floods that made huge damage. A mosque got constructed close to the baths of Al-Mutamid Radi ad-din Ali bin Muhammad At-Tukriti. This is the one who
built an enclosure for the elephants in 625 AH (1228).
Outrigger ships of the Malaysian people as they used for the intercontinental travelling. They are found at Borobudur.
p149
(about Aden) Al-Mutamid Muhammad b. Ali also built a fine bathhouse. Wells were dug there, mosques too and minbars established; it became a fine place. The most accurate information is that it thrived only after the ruin of the port of Abyan (8) and Haram (9). The merchants moved from these two towns and settled in Qalhat (10) and Mogadishu. So the three towns then flourished.
Most of the inhabitants of the town (of Aden) are Arabs,.......; as well as East Africans, Persians, Hadramis (12), Mogadishans, mountain folk, Dhubhanis (13), Zaylais (4),........and Abyssinians. They have come together here from all corners of the earth and have become rich and well-to-do. The majority of the inhabitants are Abyssinians and Somalis (14). There is no one in the known world, on land or sea, more amazing and more shameless than Somali women. God knows best.
A word on the shamelessness of Somali women (nisa al-barabir). When a Somali (14) women is quarreling with another, she removes all her clothes, slaps her breasts, claps, jumps up and down and her eyes stare piercingly into the face of the other (tasluq ayna-ha fi wajh sahibat-ha). Both of them are now (as if) sleeping, then bending over; now laughing and crying; then scowling and repressing (their feelings). She plucks out her pubic hair, sprinkling it into the air. She put her finger into her vagina and makes the other lick her vaginal juices (min rahim-ha). Or she pushes her finger into her anus and makes her adversary smell the excrement. Whatever one does, the other does also. I have never seen (anyone more shameless, dirtier and more immodest than the Somalis – may God give them no reward for their being Muslims.
p154
(About Aden) Dogs hide away there during the daytime, because one particular dog with rabies bit one of the Somali (14) children. The Somali women asked the help of Radi al-Din al Mutamid Muhammad b. Ali al Tikriti. He gaves orders that every dog in Aden should be killed..................In Kufa (the dogs) they take refuge in the palm groves and in Mogadishu in the cemeteries (maqabir). Note : This shows that the city in those days must already have been old.
p156-157-158
The following part is an abbreviation dealing with taxes in Aden. When seeing the list of imports and exports one can see that the east African trade is nearly absent; a reality in the Indian Ocean trade.
A tariff of port dues for Aden drawn up in the first half of the 6th/12th century for the Zuray'ids by a Jew, Khalaf al-Nahawandi, of Persian extraction, has been preserved by Ibn al-Mujawir.
Pepper (fulful) - on this commodity 8 dinars (15) of 'ushur (lit. tithes) were paid on the buhar (16)(usually 300 ratls (17), pounds) plus 1 dinar shawani (a special tax to pay for the ships that were protecting the trade), and, on its exit from the port, 2 dinars. Indigo (nil) a piece; a quarter dinar and 4 dinar sawani. Assa gum (ankuzah) a buhar 8 dinars. Perfumed cherry bark (mahlab) a buhar (16); 3.5 dinar. Sugar of bamboo (tabasu) a buhar 20 dinar and one dinar sawani. Dafwa tree (dafwa) a stick (ud) a half of every whole one. Camphor (kafur) for one farasilah (20-30 ratls (17)) 25 dinars plus a half and a sixth, (an enormously heavy tax.). Cardamom (hayl) a buhar 7 dinar, cloves (qaranful) a farasilah; 3.5 dinar (15). Saffron (zafaran) (3) a farasilah 3.5 dinar. Flax/linen (kattan) a buhar 7.5 dinar. Iron (hadid) half of it. Lac-dye (lak) a quarter or half of whole and 2 dinar. Madder (fuwwah) a buhar 12 dinar (this an important item grown in the Yemen). Tamarind (humar) a buhar (16) 3 gawzah. Cloths (maqati) on every 10 – ½ + ¼ gawzah. Sheep (dan) per head (ras) ¼ gawzah. Horse (hisan) per head 50 dinar as it enters the town; 70 dinar when it goes out to sea. Slave (raqiq=wild) per head 2 dinar entering the port and half a dinar on his leaving. Awali (slaves?) from Sindabur (Goa) 8 dinar and half a dinar on leaving Aden (which went to the farmer of the Dar al-Nabidh, the House of Wine,) (probably the same as the more euphemistic Dar al-Khall, the House of Vinegar) Zabid (19) silk, (harir) a piece (siqqah) ½ dinar and 1 gawzah. Zafari (3) cloth (tawb), ¼ dinar and 1 gawzah. White cloth (siqqah bayda) a piece 1/8 dinar. Susi linen (susi) 3 qirat (18), Sousse waist-wrappers (fuwat) ¼ dinar and 1gawzah. Bedcovers (mahabis) for a score (kawragah) 4 dinar. Handwoven fabrics (awhak) a score 2 and ½ dinar. Loin cloths (subai) a score 2 and ½ dinar. Calico (ham Hindi) a score 2 and ½ dinar (15). Sousse linen (large) (sawasi al kattan al kibar) 2 gawzah and 1 qirat (18). Sorghum (durah) a basket (qafah) 1/8 gawzah or dinar.
p159
There was however an extensive range of commodities untaxed,
Coming from Egypt, wheat , flour, sugar, rice, Raqqi (20) soap, saltwort, syrup, olive oil, flax oil, salted olives, everything connected with sweet meats/dried fruit/nuts all in small quantities; small quantities of honey.
Coming from India; Everything for re-exportation, preservedi(?), myrobolan, prayer mats, turban linen, cushions, grape baskets, circular leathers, rice, kedgeree, sesame, soap, frankincence from Kalah (21), nasam wood, clove firewood, bhatticala cloths,
Goods entering via al-Shihr (22); stoned dates (muquallaf a word still in use). Headless salted fish, Indian sandals with no strap passing behind the foot. He- goats, She goats (from al-Habashah). Beads (kharaz) from Daybul (23). Boys imported from India.
p162
Added is a detailed description, with complete revealing of the slave of the auction sale of slave woman, (rarely mentioned in the Arab medieval literature)
The female slave would be fumigated with aromatic smoke (tubahhar), perfumed and adorned (tuaddal) with incense, her waist would be tightened up waist wrapper. The caller (munadi) would take her by her hand and walk with her around the market calling for her sale. The immoral (fuggar) merchants would gather, inspect her hands, feet, legs, thighs, navel, chest, breasts and back. They would measure her behind in spans (24) (yasbur) check her tongue teeth and hair the merchant does a thorough job (yabdul al-maghud). And if she had clothes on, he would strip her and scrutinize her, and ultimately he would check her vagina and her behind… If he liked her, he would buy the girl and she would stay with him for about 10 days. And when he had fulfilled his desires to the fullest, Zaid the buyer would say to Umar the seller, “ By the name of God, O Khawaja (25), let us go to the judge. Both would stand before the judge and (the unsatisfied buyer) would relate the defects (ayb) (of the girl)
p186
Ibn al-Mujawir said: I saw in a dream on the night of 22 Ramadan 620 (20 August 1223) someone saying; In the land of Zanzibar, there is a tree called fire; anyone who touches it gets burnt immediately.
p173
Countries where it rains a lot:................... In Pemba and the Island of Mombasa (Other translators have here Manfiyyah (27)) , it falls constantly; in Sind for a period of 40 days.
p274
The territory of the Khawarij and the Idadiyyah. I was informed as follows by al-Saffar: All the people of Azerbaijan were….They all accepted Islam and followed the doctrine of Imam Abu Abdallah Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafii (26)-God be pleased with him. Kilwa reverted from the Shafi'yya to the Kharijiyya (28) (Ibadism)school and they remained attached to this legal school until the present day. (29)
(by the time of Ibn Battuta it was back Shafi)
(1) Qadi: a Muslim judge who renders decisions according to the Shariʿah (Islamic law).
(2) Banu Majid: for them see also the notes on Al Idrisi (1150).
(3) Zafar: or Dhafar is an ancient Himyarite site situated in Yemen, some 130 km south-south-east of today's capital, Sana'a.
(4) Zaila: Zeila in N Somalia close to Djibouti.
(5) Al-Komr: here Madagascar.
This lasted until the arrival of the people of Al-Komr its ships carrying a great number of men. These took possession of the peninsula, expelled the fishermen by force, and established themselves on the heights of Jebel Ahhmar (the red mountain), Hukkat and Jebel Munzhir, which dominate the buildings of the port………
(6) Related to this colonization by the colonizers of Madagascar is found in: Abu Imran Musa ibn Rabah al-Awsi al-Sirafi (978) where other people who came or directly from Waqwaq (in this case Indonesia) or from their colonies is Madagascar are mentioned.
(7) Siraf: was the harbor of Shiraz province of Persia; and the place of big trade with East Africa.
(8) Abyan: province of Yemen just east of Aden.
(9) Haram: the translator of the book notes: a complete mystery.
(10) Qalhat: The ancient port-city of Qalhat in northeastern Oman.
(11) Qandalah: Qandala is an ancient port town in the north-eastern mountainous Bari province of Somalia.
(12) Hadramis: Hadramaut: eastern part of Yemen.
(13) Dhubhanis: Dubhan: is a town near the coast of the Red Sea in Taiz Governorate.
(14) Note: the original text does not have the word Somali; the translator used it to translate Barabir.
(15) Dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold)
(16) Buhar: The bahar of pepper, cloves, ginger: is the great Bahar: about 216kg/ Bahar: for ivory the ‘small bahar’ was used: 176 kg – 183.6kg.
(17) Ratls : Ratl-weight: standard ratl of 440 grams in Umayyad Egypt.
(18) Qirat: one twelfth of a dirham. This was the minimum wage in those days.
(19) Zabid: town on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen.
(22) Raqqi soap: Laurel soap.
(21) Kalah: very important harbour in Malaysia in those days.
(22) Shihr: coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen.
(23) Daybul: or Debal or Deybal; close to present day Karachi. For the importance of this town in the East African History see my webpage: Note on Daibal or Debal or Daibul or Daybul (year 710).
(24) Spans: the distance from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger of a spread hand (23cm).
(25) Khawaja: honorific title means lord or master.
(26) Imam Abu Abdallah Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafii: (767–820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and scholar, who was the first contributor of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). His teaching eventually led to the formation of Shafi'i school of fiqh.
(27) Manfiyyah: Mafia island in south Tanzania.
(28) Kharijiyya: movement in the original Islam that has nearly disappeared now ; only the Ibadi in Oman still descend from them.
(29) Kilwa reverted from the Shafi'yya to the Kharijiyya (Ibadism)school and they remained attached to this legal school until the present day. See for this also: Salma b. Muslim al-Awtabi:in The Kilwa Sira: (+11160) and Muhammad b. Sa'id al-Qalhati: The Kilwa Sira (1200); both these documents are part of the Kilwa Sira in which Kilwa breaks with Ibadism to accept a Shia Islam sect; and then returns to Ibadism. See also Ibn Battuta (1331) when it was back to Shafi Islam. It still is today while Zanzibar has turned to Ibadism.
(30) The inscription is particularly important, as it contains the first mention of the Somali year in use alongside the Muslim year also in the coastal centers. With "the year Saturday" is in fact to be understood the first year of the Somali seven-year cycle.