The Fur Experiment Of Caliph Al-Mahdi

Arts, sciences and other scholarly endeavors flourished under the reign of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi (r. 775-785). Al-Mahdi was apparently caught up, at times, in his era’s culture of intellectual curiosity. One supposed instance of this occurred when the caliph was staying in the city of Rayy at a time when the region was experiencing a particularly cold season. While shivering in the chilly air, Al-Mahdi apparently was suddenly struck with the inspiration to experiment with different furs, hoping to determine which of the selection was the warmest and most moisture-resistant pelt.

Al-Mahdi was not short on fur to test—he had on hand pelts of different colors from various species. To test the insulating powers of these furs, the caliph reportedly ordered that numerous flagons of water be brought forth, one for each fur that Al-Mahdi wished to test. He then reportedly stoppered and swaddled each flagon of water with a different fur and exposed the pelt-covered containers to the freezing-cold air for an entire brisk night. Come morning, the furry flagons were retrieved and the curious caliph inspected the state of the water inside each container. As the story goes, only one flagon (bundled in a black fox pelt) had survived the cold in a liquid state, whereas the water in every other container was frozen solid by morning. With this data, the experiment was concluded and Al-Mahdi proclaimed that black fox fur was the warmest fur he had on hand.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Illustration from the history of Muhammad Bal'ami  (d. 974), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Book of Notification and Revision by Mas’ūdī (d. 957) in Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. New York, Penguin Classics, 2012.
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-world/Sunnis-and-Shiites#ref317159 
• https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Al-Mahdi  

The Jewish Khaganate Of The Khazars

One of the most intriguing peoples of the Middle Ages were the Khazars, a Turkic tribe of obscure origin who long dominated the regions above the Black and Caspian Seas. The Khazar Khaganate was a major power that jostled with the Empire of Constantinople and the Arab Empire for influence on the eastern end of the Mediterranean. In the web of international politics, the Khazars often sided with Constantinople against threats such as the Rus, the Bulgars and the encroachment of Muslim forces into the Anatolian and Caucasus region. The Khazar friendship with Constantinople was most evident in the 8th century, when the Khazars provided brides to Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, 705-711) and Constantine V (r. 741-775)—Constantine’s son was called Leo the Khazar (r. 775-780). Meanwhile, the Khazars had spent much of the 8th century in a state of hostility against the Umayyad and then the Abbasid Caliphates, raiding as far as Mosul in 730 but finally making peace with the Abbasids in 798. As interesting as Khazar foreign policy may be, the true uniqueness of the Khazars shows most in their religion, specifically the sudden adoption of Judaism among the Khazar elites by the end of the 8th century.

Under vague circumstances, the khagan (leader) of the Khazar Khaganate, as well as his administrative lieutenant and nearly every chieftain under the khagan’s influence, decided to convert of Judaism between 740 and 800. In the early 9th century, the Khazars took a further step to release a coin that praised Moses. Despite their adoption of Judaism, the Khazar leadership maintained some of their traditional customs, such as the existence of the khagan’s harem, which, according to the Abbasid diplomat Ibn Fadlān, numbered a total of twenty-five wives in the 10th century. As with their willingness to tolerate the harem, the Khazar leaders were also fairly lenient to the many subjects in their domain who did not adopt Judaism. Nevertheless, the Khazar leaders were known to take vengeance against any community that dared harm a synagogue in the Khazar Khaganate.

The downfall of the Khazar Khaganate occurred simultaneously with the rise of the Kievan Rus. The Rus appeared as an emerging power in the 9th century. They showed their boldness and strength by making direct assaults against Constantinople in 860, 907 and 941. Sviatoslav I, who became the Grand Prince or king of the Kievan Rus in the early 940s, would be the man to eventually topple the Khazar Khaganate. From 965-969, Sviatoslav relentlessly campaigned against the Khazars, invading deep into the khaganate, where he sacked the Khazar capital and demolished Khazar political influence in the region. Besides the Rus, the Ghuzz Turks and the Volga Bulgars also profited from the fall of the Khazar Khaganate.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Volga River trade negotiations between Rus and Khazars, painted by S. V. Ivanov (1864–1910), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Risala by Ibn Fadlān, translated by Paul Lunde and Catoline Stone. New York, Penguin Classics, 2012. 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar 
• https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/khazars 
• https://www.historytoday.com/archive/khazaria-forgotten-jewish-empire 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kievan-Rus 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Svyatoslav-I  

The Apocalyptic Giant Of The Volga River

In May 922, an Abbasid diplomat named Ibn Fadlān reached the camp of Khan Almish ibn Shilkī Yiltawār of the Volga Bulgars, a semi-nomadic people who lived north of the Caspian Sea, along the Volga River. The khan, a new convert to Islam, had asked the Abbasid caliph for theological and financial aid. Ibn Fadlān’s arrival among the Volga Bulgars was the caliph’s response to the khan’s request. The mission of the Abbasid diplomats was to offer instruction on the ways of Islam, to construct a new mosque for the khan, and to also fund a fortress to help defend the Volga Bulgars. Unfortunately, the 4,000 dīnār budget allotted to the mission never reached the diplomats and therefore the promised construction projects went unfulfilled. Consequently, the relationship between Khan Almish and the diplomats were strained from the get-go. Ibn Fadlān, however, made the best of his situation and devoted himself to writing a detailed account of his journey from Baghdad to the Volga. He commented on landscapes he saw and people he met, also adding some cultural observations, folklore and history, to tie it all together.

One tale that Ibn Fadlān included in his account (called the Risāla) featured a giant who had a fondness for swimming in the Volga River. Ibn Fadlān claimed to have been tipped off to this story by a fellow diplomat named Tikīn the Turk. He had heard that an incredibly tall man was then living within the territory of Khan Almish. When this information was passed to Ibn Fadlān, the curious diplomat went straight to the khan to ask if the story was true. Interestingly, Khan Almish humored Ibn Fadlān’s curiosity, telling the diplomat many details of the story and even personally took him sightseeing to a spot involved in the tale.

The highly embellished yarn that Khan Almish laid out for Ibn Fadlān was an interesting mix of Volga Bulgar culture and apocalyptic ideas from Abrahamic religions. Khan Almish began by informing Ibn Fadlān that the giant was no longer alive, but that the khan had personally known him. The giant was apparently first discovered when sections of the Volga River overflowed. Concerning this flooding, rumors began to circulate from travelers and merchants that the cause of the river’s odd behavior was a giant that was wading in the water. Hearing these reports, Khan Almish set out to investigate the Volga where the river had broken its banks.

Upon arriving at the flooded section of the river, the khan supposedly saw with his own eyes a huge humanoid figure. The size of the giant, Khan Almish claimed, was a remarkable 12 cubits tall (18 feet). In addition to sheer height, the giant reportedly had such an extremely ugly or fierce demeanor that simply witnessing him could cause the viewer great distress. The Volga Bulgars attempted to speak with the giant, but the man/monster was apparently unable to speak. After assessing the situation, Khan Almish decided to recruit the giant and bring him back to the Volga Bulgar camp, if only to keep the giant from joining the ranks of an enemy.

After successfully bringing the towering stranger back to camp, Khan Almish set about researching the identity of the giant. After asking around among his own people and sending inquiries out to neighboring regions, the khan concluded that the giant was none other than a rogue member of the apocalyptic Gog and Magog end-time invasion force that is featured in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts. When Ibn Fadlān, either with curiosity or skepticism, asked for further details about the Gog and Magog giant, Khan Almish escalated the tale to a new level of embellishment and gave the giant an abrupt and tragic end. According to Ibn Fadlān, Khan Almish said the following about life with a giant in the Volga Bulgar camp:

“He stayed with me for a time, but no child could look at him without dropping dead and no pregnant women without miscarrying. If he took hold of a man, his hands squeezed him until he killed him. When I realized that, I had him slung from a high tree until he died” (Ibn Fadlān, Risala, Penguin ed. pg. 41).

After delivering this bizarre account of the giant’s effect on the Volga Bulgar people, Khan Almish offered to show Ibn Fadlān the spot where the giant was hanged. The diplomat, hearing that the remains of the giant could actually be seen there, decided to take the khan up on the offer and the two traveled to the supposed tree from which the 18-foot tall giant was strung. On this eerie trip, Ibn Fadlān wrote:

“He rode with me into a great forest filled with immense trees and shoved me towards a tree under which had fallen his bones and head. I saw his head. It was like a great beehive. His ribs were like the stalk of a date cluster and the bones of his legs and arms were enormous too. I was astonished at the sight. Then I went away” (Ibn Fadlān, Risala, Penguin ed. pg. 41).

After the scene above, Ibn Fadlān made no further commentary about the giant. As might be expected, the tall tale told by Khan Almish to Ibn Fadlān is considered to be folklore, and it has been proposed that the remains in the forest may have been that of a bear. It should also be kept in mind that the khan still begrudged the Abbasid diplomat for failing to bring the caliph’s promised money. Therefore, when the irritated Almish forcefully brought Ibn Fadlān to a secluded, bone-scattered forest where not even a mighty giant could escape, the act was likely meant to be a veiled threat or a means of intimidation.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Scene of a chained giant from the Gest Danorum, illustrated by   Louis Moe (1857-1945), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Risala by Ibn Fadlān, translated by Paul Lunde and Catoline Stone. New York, Penguin Classics, 2012.

The Trickery of al-Fadl ibn Musa

Vizier Ibn al-Furāt was imprisoned by the Abbasid caliph Muqtadir in 918, on charges of corruption. While the vizier was in jail, his estate—a place called Arthakhushmithān—was placed in the care of a certain Fadl ibn Mūsā al-Nasrānī, a devoted agent of the imprisoned official. Among the assets that Fadl ibn Mūsā was guarding for his jailed employer was a treasury of 4,000 dīnārs. Several years later, he would be ordered by the Abbasid caliph to hand over the money, but Fadl ibn Mūsā would fight back with a series of clever tricks in an effort to keep control of the dīnārs.

On June 21, 921, a party of diplomats set out from Baghdad on a mission from the caliph Muqtadir to the newly converted khan of the Volga Bulgars, Almish ibn Shilkī Yiltawār. Among the diplomats was Ahmad ibn Fadlān, whose job in the embassy was to read the caliph’s letters and to distribute gifts, and once they reached the Volga, to also supervise the region’s teachers and jurists. Thankfully, Ibn Fadlān wrote a text called the Risala, in which he described the progress of the diplomatic mission, as well as the diverse people and landscapes that he came across on his journey.

In his book, Ibn Fadlān wrote that the diplomatic mission was dispatched because Khan Almish of the Volga Bulgars “asked for someone who could instruct him in the Faith, teach him the laws of Islam, build him a mosque and erect a minbar so that he could have the prayers said in his name…and also requesting that a fortress be built, for the defence against the kings who were his adversaries” (Ibn Fadlan, Risala, Penguin ed. Pg. 3). As the Abbasids were planning to do some major construction projects in Volga Bulgar land, the caliph Muqtadir scoured the map for sources of revenue that could be diverted to the mission. Unfortunately for the aforementioned disgraced vizier, Ibn al-Furāt, his town of Arthakhushmithān, with its treasury of 4,000 dīnārs, lay right on the route of the diplomats. Therefore, when the diplomats set out from Baghdad, they had in their possession a letter from the caliph, which commanded that the 4,000 dīnārs be handed over to the embassy for use in the domain of the Volga Bulgars.

When the diplomats reached the city of Bukhārā, Ibn Fadlān read out the letter about the money to Nasr ibn Ahmad (r. 914-943), the young ruler of the Sāmānid Emirate. The emir agreed to comply with the order and the message was passed to Fadl ibn Mūsā, who still managed the finances of Arthakhushmithān. The command, however, was not received well by the agent. As mentioned earlier, he was prepared to go great lengths in order to keep the city’s 4,000 dīnārs.

Fadl ibn Mūsā quickly discovered a loophole in the letter brought by Ibn Fadlān and the diplomats. Apparently, the specific official who was supposed to personally receive the 4,000 dīnār payment was a man named Ahmad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārazmī. He, however, for whatever reason, happened to have set out from Baghdad a full five days later than the rest of the diplomats. Therefore, although the embassy was requesting the money, the person who was authorized in the letter to receive the payment was not yet in Bukhārā. Seizing upon this flaw, the crafty Fadl ibn Mūsā sent a convincing letter to the head of security who was in charge of the road that Ahmad ibn Mūsā would be traveling upon. According to Ibn Fadlān, the letter resembled this: “Keep your eyes peeled for Ahmad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārazmī in the caravanserais and customs’ posts. He is a man of such and such description. If you run across him, lock him up until you receive our letter about the matter” (Ibn Fadlan, Risala, Penguin ed. pg. 6). The security officials, not questioning the tip, kept a close watch on the traffic of the road. They found poor Ahmad ibn Mūsā at a place called Merv—which was about 150 miles from Bukhārā—and they threw him in a jail until further notice.

Although the target was imprisoned, Fadl ibn Mūsā’s plan was only half-way complete; he needed to get the diplomats to continue on their journey before anyone started looking for, or asking questions about, the missing member of their party. In order to get the diplomats to leave, Fadl ibn Mūsā and his comrades began stoking the fear of officials about the oncoming winter. Ibn Fadlān and the others in the diplomatic mission managed to wait in Bukhārā for twenty-eight days before their fear of winter finally forced them on their way. Although they were heading to the Volga Bulgars without the promised finances, they thought that surely Ahmad ibn Mūsā would catch up with them later. Little did they know that he was detained in jail.

Ibn Fadlan and the diplomats unfortunately arrived at the court of Khan Almish ibn Shilkī Yiltawār still without the 4,000 dīnārs around May, 922. Awkwardly, the letters of the caliph that Ibn Fadlan personally read to the khan specifically mentioned that the embassy would have money for construction projects in the Volga region. When Almish discovered that the money was missing, he became convinced that Ibn Fadlān had stolen it for personal use. Unfortunately for Ibn Fadlān, Almish embarked on a relentless campaign of political gamesmanship and bullying, in hopes of making the diplomat relinquish the absent money. The khan first tried blunt, angry demands and then employed pointed religious disobedience to show his annoyance over the missing funds. Almish also had a translator eerily say that, in the khan’s former pagan days, cunning and intelligent people (like Ibn Fadlān) had been sacrificed to the sky-god, Tengri. On a more jovial note, the khan sarcastically gave Ibn Fadlān the epithet of “the Truthful.”

Ibn Fadlan’s account did not include the return-trip, so we unfortunately do not know if Almish ever received the elusive 4,000 dīnārs, and the fate of Fadl ibn Mūsā is also vague, although his employer was executed in 924. Whatever the case, the relationship between Baghdad and the Volga Bulgars apparently remained warm during the reign of the caliph Muqtadir. One of Almish’s sons was known to have gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and he was bestowed with gifts and money as he passed through Baghdad.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Caravan painted by Alberto Pasini  (1826–1899), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Risala by Ibn Fadlān, translated by Paul Lunde and Catoline Stone. New York, Penguin Classics, 2012.
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ibn-fadlan-arab-among-vikings-russia