The Travels of Ibn Jubayr

 The Travels of Ibn Jubayr : New,
*[A5] Paperback - 430 pages,
Translated by Roland Broadhurst,
Published by GW Books, India.



Description :


Written more than eight hundred years ago and now translated into English. This is the first hand account of a wise and scholarly Spanish Muslim's pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah; the two Holy Cities of Islam, and his travels to Baghdad, the City of the Caliphs, to the first onslaught of Salah al-Din Ayyubi. Greatly detailed is his journey through Egypt anf the many towns and villages to the Hijaz, Arabia and beyond. Ibn Jubayr is a predecessor to the much publicised later travels of Ibn Battuta.


               '' Between it and the small Rawdah that lies between the venerated
                 tomb and the pulpit, and which tradition declares to be one of the
                 Rawdahs (gardens) of Paradise, lie eight paces. Into this Rawdah
                 men throng to pray, as indeed it is meet and proper that they should.
                 Beside it, to the south, is a pillar said to enclose a relic of the palm
                 tree trunk that leant towards the Prophet - may God bless him and
                 preserve him. A piece of it can be seen in the pillar and men kiss it
                 and hasten to acquire blessings by touching it and passing their
                 cheeks over it. ''



The reader is kept closely en rapport with the original author, the translation being as exact as English syntax and style will permit, abiding faithfully by the words, arrangement and imagery, and following the rigorous canons of oriental scholarship. Ronald Broadhurst has worked under the guidance of Professor Arberry, Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge.


The book is provided with full notes that include not only those of a specialist character that a scholarly work of this type requires but also those that will help and even entertain the general reader.



Abu Al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad Ibn Jubayr : He was born 1145, Valencia, Emirate of Balansiya [Valencia] and died Nov. 29, 1217, in Alexandria. The son of a civil servant, Ibn Jubayr became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, but he left that post for his pilgrimage, which began in 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185.

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*Dimensions : 21.8 x 14cm.