Nos Actualités أخبارنا — rihla

Published in AramcoWorld in Dec.2015 Written by Jesús Cano and Louis WernerArt by Belén Esturla The story, according to Córdoba-born historian Ibn Hayyan, is that when the amir of Al-Andalus, ‘Abd al-Rahman ii, assigned his court poet and trusted ambassador to a mission to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, the poet tried his best to refuse.     Independent, insubordinate, even impudent: Such moments were almost trademarks of Yahya ibn Hakam al-Ghazal, whose surname meant “the gazelle,” a name given for his extraordinary good looks and fleet wit. He was known for satirical verse and sharp epigrams that not infrequently...

Accounts of travel from the Maghreb to the rest of the world have given birth to a particular literary genre known as rihla. Over the centuries Maghribi scholars traveled to the Mashriq for religious purposes, namely to accompish pilgrimage (rihla hijaziya). Others recorded their travel experience to European countries when they were part of official embassies (rihla sifariya). In both cases the writers of these travel accounts wanted to share their experience with their countrymen and underline how much their culture was different. Today scholars from different disciplines resort to these travel accounts which are a mine of information that...