Ibn Jubair

Ibn Jubayr
Born	1 September 1145 Valencia, Taifa of Valencia, now Province of Valencia, Spain
Died	29 November 1217 (aged 72) Alexandria, Ayyubid dynasty, Egypt
Occupation	Geographer, Traveler, Poet

Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 –29 November 1217; Arabic: ابن جبير‎‎), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was a geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey he passed through Christian Sicily, which had only been recaptured from the Muslims a century before, and he makes several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture which flourished there.

Ibn Jubayr was born in 1145 A.D. in Valencia, Spain. He was a descendant of 'Abdal-Salam ibn Jabayr who in 740 A.D. had accompanied an army sent by the Caliph of Damascus to put down a Berber uprising in his Spanish provinces. Ibn Jubayr studied in the town of Játiva where his father worked as a civil servant. He later became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada.

In the introduction to his Rihla Ibn Jubayr explains the reason for his travels. As secretary for the ruler of Granada in 1182, he was forced, under threat, to drink seven cups of wine. Seized by remorse, the ruler then filled seven cups of gold dinars which he gave him. To expiate his godless act, although forced upon him, Ibn Jubayr decided to perform the duty of Hajj to Mecca. He left Granada on 3 February 1183 accompanied by a physician from the city.

Ibn Jubayr left Granada and crossed over the Strait of Gibraltar to Ceuta, then under Muslim rule. He boarded a Genoese ship on February 24, 1183 and set sail for Alexandria. His sea journey took him past the Balearic Islands and then across to the west coast of Sardinia. Whilst offshore he heard of the fate of 80 Muslim men, women and children who had been abducted from North Africa and were being sold into slavery. Between Sardinia and Sicily the ship ran into a severe storm. He said of the Italians and Muslims on board who had experience of the sea that "all agreed that they had never in their lives seen such a tempest". After the storm the ship went on past Sicily, Crete and then turned south and crossed over to the North African coast. He arrived in Alexandria on March 26.

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