Introduction

Author of « Voyage chez les Bulgares de la Volga » - Ed Actes sud.

”It was a thousand years ago, and more. An embassy left Baghdad, the capital of the caliphs' Abbasid. At the end of his journey: the confluence of the Volga and Kama, where the Bulgarians are installed, specifically of other Turkish-Mongolian family members ... Among the members of the embassy, there is someone in charge of Relations. His name is Ibn Fadlan ... The text, as we have before us, is simply wonderful. Marvellous because amazing; before the day that never ends; faced with a borealis aurora; Faced with fossil remains of rhinoceros. Before the show, thought that one of the strange people of Gog and Magog; but also before any custom particular to individual people ... In Bulgarian country, Ibn Fadlan, with his companions, planted their tent. At night, sitting at the entrance, there were only stars to shine to resist the force of stubborn days that will not die. And then one day, he attended the funeral of a nobleman, one of these foreigners at the time, the Russians, who go through there, also for trade; extraordinary story; Lunatic Exaltation of Eros and death. A few pages ensure the greatness of this book, unique in Arab literature and, I believe, in literature ever.”

Ahmad ibn-al-'Abbas ibn Rashid ibn-Hammad ibn-Fadhlan is a Muslim Arab literate of Kurdish origin. He lived in Iraq in the tenth century and was a poet, geographer, traveller and great ambassador for the Caliph of Baghdad.

In the year 921, Ibn Fadhlan was sent with a diplomatic delegation to the king Almis, king of the Bulgarians of the Volga, founded the Kingdom between the 7th and 13th centuries on the territory between the Volga and Kama rivers, the first of latitude 60 degrees north western Russia. He was appointed by the Abbasid Caliph Al Muqtada as secretary of the ambassador Hassan Er Rassi. The purpose of the embassy sought the king of the Bulgarians a tribute to the Caliph, in exchange for which he would receive the money to build a fortress to fight against the Khazar. The challenge was to convince Saqaliba (Slaves) having to deal directly with the khalifa, without going through the Khazars, whose kingdom was a vassal of Bysance, rival Muslim ...

Part of Baghdad June 12 in 921 (11 Safar 309 AH), the embassy crossed Iraq, Iran, passed through Khawarizm and Bukhara in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (south of the Aral Sea), the Kazakhistan, Jurjaniya (where they spent the winter), north of the Urals before arriving, after many difficulties, to the Bulgarians in the three lakes of the Volga north of Samara on 12 May 922 (12 Muharram 310) . And that date is taken as a national holiday and religious in the modern Tataristan

This mission was a failure because they failed to collect money for the king who, frustrated by not receiving the promised sum for the financing of fortifications against the Khazars, refused to move from ritual Malekite to Hanafi rite of Baghdad. After his arrival in Bulgur, former capital of the current Tataristan Ibn Fadhlan went to Wisu the current Perm Krai in western Russia, where he recorded his observations on trade between the Volga Buglers and the local Finnish tribes. It was during this mission that the Kama Buglers, the present Republic of Chuvashia in western Russia, adopted Islam in fighting against the Khazars and seeking assistance and protection of the Caliph of Baghdad Al Muktadir. It is thanks to Ahmed Ibn Fadhlan known to live in this country, in addition to the Bulgarians, Russians, Oguz and representatives of other peoples Turkish and Finno-Ugric. He was the first to see its arrival in the summer of 922, among Burglars of the Volga, the inability to perform the five daily prayers according to the classical canon, during the short summer nights. Indeed, Burglars were forced to perform the prayer of the night (yast) at the same time as the dusk (akhsham). .

Ibn Fadhlan was recorded his notes and memories in a major book “Rissala” called “Kitab ILA Al-Malik Saqaliba”. There is a description with a magisterial manner of the details of his trips, taking care to describe the various populations encountered, their customs, traditions, political systems and the specificities of their geographical and climatic environments. It was probably written around 924 -926 AD, but was lost and restored by pieces.

For very long, only an incomplete version of this structure was known. Incomplete transmission was ensured by the Syrian geographer Yaqut Al Hamawi (1179 - 1229), which has incorporated in his geographical dictionary entitled Mujam Al-Buldan. Yaqut presented the stories of Ibn Fadhlan under the headings Atil, Bashgird, Bulghar, Khazar, Khwarizmi, Rus, which was published in 1823 by Fraehn.

Only in 1923 a manuscript was discovered by Turkish university Valid Zeki Togan, in a bookshop in the Iranian city of Mashhad. This manuscript of 420 pages, was dated 13th century (7th of the Hegira) and contains a fuller version of the work of Ibn Fadhlan. Other complementary passages were referred in a book of 16th century of Persian geographer Amin Razi.

Ibn Fadhlan devoted a significant part of his story to the description of a people he calls the Rus Rusiyyah or identified by most scholars as the Rus or Varangians, thus making his story one of the first portraits Viking. The manuscript of Ibn Fadhlan is the first known evidence on the life and Viking society. This extraordinary document describes in a very lively and detailed way events older than a thousand years and was a source for many historians. The Rus are presented as traders take trading on the shores near the Bulgarian camp. They are described as having the most perfect body that are as big as the palm trees with blond hair and silver skin. They are tattooed from the neck down with motifs of trees and other figures, all men are armed with an ax and a long knife. While noting with astonishment that they comb their hair every day, Ibn Fadlan described as dirty and are considered as crude and barbaric. He also describes in great detail their lifestyles and their funerary rituals, some of which include human sacrifice.

Wednesday 18 August 1999 was released on French screens a film by John Mc Tiernan, The Thirteenth Warrior with Antonio Banderas in the main role. This film is based on the novel by Michael Crichton, Eaters of the Dead (1976), which was translated into French under various titles such as Le royaume de Rothgar, Les mangeurs de morts, and finally, Le treizième guerrier in the recent reissue of Robert Laffont, at the occasion of the film's release. The thirteenth warrior is presented as a formatting barely fictionalized old Arabic manuscript, containing the adventures of Ahmed Ibn Fadhlan, sent by the Caliph of Baghdad to the Russians and captured by the Vikings to 920. The novel plays on the relativity of things, Ibn Fadhlan being a poet from a refined civilization, while the Europeans, the Vikings, dirty and drunk alcohol, in this case are the "barbarians" in the eyes the Oriental.

It builds masterfully, and in an excellent research work, work Sorgen, University of Oslo Ibn Fadhlan and its diplomatic mission. Accompanied by Melchisidek, an old friend of his father, advisor and translator, Ibn Fadhlan and a few trusted men are attacked by a barbarian from the steppes of Asia. They are saved by the arrival of a Viking Drakkar. Saved and received, allowing Ibn Fadlan to observe the habits and customs Nordic, which he shares with us in this story. Indeed, the Vikings should go home, which means a long journey, and to ensure the safety and protection of the gods, warriors hear a message that they should be at number thirteen ... Ahmed will be the thirteenth. Follows a sort of saga more or less credible, but interesting, and that's where Crichton begins to take a few liberties with the translations. Arrived at Rothgar the king, they discover that the whole region is infested by a band of strange and cruel smelly creatures named "Wendols", supposed to be the remains of Neanderthal descendants according Mc Tiernan and which, according to Ahmed Ibn Fadlan, would seem to have existed. One night, these warriors caused the flight of strange things Wendols. Then they decide to go visit a farm, where they found blood in abundance, of idols, etc.. Places are destroyed. In the end, good triumphs, not without difficulty ... what appears to be the case in the true story of Ahmed Ibn Fadlan.