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Ibn Jubayr and the Rih. la Ibn Jubayr and the Rih. la
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Meaning of fitna and Rih.la Meaning of fitna and Rih.la
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Fitna in the Dār al-Islām Fitna in the Dār al-Islām
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Fitna and the Crusader States Fitna and the Crusader States
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Fitna and the journey to Sicily Fitna and the journey to Sicily
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Notes Notes
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6 Crucible of faith: fitna in the Travels of Ibn Jubayr
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Published:June 2021
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Abstract
In 1183 Ibn Jubayr, a Muslim bureaucrat from Granada, undertook a two-year pilgrimage to Mecca, a journey he subsequently recounted in a text known as the ‘Travels’ (or Riḥla). The Rihla describes a chaotic, fractured political world in which devout Muslims frequently suffer abuse. Throughout, Ibn Jubayr communicates this disorder by using the word fitna. Commonly translated as ‘temptation’, ‘discord’ or ‘civil strife’, fitna has a wide range of connotations. This chapter traces how its meaning shifts over the course of the Riḥla, identifying three distinct phases as Ibn Jubayr travels first through polities governed by Muslims, then through the kingdom of Jerusalem, before finally arriving in the Sicily of William II. The initial, wholly negative connotation of the word eventually gives way to one that stresses the idea of fitna as a test of faith. This idea of divine testing becomes more prevalent in Ibn Jubayr’s account of Sicily, where a Christian ruler and populace coopted elements of Islamic culture and exhibited a surface-level generosity towards Muslims. Ibn Jubayr uses this final instance of fitna to praise the devotion and piety of Sicilian Muslims, even those who had publicly renounced their faith.
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