Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Themaritimestories,searoutes,andthenauticalinformation,
particularlyintheIndianOcean,leftagreatimpactonlaterMuslim
geographybooks.Evidently,mostofthisinformationreflectedmany
scientificfacts,anditisdifficulttodenyitsinfluenceontheprogress
ofgeographicalknowledgeaboutIndia,ChinaandtheFarEast.
InmakingasurveyoftheworksofAbūḤāmidAl-Ḡarnāṭī,Tuḥfat
al-albāb(TheCuriosityoftheMinds)andAl-Muʻribʻanbaʻḍʻağāʼib
al-maḡrib(ImpressionsofSomeWondersoftheMağrib
),whichare
consideredworksofmarvels,onecanassertthatmanyoftheauthorʼs
accountsarederivedfromhisobservations.Theauthorenvelopedhis
narrationwithfantasy.Inhistwoaforementionedworkshewrote
abouthisimpressionsandaccountsoftheregionsandpeopleshe
visited[68].Mostofthedataabouttheseplacesandpeopleswasnew
informationtoMuslimreaders.AbūḤāmid,asanauthoroftraveler
books,allowedhimselftowritehisexperiencesinasuspensefuland
excitingmanner[69].
Travelnarrativesgenerallyprovideinformationonthebasisof
reportsbyeyewitnesses.Sometimestheycontainfactsanddirect
information,butmostlyinterpretationandjustificationofthesefacts
embellishedwithlegendsandoddities.Theliterarystructuresofthe
extanttextsinsuchtravelers’bookshaveconsistedofaccounts
originallycomposedfromoraltalesandeyewitnessreports.Wecan
observethisinworkslikethatofḤāmid,IbnFaḍlān,Ibn
BaṭṭūṭaandIbnĞubayr[70].
Thequestionofinclusioniswhatisperhapsmostdifficultinthe
caseofmarvelbooks.SuchArabicsourcespresentmajor,but
different,problemsoftheirown;thesematerialsperhapslend
explanationtoinclusionandexclusionongeographicalgrounds.
Onemustbefirstandforemostcarefulinutilizingthesematerials
becauseofitscuriousnessandsecondlybecausesomecasesare
envelopedingeographicalfacts.Somesourcesaremerelycorruptand
hopelesslyconvoluted,renderingthemdifficulttouse.Somesources
contributeverylittletoourknowledgefortheperiodcoveredbythis
studybutcanbehelpfulinsomeinstances.