The social narrative of the people of India and China in the book "Wonders of the World and Measuremen of Countries" by Sulaiman Al-Tajer

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

The book “Wonders of the World and Qiyas al-Buldan” by Suleiman al-Tajer is one of the important marine navigational books in the history of the Arab library, because it is the first sea voyage to India and China that he made in the first half of the third century AH / first half of the ninth century AD. We have come from a book by an Iraqi author who lived In the fourth century AH / tenth century AD, the journey of Imam Suleiman explained the rituals of the people of India and China and their customs in food, clothing, home construction, marriage rites, punishments, the method of burial of the dead, and attention to education.
The Book of Wonders of the World and Qiyas al-Buldan was the only Arab monument in which Suleiman the Merchant described the trade routes linking the Persian Gulf region with India and China. On the way, he passed through countries, cities, ports, commercial centers and various peoples. He collected important information about them and their customs and conditions. He described it in an interesting and concise manner in his book. And he revealed a number of customs and traditions specific to the people of India and China. Solomon the merchant described the religious rituals and customs common among people such as marriage, clothing, food, burial, and others. In addition to some adequate news about the relationship of Muslims with China in the third and fourth centuries AH / ninth and tenth century AD. In his description, he relied on his observations of India and China, as he visited them several times. Our desire was to write about the customs and traditions of the people of India and China through an eyewitness, Suleiman the Merchant. His journey depended on the basis of personal experience with a commitment to the subject and not deviating from it to side conversations. Since many Arab geographers have quoted in some places a lot of that effect that Suleiman wrote with its wording and meaning, including (Ibn al-Faqih (d. 340 AH/951 AD), Ibn Khordadbeh (280 AH/ 893 AD), Ibn Hawqal (380 AH/ 990 AD) and Al-Masudi (346 AH/ 957 AD). and others.

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