Monday, February 28, 2005

Travels of Ibn Jubayr

Went to MPH sales in Kelana Jaya last Saturday and bought a few books. Two I should mentioned are Travels of Ibn Jubayr and if I can remember correctly, Islamic Medicine. It is per chance that I should buy the first one. My friend Riza, who arrives earlier at the sale, mentioned the book to me and only a few days earlier, I was thinking of another book : Mekka in the Latter Part of the 19th Century by C. Snouck Hurgronje.

While I have not finished Ibn Jubayr, Hurgronje talks about Makkah and its people around 1894/95, especially those from Nusantara due to the Dutch and Indonesia conflict at the time. Which is really interesting since, for people like me who can't read Jawi and not Pondok oriented, we do not know much about the legacy of our wise elders. But Hurgronje talks about them and describes how some of them are comparable to other Alims in Masjidil Haram. Makes you blush with pride.

Back to Ibn Jubayr, his travels starts in 1183 from Granada to Mecca, Baghdad, Damsyik and back to Spain. Will write more later.

1 comment:

shidah said...

kissman has spoken :)