Back to Table of Contents 2   To next page
Al Hariri: Maqamat (d1122)
----------------------------

Taken from : B. Lewis : Race and Slavery in the Middle East.
                    The archaeology of seafaring in ancient south asia by Himanshu Prabha Ray
                     (and several others)
Full name: Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti

The maqamat (assemblies) of al-Hariri d 1122. The maqamat are a collection of 50 anecdotes featuring a narrator and a witty vagabond called Abu Zayd.
Some paintings are of interest to us; one of the slave market and the others of the boat on the sea.


The painting shows the slave market in Zabid, in the Yemen. Then an important town.
This scene involves the purchase of a slave. Here is the boy (says Abu Zayd masquerading as a slave merchant).... I which to make you fond of the lad by lightening the price for him, so weigh out two hundred dirhams.
The next paintings are a ship in the Persian Gulf traveling from Basra to Oman. One sees the sailors hoisting the sails of the boat, built for navigation in open sea and seaman (others say two women) (but in all cases clearly african) in the hull with earthenware jars, bailing out water, a constant problem in perso-arab ships.  Indian elements like the details of the ship, undoubtedly come from the knowledge which one had due to the trade of the Eastern ships with the Iraqi ports.
The crew appears to be also indian and rather dark skinned, while the muslim passengers wearing turbans are evidently Arab or Persian. There is apparently at least one deck, since the negro looking people employed as bailers are on a lower level then the passengers.

The stern rudder, fixed at the back of the ship operated by a rope-steering system (which was typical of the Omani double ended badan, baggara and zaruka) facilitates the operation of the boats.  Until then, one knew only the side rudder handling itself like an oar.
Other features worthy of note: the crow's nest, a deck house located ahead of the mast, a straight stem, a curious curved stern and an iron four pronged grapnel anchor hanging a divided bowsprit. A dual bowsprit could be found up to 30 to 50 years ago on the Kuwaiti bum, a double ended ship with a straight bow set at an angle of 45 degrees.

This illustrations are the oldest drawing we have of Persian boats on the open sea. It got used by Chittick in 1980 as the example of the ships in which the Arabs traded in East Africa.
Chittick 1980, sewn boats in the western Indian Ocean and a survival in Somalia, The international journal of Nautical Archaeology and underwater exploration 9(4) ; 297-304
The Maqamat of Al-Hariri also gives proof of the African Diaspora. The following pictures are all parts of miniature paintings found in two manuscripts Nr 6094 (Paris) with Jazira as painter; and Nr 5847 (Paris) with al-Wasiti as painter
Manuscript 5847(Paris) Abu Zayd in the  Tavern of Anah, this part shows a  Negro servant girl at the tavern.
Manuscript 6094(Paris) ;  On the Tigris river. This part shows one member of the crew on the boat
Manuscript 6094 ; Abu Zayd at a banquet    Al-Harith. A servant brings a plate.
Manuscript 6094 ;Abu Zayd and his          son with the Governor. The picture          shows the governor and a servant.
Manuscript 5847 ; The guards dance in
front of the palace of the king.                 Even now would the dance and the
costume of the guards fit in East Africa
Manuscript 5847 ; The mysterious island   Shown is a member of the crew.
Manuscript 3929(Paris) The auditors. Shown is one auditor and a servant.
Manuscript 3929 On the road to Mecca
Manuscript 5847 The ship leaving the Persian Gulf is driven by a storm to the islands (of the zanj) where Abu Zayd arrives just in time to help the queen give birth.
A black and a white servant from a painting in a 1334 manuscript (Egypt)
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1