Ibn Fadlan's Risala in Accordance to Cultural Semiotics

Ibn Fadlan's Risala in Accordance to Cultural Semiotics

Section: Article
Issue
Vol. 6 No. 21 (2026): Volume Six / Issue 21
Published
Jan 1, 2026
Pages
1158-1135

Abstract





This study is specialized to the path of adventure (Exploratory) literature characterized by its deal of significant semiotic potential and dynamic cultural exchange.  Traditional exploratory literature not only chronicles the historical and geographical aspects of a journey، but the cultural semiotics that redirects the analytical focus to the sign systems that underpin cultural production inspecting how communities construct and interpret meaning through diverse symbolic frameworks.


    One of the crucial aspect for the application of cultural semiotics is Literary discourse which turns the Ibn Fadlan’s Risala to an intriguing case study for linguistic، literary، and cultural analysis within this theoretical framework. Further، the study utilizes Juri Lotman’s Semiotic theory of history and cultural Memory، and Umberto Eco's cultural-semiotic ideas in addition to Landi's methodological perspectives on cultural codes and sign systems in semantic and cultural contexts، as well as their consequence for communicative and interpretative processes. These eclectic method enables an interpretation that lines up with the narrative complexities of exploratory texts revealing their aesthetic dimensions، cultural significance، and interpretive possibilities.





References

  1.  Adab al-Riḥlāt: Jadaliyyat al-Anā wa al-Ākhar fī ‘Ālam Mutaghayyir, majmū‘ah min al-bāḥithīn wa al-akādīmīyīn, tansīq wa taqdīm Dr. Khālid al-Tūzānī, Manshūrāt al-Markaz al-‘Arabī li-l-Istithmār al-Thaqāfī, Fās – al-Maghrib, Dār Kunūz al-Ma‘rifah (ʿAmmān), al-Urdunn, ṭ.1, 2019 (in Arabic).
  2.  Thaqāfat al-‘Ury aw ‘Ury al-Thaqāfah, Dr. Ghulām ‘Alī Ḥaddād ‘Ādil, tarjamat ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-‘Adawī, Dār al-Hudā li-l-Ṭibā‘ah wa-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzī‘, ṭ.1, 1412 AH/2001 AD, Bayrūt – Lubnān (in Arabic).
  3.  Dalīl Muṣṭalaḥāt al-Dirāsāt al-Thaqāfīyah wa-al-Naqd al-Thaqāfī: iḍā’ah tawthīqiyyah lil-mafāhīm al-thaqāfīyah al-mutadāwalah, Dr. Samīr al-Khalīl, murāja‘ah wa-ta‘līq Dr. Samīr al-Shaykh, Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah, Bayrūt – Lubnān, al-ṭab‘ah al-ūlā, 2016 (in Arabic).
  4.  Al-Ruḥḥālah al-Muslimūn fī al-‘Uṣūr al-Wusṭā, Dr. Zakī Muḥammad Ḥasan, Dār al-Rāʼid al-‘Arabī, Bayrūt – Lubnān, 1401 AH/1981 AD (in Arabic).
  5.  Risālat Ibn Faḍlān, Aḥmad bin Faḍlān bin al-‘Abbās bin Rāshid bin Ḥammād, fī waṣf al-riḥlah ilā bilād al-Turk wa-l-Khazar wa-l-Rūs wa al-Ṣaqālibah sanat 309 AH/921 AD, ḥaqqaqahā wa ‘allaq ‘alayhā wa qaddama lahā Dr. Sāmī al-Dahhān, Maṭbū‘āt al-Majma‘ al-‘Ilmī al-‘Arabī bi-Dimashq (in Arabic).
  6.  Sīmiyā’ al-Kawn: Yūrī Lūtman, tarjamat ‘Abd al-Majīd Nūsī, al-Markaz al-Thaqāfī al-‘Arabī, al-ṭab‘ah al-ūlā, 2011, al-Dār al-Bayḍā’ (al-Maghrib) (in Arabic).
  7.  Al-Sīmiyā’iyyāt al-Thaqāfīyah: mafāhīmihā wa-āliyāt ishtighālihā al-madkhal ilā naẓariyyat Lūtman al-sīmiyā’iyyah, Barīmī ‘Abdullah, Dār Kunūz al-Ma‘rifah li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzī‘, ṭ.1, 2018 (in Arabic).
  8.  Al-Shāmil fī Qawā‘id al-Lugha al-Turkiyya, jama‘ wa i‘dād wa tarjamat wa al-muhandis Muḥammad ‘Āmir al-Majdhūb (in Arabic).
  9.  Al-‘Alāmah: Taḥlīl al-mafhūm wa-tārīkhuh, Umberto Eco, tarjamat Sa‘īd Binkarrād, rāja‘ al-naṣṣ: Sa‘īd al-Ghānmī, al-Markaz al-Thaqāfī al-‘Arabī, al-Dār al-Bayḍā’ – al-Maghrib, al-ṭab‘ah al-thāniyah, 2010 (in Arabic).
  10.  Mu‘jam al-Sīmiyā’iyyāt, Fayṣal al-Aḥmar, al-Dār al-‘Arabīya lil-‘Ulūm Nashirūn, Manshūrāt al-Ikhtilāf, ṭ.1, 1431 AH/2020 AD (in Arabic).
  11.  Al-Mu‘jam al-‘Arabī li-Asmā’ al-Malābis fī Ḍaw’ al-Mu‘ājim wa-al-Nuṣūṣ al-Mawthaqah min al-Jāhiliyyah ḥattā al-‘Aṣr al-Ḥadīth, Dr. Rajab ‘Abd al-Jawād Ibrāhīm, taqdīm Prof. Dr. Maḥmūd Fahmī Ḥijāzī, Dār al-Āfāq al-‘Arabīya, Miṣr – al-Qāhirah, al-ṭab‘ah al-ūlā, 1423 AH/2002 AD (in Arabic).
  12.  Al-Murūth al-Thaqāfī fī Adab al-Riḥlāt al-Jazā’irī “Namādhij min Riḥalāt al-Qarn al-‘Ishrīn”: Yasmina Sharābī, ishraf ‘Alī Laṭrash, risālat mājistīr, Kulliyyat al-Ādāb wa al-Lughāt, Qism al-Lughah wa-al-Adab al-‘Arabī, 2012/2013 (in Arabic).
  13.  Dirāsāt Ṣūrat al-Ākhar fī al-Adab al-‘Arabī wa-athar Edward Said dirāsah muqāranah, Dr. Ṣāliḥ bin ‘Uwayd al-Ḥarbī, Majallat Jāmi‘at Ṭaybah lil-Ādāb wa-al-‘Ulūm al-Insāniyyah, al-sanah al-sābi‘ah, al-‘adad (20), 1441 AH (in Arabic).
  14.  Ru’iyat al-‘Ālam wa-Thunā’iyyat al-Taḍād bayna Marāsim al-Ḥayāh wa-Tajalliyāt al-Mawt fī Riḥlat Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Dr. Fāṭimah Muḥammad al-Suwaydī, ustādh mushārīk bi-Kulliyyat al-Ādāb wa-al-‘Ulūm – Jāmi‘at Qatar, Majallat al-Dirāsāt al-‘Arabīyah, Kulliyyat Dār al-‘Ulūm Jāmi‘at al-Minā, https:journals.ekb.eg (in Arabic).
  15.  Al-Kūzmūbūlitānīyah: Naḥw ta’sīl naẓarī lil-mafhūm, i‘dād Prof. Dr. ‘Abd al-Wahhāb Jūdah al-Ḥāyis wa Dr. Hālah Sa‘d Maṭrawī, al-Majallah al-‘Arabīyah lil-Ādāb wa-al-Dirāsāt al-Insāniyyah, al-Mu’assasah al-‘Arabīyah lil-Tarbiyyah wa-al-‘Ulūm wa-al-Ādāb, Miṣr, 7 (27) July 1-32 (in Arabic).
  16.  Al-Lughah wa-al-Adab wa-al-Tarjamah bayna al-Sīmiyā’iyyāt, Dr. Aḥmad Baliyya, al-Markaz al-Jāmī‘ī bi-al-Na‘āmah, al-Jazā’ir, Majallat al-Ish‘ā‘, al-‘adad (4), al-mujallad (2), Jūn, 2015 (in Arabic).
  17.  Thaqāfat al-Malābis fī ‘Ahd al-Hūn wa-In‘ikāsāt al-Hūn fī ‘Ahd Gūkturk, Abdieva Julro, (2020) al-Nadwah al-Duwaliyya lil-Thaqāfah wa-al-Funūn al-Turkiyyah, 29-30 October, Ankara (in Arabic).
  18.  Sīmiyūṭīqā al-Thaqāfah (Yūrī Lūtman namūdhajan), Dr. Jamīl Ḥamdāwī, tārīkh al-iḍāfah 9/7/2017 AD – 12/9/1435 AH, https:www.alukah.net (in Arabic).
  19.  Sīmiyūlūjiyā al-Thaqāfah... al-Madrasah al-Iṭālīyah wa-Umberto Eco: Aḥmad Sharjī, Thaqāfāt, June 9, 2017, thaqatat.com (in Arabic).
  20.  Makhtabar al-Fīnūmīnūlūjiyā wa-Taṭbīqāthā, mafhūm al-muthāqafah bayna al-khuṣūṣīyah wa-al-kawniyyah, Muhammad Ruwābji, al-‘adad al-khāmis, al-sabt, 10 Aylūl/September 2022 acculturation>http://labpheno.com (in Arabic).
  21.  Mafhūm al-Ḥadd ‘inda “Yūrī Lūtman” wa “Rījīs Dubrīh”, Muhammad Zu‘ayza‘a, al-Rāfid, majallah elektroniyya thaqāfiyyah shāmilah, Dā’irat al-Thaqāfah, Ḥukūmat al-Shāriqah, Dawlat al-Imārāt al-‘Arabiyyah al-Muttaḥidah, arrafid.aer, June/3/2021 (in Arabic).
  22.  Hal Tastaṭī‘ al-Kilāb an Tash‘ur bima‘ad Maw‘id Maut al-Ashkhāṣ, bi-qalam al-diktūrāh Kāruwlyn Kwīl, 17 October 2023. transtate.goog www-akcg www-newworldencyclopedia-org.translate.goog-22 (in Arabic).
  23.  Encyclopedia Britannica, "Archived from the original on 2020-11-11, Retrieved 2020-12-4, Iranian languages" (English).
  24.  Chorasmian leftovers in 17th-century Khivaql, chorasmian Online (English).

Author

Ramadhan Mahmood Karim

University of Garmian/College of education / Sulaimaniyah - Iraq

Identifiers

Statistics

How to Cite

رمضان محمود كريم. (2026). Ibn Fadlan’s Risala in Accordance to Cultural Semiotics: Ibn Fadlan’s Risala in Accordance to Cultural Semiotics. Journal of Education for the Humanities, 6(21), 1158–1135. Retrieved from https://jeh.uomosul.edu.iq/index.php/jeh/article/view/61406
Copyright and Licensing
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.