Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

Ak̲h̲bār al- Ṣīn wa ’ l- Hind

(961 words)

, the title by which are now designated two narratives concerning China and India which have,
for various reasons, attracted the attention of Arabists.

Ms. 2281 of the B. N. contains amongst other things: I. fols. 2a-23b, an untided and anonymous
text which constitutes the basis of the work; and II. fols. 24a-56a, a sequel to the preceding, of
which the author is named as Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī.

In 1718, the Abbé Renaudot published in Paris, under the title Anciennes relations des Indes et de
la Chine
, de deux voyageurs mahométans qui y allèrent dans le neuvième siècle
, traduites
d’arabe, avec des remarques sur les principaux endroits de ces relations, a version of I and II,
which was in its turn translated into English and Italian; since he had supplied no precise
information regarding the origin of the text, Renaudot was accused of committing a hoax, but
the original (the actual ms. 2281, to which was added, as no. 2282, the copy made by the
translator himself) was subsequently found in the Bibliothèque Royale and printed through the
good offices of Langlès; it was, however, M. Reinaud who put it into circulation 34 years later,
accompanied by a new annotated translation and an introduction, under the title Relations des
voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l’Inde et Chine dans le IX
e siècle de l’ère chrétienne
(Paris 1845, 2 vols.). In 1922 G. Ferrand produced a new translation, Voyage du marchand arabe
Sulaymân en Inde et en Chine
, rédigé en 851
, suivi de remarques par Abû
¶ Zayd Hasan
(vers 916),
as vol. vii of the Classiques de l’Orient
. Finally, in 1948, J. Sauvaget published in Paris the text, a
translation of and a lavish commentary on no. I, as Aḫbār aṣ-Şīn wa ’l-Hind, Relation de la
Chine et de l’Inde rédigée en 851
.

Independently of the reactions provoked by Renaudot’s version (see Sauvaget, p. xvi), the
anonymity of the first of these narratives has given rise to discussions and hypotheses.
Quatremère (in JA (1839), 22-5), thought rather unwisely to attribute it to al-Masʿūdī [q.v.];
Reinaud, on the basis of the name of Sulaymān al-Tād̲j̲ir which is quoted in the text (§ 12 of the
Sauvaget edition), thought that this last was the author; G. Ferrand, adopting this point of view,
entitled his work Voyage du marchand arabe Sulaymān
, and V. Minorsky (
Ḥudūd al-ʿālam
,
index) is seen to follow him deliberately in speaking only of “Sulaymān the Merchant”. It is true
that these authors can claim support from an important authority, since Ibn al-Faḳīh refers (
Buldān
, 11; tr. H. Massé, 14) to Sulaymān al-Tād̲j̲ir in a context other than the narrative in which
his name appeared. However, H. Yule (
Cathay
and the way thither, London 1866, pp. cii-ciii)
and after him P. Pelliot (in T’oung-Pao
, xxi (1922), 401-2, xxii (1923), 116) have drawn attention to
the fact that this Sulaymān was apparently only an informant, among others who remained
anonymous.

As for the general title, it may be deduced from a remark figuring at the beginning of the
“sequel” written by Abū Zayd, who says that his own contribution is al-kitāb al-t̲h̲ānī min
ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn wa ’l-Hind
; even if these words are more a general indication of the contents of
the work, later authors have considered them as a title, notably al-Bīrūnī who, in his Nubad̲h̲ fī
ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn
(ed. Krenkow, in MMIA, xiii (1935), 388), claims to borrow a fact from the Kitāb
Ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn
, and there is no reason not to adopt this solution.

The anonymous narrative is called al-Kītāb al-awwal

by Abū Zayd, who gives the precise date
of 237/851. On the other hand, that of the kitāb al-t̲h̲ānī
is not so precisely known; but we
possess some information on the author of this “sequel”, thanks to al-Masʿūdī, who incidentally
commits an error in calling him, probably inadvertently, Abū Zayd Muḥammad b. Yazīd al-
Sīrāfī, although he himself says that his surname is al-Ḥasan. The author of the Murūd̲j̲
declares (i, 321 = § 351) that he met Abū Zayd at Baṣra, where he was resident in 303/915-16, and
that he received information from him; in reality, Abū Zayd must have supplied him with the
text of the two narratives which were put to extensive use in the Murūd̲j̲., often distorted by al-
Masʿūdī’s zeal for elegance.

Texts I and II are quite dissimilar; both are clearly recollections of journeys in exotic lands, but
if the first is characterised by the quality of the observations of the author or of the merchants
who gave him the information and probably constitutes the most ancient account of China,
the second, later by about 70 years, seems less reliable. While the first narrative, without
pretension of any sort, is in general exact and spontaneous, that of Abū Zayd, which had itself
been moreover commissioned, is more laboured, gives much space to sailors’ stories and to
marvels, and betrays the tendency, resisted however by al-D̲ j̲āḥiẓ, to introduce fables into this
form of adab
.

Other authors than al-Masʿūdī have exploited, directly or indirectly, admitting it or not, the
Ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn wa ’l-Hind
(see Sauvaget, pp. xxiii-xxix), ¶ and it is astonishing that only one ms.
of it has survived. It is, however, not impossible that parts of it were detached and passed into
the oral domain, which would explain why at a fairly early date the texts ceased to be copied,
although these texts were originally intended for a literate public.

(Ch. Pellat)

Bibliography

Pre-1948 references appear in Sauvaget’s work. See further, I. Kračkovskiy, Arabskay̲a̲

geografičeskay̲a̲ literatura, Moscow-Leningrad 1957, 141-2
A. Miquel, La géographie humaine du monde musulman
2, Paris 1973, 116-26 and index.

Cite this page

Pellat, Ch.,
“Ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn wa ’l-Hind”, in:
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel,
W.P. Heinrichs.
Consulted online on 26 July 2021 <http://dx.doi.org.uoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_8311>
First published online: 2012
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004161214, 1960-2007