THE OTHER AND THE SELF IN THE TRAVEL ACCOUNTS OF SOUTHERN HUNGARY AND SERBIA IN THE WORKS OF AL-IDRĪSĪ AND ABŪ ḤĀMID AL-ĠARNĀṬĪ
THE OTHER AND THE SELF IN THE TRAVEL ACCOUNTS OF SOUTHERN HUNGARY AND SERBIA IN THE WORKS OF AL-IDRĪSĪ AND ABŪ ḤĀMID AL-ĠARNĀṬĪ

Summary/Abstract: The authors aim to present the way in which two Arabic sources, each other’s contemporaries, depict Southern Hungary and Serbia. Those are Andalusian traveler Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī and famous Arabic geographer Al-Idrīsī. Both of them paid their visits to Southern Hungary and Serbia during their travels in the mid 12th century. The key aim of the paper is to present two completely different accounts written by two Muslim scholars. The first one, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī, being a devoted Muslim, almost completely dedicates his account on the Muslims of Hungary, whilst Al-Idrīsī is more interested in different aspects of the economy, nature and inhabitants of the country itself. Both of these sources are valuable in numerous ways. They present the view of the two Islamic scholars, but also they are very important as sources that fulfill the other contemporary works of the Byzantine and the Western provenance. They are also unique sources, especially Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī, since he is the only one who writes about the everyday life of the Hungarian Muslim population from the 12th century. Al-Idrīsī, on the other side, is a very interesting source for the Orthodox Greek population in Southern Hungary and represents, in view of this topic, one of the most important written sources. Concentrating on other in the Geography of Al-Idrīsī, and showing the interest in self in the Mu’rib of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī make these two sources complementary and give a different picture of the Southern Hungary and Serbia in the middle of the 12th century.

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