Al-Sam'ani's first great hadith journey, 529-538/1135-1143

الرحلة الكبرى الأولى للسمعاني في طلب الحديث، ٥٢٩-٥٣٨هـ/١١٣٥-١١٤٣م

1135 CE · 529 AH – 1143 CE · 538 AH

Isfahan → Hamadan → Baghdad → Mecca → Medina → Damascus → Jerusalem → Khwarizm → Samarqand → Bukhara → Balkh → هراة

Al-Sam'ani travelled before and after thirty to Khurasan, Isfahan, Iraq, the Hijaz, al-Sham, Tabaristan and Transoxiana 1. On this first great journey (529-538/1135-1143) he went via Isfahan and Hamadan to Baghdad and its environs, to Mecca and Medina, to Damascus and Jerusalem — which at his visit in 536/1141 had been in Crusader hands for forty-two years — and north and east to Khwarazm, Samarqand, Bukhara, Balkh and Herat 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Persia & Central Asia · Levant & Iraq · Arabia
Review
Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

11201130114011501160
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

IsfahanHamadanBaghdadMeccaMedinaDamascusJerusalemSamarqandBukhara

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

Connections

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Had participant
al-Sam'ani
Occurred at
Isfahan· Hamadan· Baghdad· Mecca· Medina· Damascus· Jerusalem· Khwarizm· Samarqand· Bukhara· Balkh· هراة

People and things also explored

Al-Sam'ani's third journey with his son 'Abd al-Rahim to Transoxiana, 549-552/1154-1157· Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali· Ibn 'Asakir's second great journey east, 529-533/1135-1139· Ibn Sina (Avicenna)· Restoration of the Abbasid Khutba in the Two Harams in 479· Abu Dawud's first journey: Baghdad, Basra and Mecca, 220/835· Al-Sakhawi's hajj of 896 and final settling in Medina, 1491· Al-Sakhawi's first pilgrimage by sea with his mother and family, 870/1466

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Islam wa-Wafayat al-Mashahir wa-l-A'lam — al-Dhahabi , p. 120
  2. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 8 p. 1024
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Sam'ani's first great hadith journey, 529-538/1135-1143”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/samani-first-rihla-529/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-02.

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Wing

People

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Related

Al-Sam'ani's third journey with his son 'Abd al-Rahim to Transoxiana, 549-552/1154-1157

Al-Sam'ani travelled with his son 'Abd al-Rahim to Nishapur and its region, Herat and its region, Balkh, Samarqand and Bukhara, and compiled a mu'jam for him before bringing him back to Marw. This was his third great journey, 549-552/1154-1157; the mu'jam he drew up for the boy ran to eighteen parts.