An excerpt from the Safar-nama of Nasir Khusraw:
“South along the coast are Tavva and Kazarun, but I remained in Mahruban because they said the way was not safe, since the sons of Aba-Kalijar had each rebelled against the other and had put the countryside into confusion. I was told that in Arrajan there was a great and learned man called Shaykh Sadid Muhammad ibn Abdul-Malik. When I heard this, since I was so weary of staying in that town, I wrote him a note explaining my situation and pleaded with him to get me out of there and into a safe place. Three days later thirty armed foot soldiers approached me and told me they had been sent by the Shaykh to take me to Arrajan. Thus we were hospitably taken to Arrajan.
Arrajan is a large town with a population of twenty thousand, to the East of which is a river that comes from the mountain and flows to the North. Four large canals have been cut at great expense to bring water through the town and out the other side where there are gardens and orchards of dates, oranges, citrons and olives in abundance. The city is so constructed that for every house above ground there is also one below. Water flows through these basements and cellars so that during the Summer they can be comfortable. The people there are of almost every sect and Mutazilities have an Imam called Abu Said of Basra, an eloquent man with some claim to knowledge of Geometry and Mathematics. We held discussions together on dialect Theology and Mathematics.
We left on the 1st of Muharram AH/ May 3, 1052 CE and headed for Isfahan via the mountains. Along the way we came to a mountain with a narrow pass, said by the common people to have been cut by Bahram Gor with his sword. They call it Shamsherburid (sword-cut). There we saw a great stream that emerged on our right from a hole and then tumbled down a great height. The common people said that this water flows continuously during the summer but stops and feezes over during the winter months.
We reached Lurdaghan, which is fourty leagues from Arrajan and which is the border of Fars. From there we continued on to Khan Lanjan, remarkably safe and secure, everyone occupied with his own business. We departed from there.”
Source: Thackston, W. Wheeler McIntosh, ed. trans., Nasir- i Khusraw’s Book of Travels (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2010), 124-125.
Arrajan was a medieval city and province in Southwestern Iran on the border between Kuzestan and Fars. The common component Qobadh/Kavadh referes to the Sasanian King, Kavadh I (488–531 BCE), who is said to have founded the city. In the Arab historical sources, Arrajan is depicted as a large and beautiful city, with a hot but tolerable climate. At the time of its conquest by Muslims, it was the centre of linen production.
Arrajan achieved the peak of its prosperity in the 10th CE century, when it was ranked among the great cities of Fars. However, the descriptions of the city by al-Maqdisi, a 4th AH / 10th CE century Muslim geographer, and others dating back to that period, are vague.
The downfall of Arrajan: In 1052 CE, Arranjan is reported to have developed clear signs of decay. As the sons of the Buyid Abu Kalijar fought one another for possession of the city, the roads to the city were blocked. Travellers had to wait for weeks in Mahruban, the most important port in the province, before they could continue their journey to Arrajan. Between 1053 and 1057 CE, the town changed hands several times. In 1085 CE it was devastated by an earthquake, a catastrophe from which it never recovered. The survivors migrated elsewhere or lived amidst the rubble, until a new settlement, Behbahan, arose to the South of the old city; however, Behbahan never attained the importance and size of Arrajan.
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