An excerpt from the Safar-nama of Nasir Khusraw:
“... to the South of Aswan is a mountain. The river Nile comes out of a defile in the mountain. It is said that boats can proceed no further up the river because the water flows through narrow defiles and large boulders. Four leagues from the city is the province of Nubia, the population of which is all Christian. The King of this province continually sends gifts to the Sultans of Egypt and makes treaties so that Egyptian soldiers will not enter his land and molest the populace. The city of Aswan is very strong lest anyone attack from the direction of Nubia. There is a permanent garrison stationed there to defend the city and province. Opposite the city in the middle of the Nile is an island, which is like a Garden, with date groves, olives and other trees and crops irrigated by water wheels. There I remained for twenty one days because there was a large desert before us to cross and two hundred leagues to the shore. It was the time for returning pilgrims to be arriving by camel. We waited until the camels returned before hiring one and then we set off...”
Source: Thackston, W. Wheeler McIntosh, ed. trans., Nasir-i Khusraw’s Book of Travels (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2010), 83-84.
Aswan is a town in Egypt, situated on the Eastern Bank of the Nile. Until the 9th AH / 15th CE century Aswan was a small town facing the island of Elephantine (which was a much more important settlement in Ancient Egypt). When the Muslim Arabs overran Egypt, the Arabs fixed their camp at Aswan, facing the Byzantine settlement of Elephantine. Aswan was a lively centre in the 3rd AH / 9th century CE. The scholars of Maliki fiqh (school of jurisprudence) and hadith (sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammad) are mentioned to have lived there. After being only loosely attached to Lower Egypt for a considerable amount of time, Aswan gradually became more integrated with Egypt. It became a stage on the route from Fustat to Hijaz.
Aswan during the Fatimid Period: The town flourished particularly under the early Fatimids. The main surviving mausolea to-date are from the first half of the 5th AH / 11th CE century. Aswan also had a Jewish community. In the following century, however, evidence shows that the trade of the Hijaz deflected from the town and only the commerce with Nubia remained. This change seems to have been connected with internal convulsions within the Fatimid Caliphate when the vizier Badr al-Jamali came to power and Kus became the administrative centre of the Upper Sa‘id, attracting the Hijaz trade and the pilgrim traffic.
Aswan during the Ayyubid Period: The Ayyubid period brought peace for Upper Egypt. During this period, the town gradually made the transition to Sunni Islam, although the Shi‘i influences remained strong there. In response to Mamluk provocation of the Nubians, Aswan was raided by them in 674 AH / 1275 CE. For the remainder of the century, Aswan was frequently attacked and sacked by the tribes. The ensuing crisis of the Mamluk state removed Aswan from the control of Cairo. Al-Maqrizi, a 9th AH / 15th CE century Muslim traveller, recorded in 815 AH / 1412-13 CE that Aswan no longer existed; it was without a governor, notables, markets or even houses.
In the course of the 9th AH / 15th CE century, the Mamluks sent expeditions in the hope of re-establishing control in the Upper Egypt; however, their victory didn’t last for long. The Aswan of medieval times had disappeared at the opening of the 9th AH / 15th CE century.
Citation:
“Uswan." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online, 2013. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/uswan-COM_1314 [accessed June 12, 2013]
Hunsberger, Alice C. Nasir Khusraw, the ruby of Badakhshan. (London: I. B. Tauris, 2000).
The City Development of Aswan
http://archnet-uat.cloudapp.net/publications/6355 [accessed February 2014]
Nubian Museum: Aswan Egypt
http://www.archnet.org/publications/4649 [accessed February 2014]
