Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah (Vol.1-3)
A Victorian Travel Memoir of Arabia, Hajj, and Sacred Cities in Muslim DisguiseBy Richard Francis Burton
Length108h 26m
About this audiobook
Richard Francis Burton's *Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah* (1855–56), issued in three volumes, recounts his perilous 1853 journey to the two holiest cities of Islam, destinations then closed to non-Muslims. Writing under the guise of a Persian-speaking Muslim pilgrim, Burton combines geographical observation, descriptions of ritual and architecture, linguistic analysis, social history, and vivid accounts of hardship, danger, and disguise. His expansive, digressive prose belongs to the great tradition of Victorian travel literature, while its ethnographic ambition anticipates modern cultural and anthropological writing. The work is also a revealing document of nineteenth-century Orientalism, shaped by both extraordinary curiosity and the assumptions of imperial knowledge. Burton (1821–1890) was a soldier, diplomat, explorer, linguist, and translator whose unconventional career fostered an unusual sympathy for cultures beyond Europe. His years in India, mastery of Arabic and several other languages, familiarity with Islamic customs, and lifelong fascination with forbidden or difficult journeys prepared him for this audacious pilgrimage. His meticulous preparation and willingness to inhabit another religious identity enabled observations unavailable to ordinary European travelers, though his interpretations remain inseparable from his era's colonial framework. This richly detailed narrative is recommended to readers interested in Islamic history, pilgrimage, travel writing, Victorian culture, and the formation of ethnographic knowledge. It should be read both as an extraordinary record of physical and intellectual exploration and as a text requiring critical attention to representation, authority, and empire.
Audiobook details
GenreTravel
Length108 hrs 26 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 13, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (Annotated)
2Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah (In 3 Vol.)
3Preface to the Memorial Edition
4Preface to the Third Edition
5Preface to the First Edition
Show all chaptersShow less
6Dedication
7Part I— Al-Misr
8To Alexandria
9I Leave Alexandria
10The Nile Steamboat — The “Little Asthmatic.”
11Life in the Wakalah
12The Ramazan
13The Mosque
14Preparations to Quit Cairo
15From Cairo to Suez
16Suez
17The Pilgrim Ship
18To Yambu’
19The Halt at Yambu’
20From Yambu’ to Bir Abbas
21From Bir Abbas to Al-Madinah
22Part II— Al-Madinah
23Through the Suburb of Al-Madinah to Hamid’s House
24A Visit to the Prophet’s Tomb
25An Essay Towards the History of the Prophet’s Mosque
26Al-Madinah
27A Ride to the Mosque of Kuba
28The Visitation of Hamzah’s Tomb
29The People of Al-Madinah
30A Visit to the Saints’ Cemetery
31The Damascus Caravan
32From Al-Madinah to Al-Suwayrkiyah
33The Badawin of Al-Hijaz
34From Al-Suwayrkiyah to Meccah
35Part III— Meccah
36The First Visit to the House of Allah
37The Ceremonies of the Yaum Al-Tarwiyah, or the First Day
38The Ceremonies of the Yaum Arafat, or the Second Day
39The Ceremonies of the Yaum Nahr, or the Third Day
40The Three Days of Drying Flesh
41Life at Meccah, and Umrah, or the Little Pilgrimage
42Places of Pious Visitation at Meccah
43To Jeddah
44Appendices
45I. Of Hajj, or Pilgrimage
46II. The Bayt Ullah
47III.1172 Specimen of a Murshid’s Diploma, in the Kadiri Order of the Mystic Craft Al-Tasawwuf
48IV. The Navigation and Voyages of Ludovicus Vertomannus, Gentleman of Rome. A.d. 1503
49V. The Pilgrimage of Joseph Pitts to Meccah and Al-Madinah. — A.d. 1680
50VI. Giovanni Finati
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