Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
Zafar (Dhafar, Dhofar, Ẓafār)
Title
Musical customs of the Zafar's sultan
Short description
The Zafar's sultan has musical instruments sounded in front of his audience-hall every day.
Text on source
وللسلطان قصر بداخل المدينة يُسَمّى الحصن عظيم فسيح والجامع بإزائه، ومن عادته أن تُضْرَب الطبول والبوقات والأنفار والصرنايات على بابه كل يوم بعد صلاة العصر، وفي كل يوم إثنين وخميس تأتي العساكر إلى بابه فيقفون خارج المشور ساعة وينصرفون، والسلطان لا يخرج ولا يراه أحد إلا في يوم الجمعة، فيخرج للصلاة ثم يعود إلى داره ولا يَمْنَع أحدًا من دخول المشور [ص. ١٨٨]
English translation
The sultan has a palace inside the city which is called the Castle, a large and extensive building, and the congregational mosque is alongside it. It is his custom to have drums [ṭubūl], coiled trumpets [būqāt], straight trumpets [anfār] and zurnas [ṣurnāyāt] sounded at his gate every day after the afternoon prayer, and every Monday and Thursday the troops come to his gate and stand outside the audience-hall for an hour, then withdraw. The sultan himself does not go out, nor is he seen by anyone except on Fridays, when he goes out for the [midday] prayer, and then returns to his residence, but he prevents no one from entering the audience-hall.
Folios/Pages
390
Date
1332 circa
Observations on the events description
The custom of playing music in front of rulers' doors is attested in the travelogue throughout the whole Islamic world (e.g. see Events 2, 5, 12, 43 in this Travel).
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
No other participants in this event description.
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "Musical customs of the Zafar's sultan" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 07 10.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
