Sorry this is late, I forgot we’re posting not printing

Ibn Fadlan’s writing allows us to see a different group and their customs, not through their eyes, but through the eyes of an outsider.  The third to last paragraph in the translation also allows us to see how the group views the outsider’s cultural practices.

In our society today, when we travel to a different part of the world that has a culture that is different from our own, we are expected to change our culture. For the time that we are there, we are trying to show respect and keep from causing an unnecessary uproar. The Rusiyyah, whichever of the many possible cultures they might be, do not observe this practice. (However given the time when this was written, it is kind of expected that they would not).  They are travelling merchants who come often enough to have permantly set up their own religious icons. If one of them dies they carry out an elaborate and frankly rather disgusting ritual, apparently no matter where they are. When one of the foreigners notices Ibn Fadlan, he criticizes the Arab cultures practices for dealing with the deceased. That was rather rude and unnecessary on his part, after all he and his companions had just killed a bunch of perfectly healthy animals and a slave girl for no other reason than to provide for some silly superstition.  Perhaps it is for this reason that Ibn Fadlan is rather harsh in his judgment of these people calling them “the filthiest of Allah’s creatures…”. I am curious to know how Ibn Fadlan knows all that he does, it is one this to attend the funeral but how does he know how they behave behind closed doors?  Essentially, it was very interesting to see how his opinion of the Rusiyyah culture was very similar to their opinion of Arab culture.