Hajaj Salama

Travel literature occupies a large space in the Arabic library. The book ""Entertainment of the Stranger in Every Wondrous Matter: A Journey to Brazil 1865-1871"" by Abd al-Rahman al-Baghdadi al-Dimashqi is an important document. It was edited by Syrian researcher Ahmadiyya Ibrahim Al-Naasan and won the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature. Al-Baghdadi, a judge and poet, left Damascus following the 1860 strife and worked as an imam in the Ottoman fleet. His journey took him to Rio de Janeiro in 1866, where he stayed for three years teaching African Muslims the Quran and Islamic principles. His narrative serves as a bridge between individual and collective memory and is a key reference for the history of Brazil and early slave rebellions.