# Nasir Khusraw begins his journey to Egypt (6 March 1046)

URL: https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/timeline/1046-nasir-khusraw-begins-his-journey-to-egypt
Location: Khurasan (departure) to Cairo
Themes: Travel writing, Ismailism

In March 1046 Nasir Khusraw, a Persian-language poet and official from the Balkh region, set out on a journey that lasted nearly seven years. According to the dating in his travel book, he left on 6 March and reached Cairo in August 1047, then returned to Khurasan by 1052. He recorded dozens of cities in his Safarnama. He was then an administrator in the Seljuk-ruled lands, and his later poetry describes a spiritual crisis that triggered the pilgrimage. In Cairo he studied under the chief Fatimid missionary, al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi, and accepted Ismaili teaching. He was later named a da'i and appointed Hujjat of Khurasan, the Fatimid propaganda chief of the east. The journey produced one of the most important travel accounts in Persian and transformed his life into a mission to spread Ismaili teaching in the east. His later refuge in Badakhshan made him the founding figure of Ismailism in the Pamir highlands, and Pamiri communities in Tajikistan still venerate him as a spiritual guide. At this point in the timeline (1046), the Western Karakhanid Khanate was headed by Tamghach Khan Ibrahim, Western Karakhanid khan (1040 – 1068). The main location of this event lies outside present-day Tajikistan.

## Why it matters
His travels led to the Ismaili tradition that the Pamiri people of Gorno-Badakhshan still follow, linking a famed Persian writer directly to Tajikistan's mountain east.

Ruler at the Time: [Tamghach Khan Ibrahim (Böritigin)](https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/rulers/tamghach-khan-ibrahim-boritigin)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Nasir Khusraw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasir_Khusraw)
- [Wikipedia — Badakhshan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badakhshan)