Ali Bey al-Abbasi

Ali Bey al-Abbasi
Ali Bey al-Abbasi
Born 1766
Barcelona, Spain
Died 1818
Syria
Occupation Explorer

Ali Bey al-Abbasi (علي باي العباسي), was the false name/pseudonym that Domingo Badía y Leblich (Barcelona 1766 – Syria 1818), a Spanish explorer and spy in the early 19th century, used for several years in his travels to North Africa and the Middle East. Notably, he witnessed the Saudi conquest of Mecca in 1807.

Badía travelled to and wrote descriptions of Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria (including modern Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, then considered part of Syria,) and Turkey during the period of 1803–1807. He went to Mecca ostensibly to perform the hajj, saying that he was a descendant of the Abbassid Caliphs of the West.

In conversations with individuals that he met during his travels, he claimed that he was born in Aleppo; but he was later identified as Domingo Badia y Leblich, a Spanish spy for Manuel Godoy and then for Joseph Bonaparte[citation needed]. He probably worked also for the French authorities during the French-British rivalry in Middle East.

There was much mystery about Ali Bey when the account of his travels was published in 1814 under this name. Bankes, writing in 1830, roundly asserted that he was a Jew, and many later writers have thought that he was a genuine Muslim of Moroccan origin, but of Spanish education. Actually he alleged to be a Muslim in order to enter places forbidden to non-Muslims, including the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron[1] and Mecca.

He was murdered by British agents in Damascus while working for France. When he died in Syria in 1818 he was denied a Muslim burial because a cross was found in his vest.[citation needed] This, as suggested by some scholars, is conclusive proof that Ali Bey’s claims of Islam were a pretense maintained in order to travel to Mecca and Medina.[citation needed]. Anyway, in modern times scholars have demonstrated that he was a Spaniard born in Barcelona; and actually he was very involved in the complex Spanish politic events in the 1808-1810 period, along the Peninsular War.

In 1816, the account of his travels, Travels of Ali Bey : in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, between the years 1803 and 1807, was published.

References

  1. ^ Bey, Ali (pseudo.), Travels of in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey: Between the Years 1803 and 1807, London, Longmans, 1816, p. 229.

Travels of Ali Bey in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, between the years 1803 and 1807: in two volumes / [Domingo Badia y Leblich]. Reprint of the ed. London 1816. Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.

Bibliography

  • Alí Bei : un pelegrí català per terres de l'Islam: [catàleg]. [Compilació i coordinació dels articles: Alberto López]. Barcelona : Proa, 1996. ISBN 8482563092
  • Badia, Domènec, "Alí Bei". Viatges d'Alí Bei. Ed. completa amb tots els viatges, làmines i mapes realitzats pel mateix autor. Barcelona: Llibres de l'Índex, 2004. ISBN 8495317796


Ali Bey al-Abbasi in the German National Library catalogue (German)


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