Nasir-i Khusraw was an eleventh-century Persian poet and writer on religious subjects who also wrote an account of his seven years of travel to Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt. His full name was Abu Muin Naser b. Khusraw b. Harith al-Kubadhiyani. He was born in 1004, by the Western calendar, in Kubadhiyan, in the region of Marw, to a family of landowners and officials. Recently, scholars have begun to connect Khusraw's long journey and his unusual itinerary with his conversion to Ismaili beliefs. His death fell between the years 1072-78.
Brief Itinerary:
Beginning in 1046, Khusraw's small party took a northern route passing through Gavan and Damzan in the province of Qumes, through the Daylam and Taram regions, to Tabriz and then Khoy in Azerbaijan, and to Van and Akhlat in Armenia. From that point the travelers began their descent toward Syria, passing through Aleppo and Beirut on their way to Jerusalem. From that city Khusraw made his first hajj, returning from Mecca to Jerusalem. His next principal goal was Cairo where he stayed for six years, during which time he embarked on the Hajj three more times. He returned to Cairo in the intervals, but after the fourth pilgrimage he traveled through the desert, across the Arabian Peninsula, stopping at regular caravan sites such as Taef, Falaj, and Lahsa. Khusraw ascended to Basra in Iraq but then took a northeasterly route that nearly mirrored his original northern
path. The principal cities he visited were Isfahan, Tabas and Qaen. On reentering Khorasan, Khusraw moved through various cities, including Marw Rud, and ended his journey in Balkh in October of 1052. This route effectively avoided the Sunni and Abbasid center of the Islamic world, making a broad loop around as Khusraw also made in effect a tour of every important center of Ismailism west of Transoxiana