Jalal al-Din Rumi was born in Balkh ( Afghanistan) and fled to Konya (Turkey) on the eve of Chinngis Khan's invasion. What process would someone go through to cross multiple borders and settle in foreign countries in the 13th century middle east/central asia?

Hi !

I am not entirely sure here, but it seems to me that the Pre-Modern Islamic world, or at least the so-called “Medieval” one, was guaranteeing free circulation and movements of goods and people, for Muslims.

Which does not mean it was tariff-free^^.

So, there was basically no specific process required to move from a territory to another, apart the “normal” logistics of transport and movement : one had to bring a bit of food/water, may have used a ship or rented a “seat” on a ship, join a caravan (to limit the risk of attack or racket), use a horse, a donkey, a camel, go on foot etc.

Political boundaries, as such, did not constitute borders per se, in most cases (that is, the situation may have changed regarding a troubled political, sanitary, economic context).

It is possible that one would be checked at cities’ entrance, be it the gates in a fortified city or a port, but it does not seem to have been the norm (for example, in Yemen, people were controlled at the entrance of cities because it was forbidden to carry weapon, not because one had to check "foreigners"). Merchants would have their merchandise checked at various customs, by administrators working on behalf of the political authority of a given territory.

So, many people moved from Maghreb to Middle East, from Middle East to India or Persia, or to wherever they meant to go, and you would find many people from across the entire Islamic worlds in most major cities : people from India, Persia, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Hijâz, Maghreb, Ethiopia, Sudan, in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, Nishapur, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz etc.

Of course, there would be important differences in the origins of people in each case, as both the local social, political and economic situation, at a given time, were quite decisive in terms of attractivity, because there were specific circulations and diaspora, and because proximity also was a factor (namely, for example you would find more Maghrebis in Cairo than in Tabriz in 13th century).

But travels and settling elsewhere was just normal practice.

Jalâl al-Dîn al-Rûmî’s (that Rûmî, yes?) travels are thus quite ordinary, and you may find thousands of scholars and mystical figures mentioned in 13th century (literally, thousands) going from one place to another, especially people from Baghdad after its fall to the Mongols in 1258.

Beyond the specific case of Baghdad and the Mongol advance, or cases of migrations for settlement purpose, the practice of scholarly travels was established very early in Islamic history, as a quest in search of knowledge, as a scholar had to look for famous masters to increase his own knowledge, skills and reputation (this was called, a rihla fî talab al-'ilm, litteraly a journey/travel in search of knowledge).

That being said, there may have been some limitations in specific cases, some different situations in a given region, and one may find examples that would go againts this main framework I am sure : for example, once Ibn Khaldûn (m. 1406) had arrived in Cairo from Maghreb, he had to ask the Hafsid ruler of Tunis to let his family go and join him in Cairo (his wife and 5 of his children unfortunately died on their way...).

But freedom of movement is the general idea that emerges from most Medieval Arabic and Persian sources, to my knowledge.

Best !