Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi al-Ma’afiri (1076-1148) This is a preliminary report on a research project about Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi al-Ma’afiri (1076-1148 C.E.), Chief judge of Seville. The project has three components: 1) A biography of the judge which highlights his early education in Seville culminating with his study under al-Ghazzali in Baghdad. A major figure of Maliki law, his work, as judge, author, and teacher will be another highlight discussed within the changing political environment of the Maghreb. 2) A translation into English, with commentary, of his Tartib al-Rihla, the travel account he penned for his journey to the Mashreq. 3) An interactive story map using ArcGIS online platform connecting the cities and places where he had been during the decade long journey across the Mediterranean Sea. This project is framed within the idea that the people around the Mediterranean Sea were linked culturally and politically which will be highlighted by the biography of Qadi Abu Bakr, which spans Abbadid Seville, the Almoravids and the Almohads, and includes his travel to the Islamic East and the various authorities he studied with that shaped his outlook. The account he left of his journey turned out to be the first of its kind in Maghribi Arabic literature and it is an important record of the political and intellectual history of the southern Mediterranean as Abu Bakr related titles of books and named scholars he studied with along his journey, whether in Malaga or Bijaya, Alexandria, Jerusalem or Baghdad. This account, Tartib al-Rihla, has been lost, but some fragments of it survived in many of his books which were put together in a single version. Translating it into English poses a serious challenge since it is written in literary Arabic of the time; flowery expressions ornamented by rhyming sets of antonyms and synonyms. But, coming as it did during the last decade of the 11th century, the account should be of interest to medievalists, whether European or of the Islamic world. Furthermore, as the first of its kind and distinct from geographic literature, his Rihla account will be analyzed to assess its influence on later Andalusi writers, such as Ibn Jubair. To illustrate the journey, an electronic story map, using the ArcGIS platform, will accompany the translation. This will include relevant comments provided by Ibn al-Arabi, in addition to other relevant information, media, and references.