"To the world of today the men of medieval Christendom already seem remote and unfamiliar. Their names and deeds are recorded in our history-books, their monuments still adorn our cities, but our kinship with them is a thing unreal, which costs an effort of imagination. How much more must this apply to the great Islamic civilization, that stood over against medieval Europe, menacing its existence and yet linked to it by a hundred ties that even war and fear could not sever. Its monuments too abide, for those who may have the fortunate to visit them, but its men and manners are to most of us utterly unknown, or dimly conceived in the romantic image of the Arabian Nights. Even for the specialist it is difficult to reconstruct their lives and see them as they were. Histories and biographies there are in quantity, but the historians for all their picturesque details, seldom show the ability to select the essential and to give their figures that touch of the intimate which makes them live again for the reader. It is in this faculty that Ibn Battuta excels."
Thus begins the book, "Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia andAfrica 1325-1354" published by Routledge and Kegan Paul (1).
Introduction
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad - Din, was born at Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra). He left Tangier on Thursday, 14th June, 1325 C.E. (2nd Rajab 725 A.H.), when he was twenty one years of age. His travels lasted for about thirty years, after which he returned to Fez, Morocco at the court of Sultan Abu 'Inan and dictated accounts of his journeys to Ibn Juzay. These are known as the famous Travels (Rihala) of Ibn Battuta. He died at Fez in 1369 C.E.
Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveller who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also travelled in Ceylon (present Sri Lanka), China and Byzantium and South Russia. The mere extent of his travels is estimated at no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.
Travels
During his first journey, Ibn Battuta traveled through Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to Makkah. After visiting Iraq, Shiraz, and Mesopotamia, he returned to perform the Hajj at Makkah and remained there for three years. Then traveling to Jeddah, he went to Yemen by sea, visited Aden, and sailed for Mombasa, East Africa. After going to Kulwa, he returned to Oman and repeated the pilgrimage to Makkah in 1332 C.E. via Hormuz, Siraf, Bahrain, and Yamama. Subsequently, he set out with the purpose of going to India. Still, on reaching Jeddah, he appears to have changed his mind (due perhaps to the unavailability of a ship bound for India) and revisited Cairo, Palestine, and Syria after arriving at Aleya (Asia Minor) by sea, traveling across Anatolia and Sinope. He then crossed the Black Sea, and after long wanderings, he reached Constantinople through Southern Ukraine.
On his return, he visited Khurasan through Khawarism (Khiva), and having visited all the important cities such as Bukhara, Balkh, Herat, Tus, Mashhad, and Nishapur, he crossed the Hindukush mountains via the 13,000 ft Khawak Pass into Afghanistan and passing through Ghani and Kabul entered India. After visiting Lahri (near modern Karachi), Sukkur, Multan, Sirsa, and Hansi, he reached Delhi. For several years Ibn Battuta enjoyed the patronage of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq and was later sent as Sultan's envoy to China. Passing through Central India and Malwa, he took ship from Kambay for Goa, and after visiting many thriving ports along the Malabar coast, he reached the Maldive Islands, from which he crossed to Ceylon. Continuing his journey, he landed on the Ma'bar (Coromandal) coast, and once more, returning to the Maldives, he finally set sail for Bengal and visited Kamrup, Sylhet, and Sonargaon (near Dhaka). Sailing along the Arakan coast, he came to Sumatra and landed at Canton via Malaya and Cambodia. In China, he traveled northward to Peking through Hangchow. Retracing his steps, he returned to Calicut and, taking ship, came to Dhafari and Muscat, and passing through Paris (Iran), Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, made his seventh and last pilgrimage to Makkah in November 1348 C.E. and then returned to his home town of Fez. His travels did not end here - he later visited Muslim Spain and the lands of the Niger across the Sahara.
On his return to Fez, Ibn Battuta dictated the accounts of his travels to Ibn Juzay al-Kalbi (1321-1356 C.E.) at the court of Sultan Abu Inan (1348-1358 C.E). Ibn Juzay took three months to accomplish this work,which he finished on 9th December 1355 C.E.
"Ibn Battuta traveled to Black Africa twice: in 1331 to the East Coast and in 1351-1352 from Morocco
down the Sahara to the Niger. He reported
about the wealthy, multicultural trading centers at the African East
Coast, especially Mombasa and Kilwa. Ibn Battuta visited the legendary
kingdom of Mali and its neighboring states during the area's period of
prosperity from mining and trans-Saharan trade."--BOOK JACKET.
Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller
Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller
Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also, it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted based on equality and mutual respect.
Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travelers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and, in fact, traveled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West. Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer, yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography books is not an isolated example. All great Muslims, whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists, or chemists, suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture, and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach.
References
1. Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1345, Published by Routledge and Kegan Paul (ISBN O 7100 9568 6)
2. The Introduction to the "Voyages of Ibn Battutah" by Vincent Monteil in The Islamic Review and Arab Affairs. March 1970: 30-37
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