Written by: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed
Posted on: November 15, 2024 | 
Replica of the boat that Ibn Battuta is likely to have used.
A recent visit to Tangier, the city in Morocco that lies at the crossroads of Africa and Europe, revived memories of probably the world’s greatest traveler, Ibn Battuta. He was born and belonged to Tangier, from where he embarked on his travels in the 14th century, traversing 75,000 miles over 29 years, spanning 40 countries, both by land and sea. His journeys took him to Africa and Asia, including as far east as China. His book on travels is a unique mystical mixture of the world of sultans, snake charmers, slave girls, traders, sufis, saints, scholars, magicians who could conjure up mind boggling and eye-popping tricks!
Ibn Battuta covered more than 100,000 kilometers in his travels.
This journey across many continents including parts of Europe, Africa and Asia provides unique insights about Ibn Battuta, who started his journey in 1325 when he was just 21, and his first trip was the pilgrimage to Mecca. Appropriately, Ibn Battuta calls his odyssey, “traveling in search of knowledge”. The impact and imprint of his travels is even felt today, as was evident in the speech of President Xi Jinping during the conference on Dialogue among Civilizations, which he delivered in Beijing in May 2019. He referred to Ibn Battuta’s travels along the Silk Road as a symbol of connectivity among countries, continents and cultures.
Medina, the first stop in Ibn Battuta's pilgrimage.
Three aspects are unique about the travels of Ibn Battuta as he methodically documented the life styles, cultures, cuisines and the interaction with various rulers and scholars whom he met on his travels. First, more than any other traveler of his time, including Marco Polo, who preceded him by almost half a century, Ibn Battuta is the first global traveler, given the extent, depth and the vastness of his travels over an extended period of nearly three decades. No other traveler has been able to compete with him in that respect in terms of contrast and diversity in disseminating knowledge about the world of that period.
38 countries that Ibn Battuta visited.
Second, Ibn Battuta is an amazing storyteller, with an eye for detail, providing documentation of events, people and places with an amazing detailed memory, which also shows the curiosity to learn and his thirst for knowledge.
Third, Ibn Battuta is the true globalist with an inclusive approach, willing to assimilate with other cultures and adapt to the environment he is living in, often marrying into other cultures given his extended stays in different parts of the world during his journeys.
Cloths that Ibn Battuta must have worn.
For example, his description of two major Asian countries, namely, India and China are reflected in the geographic picture of the cultures, way of life and even governance of that period. He had the rare opportunity to interact both with the rulers as well as the people. Ibn Battuta was also a lucky traveler because he survived shipwrecks, as well as the famous Black Plague of 1348, which killed nearly half of the population of Europe and Middle East. He visited India and lived in Delhi, when Sultan Muhammad Tughluq was the ruler in 1334. Two anecdotes about the humility of the Sultan and his sense of equity and justice are amazing that are documented in his travelogue:
1) One of the Hindus chiefs brought a claim against him that he had killed the chief’s brother without a just cause, and wanted him to appear before the power of the time. Whereupon, he went on foot and unarmed to the tribunal, saluted and made the sign of homage, having previously sent orders to the powerful that on his arrival at the tribunal, he should not stand up for him nor move from his place. He walked up to the tribunal and remained standing before the powerful, who gave a judgment against him, decreeing that he should give satisfaction to his opponent for his brother’s blood, with which he complied.
Mohammed Bin Toughlouk, the second sultan of the Toughlouk Dynasty, who ruled Delhi from 1325 to 1351.
2) A young boy, one of the sons of the maliks, brought a claim against the sultan that the latter had struck him without a just cause, and reported him to the gadi. Judgment was given against the Sultan, to the effect that he should give the plaintiff monetary compensation, if he would accept that, or alternatively allow him to exercise his right to retaliate in kind. I was present that day when the Sultan returned to his audience hall, and saw him summon the boy, gave him a stick and said to him: “By my head, you shall strike me just as I struck you”. Whereupon the boy took the stick and gave him twenty-one blows, so that I actually saw his high cap fly off his head.
Ibn Battuta on portraits in China
While visiting Multan, Ibn Battuta discovered the mango fruit. He described how best to eat a mango: when the mango ripens in the season of autumn, its fruit becomes yellow and then is eaten like an apple, some people cutting it with knife while others simply suck it, adding that the “fruit is sweet and has a large stone which they plant and the trees sprout from them”. Ibn Battuta on his journey from Multan to Delhi, also stopped over in what is now Pak Pattan, where he met the descendants of the famous Sufi saint and scholar, Baba Fareed, who died in 1271.
Saddle used at the time.
Ibn Battuta also provides a vivid description of the ancient Hindu ritual of satti where a widow, after her husband’s death, would join the cremation of her husband as a mark of fidelity and get burnt alive in the funeral pyre.
Ibn Battuta's description of China's natural resources and their monetary system.
Ibn Battuta's description of China is also quite revealing. He has some observations on China terming China as the “safest and best country for travelers, as a man may travel for 9 months alone with great wealth and have nothing to fear”. Ibn Battuta is also impressed by Chinese skills and artistic excellence as he terms it that China produces the “most superb kind of pottery and China is rich in resources, fruit, cereal, gold and silver as well as a mastery of painting”, and says that “China are of all peoples, the most skillful in crafts and attained the greatest perfection in them”.
Emperor Togoontomor of the Yuan Dynasty.
Ibn Battuta also describes the rather robust presence and role of Muslims living in different parts of China, adding that Muslims in China are highly regarded and treated with respect, and they live comfortably and are affluent. Among the prominent cities of China that Ibn Battuta visited were Peking and Canton. Ibn Battuta also went to Hangzhou terming it, “the biggest city I have seen on the face of this earth”. Describing Hangzhou, Ibn Battuta writes that this city is “laid out in the Chinese style of building, everyone having his own orchard and house, and he also describes formal banquets and dinners with the rulers of China and India where he details the protocol of standing and sitting in terms of rank and seniority. It was a pleasant surprise of Ibn Battuta that when he was guest of the ruler and going on a cruise, he was entertained by singers who sang in Chinese, Arabic and Persian, including verses by the great Persian Poet Saadi:
When we gave our hearts to sorrow
We sank in an ocean of care,
But we were stalwart in standing
Upright at the mihrab in prayer.
Ibn Battuta reached Persia in 1327.
Some other descriptions of countries are also fascinating. Ibn Battuta, during his visit to Yemen writes that “the whole city of Sana’a is paved and when the rain falls, it washes and cleans all its streets and he also has strong views about a city on the Somali coast, Zaila, terming it “the dirtiest, most disagreeable and most stinking town in the world”.
Ibn Battuta's views on Chinese Muslim communities
Ibn Battuta’s fascinating travelogue is still relevant in today’s world, and is a primer in harmony, coexistence and respect for “others”, irrespective of cast, creed, religion or nationality. It is about celebrating diversity, learning from the rich cultures of different regions and countries that Ibn Battuta was a personal witness to. Travel to all the countries that he saw and visited, is a tale of harmony, spirit of adventure, learning and of conquering all kinds of obstacles, outside the “comfort zone” that we have created for ourselves, finding solace and satisfaction in “traveling in search of knowledge”.
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