IBN BATTUTA BORN 1304 FEBRUARY 24
இப்னு பதூதா (Ibn Battuta) என்றழைக்கப்படும் அபு அப்துல்லா முகமது இபின் பதூதா மொராக்காவில் உள்ள டேன்ஜீர் என்ற சிறிய நகரத்தில் 1304 february 24ஆம் ஆண்டில் ஒரு நீதிபதியின் மகனாகப் பிறந்தவர்.மொரோக்கோ நாட்டைச் சேர்ந்த கல்வியாளரும் ஒரு நாடுகாண் பயணியும் ஆவார். [1] ரிகிலா எனப்படும் இவரது பயணங்களைப் பற்றிய விபரங்கள் பெயர்பெற்றவை.[2] இவரது பயணங்கள் ஏறத்தாழ 30 ஆண்டுகள் நீடித்ததுடன், அறியப்பட்ட இசுலாமிய உலகம் முழுவதையும், அதற்கும் அப்பாலுள்ள நாடுகளையும் உள்ளடக்கி இருந்தன.இவர் வடக்கு ஆப்பிரிக்கா, மேற்கு ஆப்பிரிக்கா, தெற்கு ஐரோப்பா. கிழக்கு ஐரோப்பா, மையக் கிழக்கு, இந்தியத் துணைக் கண்டம், நடு ஆசியா, தென்கிழக்கு ஆசியா, சீனா ஆகிய நான்கு திசைகளிலும் பரந்திருந்த பகுதிகளூடாகப் பயணம் செய்துள்ளார். இவர் கடந்த தூரம் இவருக்கும் முன் பயணம் செய்தவர்களும், இவரது கிட்டிய சமகாலத்தவரான மார்க்கோ போலோவும் கடந்த தூரங்களைக் காட்டிலும் நான்கு மடங்கு அதிகமானது. இவர் 44 நாடுகள் 11000 நாட்கள், 75,000 மைல்கள் நீண்ட பயணம் செய்துள்ளார். தான் சென்ற நாடுகளைப் பற்றியும் துல்லியமாக தனது நினைவுகளைத் துல்லியமாகப் பதிவு செய்திருக்கிறார்.
இளமை
மொராக்காவில் உள்ள டேன்ஜீர் என்ற சிறிய நகரத்தில் 1304 february 24ஆம் ஆண்டில் ஒரு நீதிபதியின் மகனாகப் பிறந்தவர் இபின் பதூதா. சிறு வயதிலேயே மதக் கல்வியும் அரபி இலக்கணமும் பயின்றார்.[3] இஸ்லாமிய நெறிகளில் தீவிர ஈடுபாடு கொண்டிருந்த குடும்பம் என்பதால் அவரது கனவம் முழுமையும் இறையியல் மீதாகவே உருவானது. தனது 20 ஆம் அகவையில் இபின் பதூதா மெக்காவிற்குப் புனிதப் பயணம் துவங்கினார். புனிதக் கடமைகளை நிறைவேற்றுவதற்காகத் துவங்கிய இந்தப் பயணமே அவரை உலக நாடுகளுக்கு இட்டுச் சென்றது. இசுலாமிய மாலிகி மத்ஹப் பிரிவின் நீதிபதியாக அப்பிரிவு மக்களால் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டார்.[4]
மெக்காவில் தங்குதல்
இபின் பதூதா மெக்காவிற்குப் பயணம் மேற்கொள்ளும்போதே இதுவரை தான் அறியாத நிலப்பரப்புகளையும் பல்வேறு வகையான கலாச்சாரக் கூறுகளையும் அறிந்துகொள்ளத் துவங்கினார். புனிதப் பயணம் முடிந்து பயணிகள் தங்கள் சொந்த ஊருக்குத் திரும்பும்போது இபின் பதூதாவிற்கு மட்டும் இன்னும் சில காலம் அங்கே தங்கி அங்கு வழிபாட்டிற்கு வரும் மக்களைப் பற்றியும் மெக்காவின் தினசரி வாழ்க்கை பற்றியும் அறிய ஆர்வம் ஏற்பட்டது. இதற்காக இரண்டு ஆண்டுகள் அவர் மெக்காவில் தங்கியிருந்து அங்குள்ள கலாச்சாரக் கூறுகளை நுண்மையாக அறிந்து கொண்டார்.
உலக நாடுகாண் ஆர்வம்
மெக்காவில் தங்கியிருந்த இபின் பதூதாவிற்கு உலகம் முழுவதும் இருந்த இஸ்லாமிய அரசர்களை நேரில் கண்டு வரவேண்டும் என்ற ஆசை உருவானது. இதனை வெளிகாட்டாமல் மெக்காவில் தன்னோடு நெருக்கமாக இருந்த வணிகர்கள் மற்றும் கடலோடிகளோடு சேர்ந்துகொண்டு தனது பயணத்தைத் துவக்கினார். ஆறு ஆண்டுகாலம் அவர் தொடர்ந்து பயணம் செய்தார். இந்தப் பயணத்தின் நடுவே பாக்தாத்திலும் மெசபடோனியாவிலும் குபா என்ற பழமையான நகரிலும் சில மாதங்கள் தங்கிச் சென்றார்.
பாக்தாத் பற்றிய பதூதாவின் பயணக்குறிப்பு
பாக்தாத் நகரில் இபின் பதூதா தங்கியிருந்த நாட்களில் அந்நகரைப் பற்றித் தனது குறிப்புகளில் பதிவு செய்துள்ளார். அங்குள்ள குளியல் அறைகள் பற்றியும் பாக்தாத் நகரின் தெருக்கள், அங்காடிகள், இசைக் கூடங்கள், வீதிகள், அங்கு நிலவும் தட்பவெப்பம், அங்கு தயாரிக்கப்படும் உணவு, அங்குள்ள மக்களின் பேச்சுவழக்கு, என்ன வகையான உடையணிந்திருந்தார்கள், அன்றைய செலாவணியில் இருந்த நாணயம், அங்கிருந்த மரங்கள், மக்களிடம் இருந்த கேளிக்கை விருப்பங்கள், அங்கிருந்த மக்களின் மத ஈடுபாடுகள் போன்ற செய்திகளைக் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.
இபின் பதூதா பாக்தாத் நகரில் உள்ள ஒரு பொது குளியலறை ஒன்றிற்குள் குளிப்பதற்காகச் சென்றார். உள்ளே நுழைந்த அவருக்கு மூன்று துண்டுகள் கொடுக்கப்பட்டன. ஒன்று உள்ளே நுழையும் போது தனது உடைகளைக் கழட்டிக்கொண்டு குளிப்பதற்காக இடுப்பில் கட்டிக்கொள்வதற்கு. மற்றொன்று, குளித்த பிறகு ஈரத்துண்டிற்கு மாற்றாகக் கட்டிக் கொள்வதற்கு. மூன்றாவது உடலைத் துவட்டிக் கொள்வதற்கு. குளியலை மக்கள் ஒரு கொண்டாட்டமாக மேற்கொண்டனர். இப்படி சுத்தமானதும் சுகாதாரமானதுமான குளியல் முறை நாடெங்கும் ஒரே சீராக இருந்தது என்று இபின் பதுதா தனது பயணக்குறிப்பில் குறிப்பிடுகிறார்.[5]
இந்தியப் பயணம்
தனது நீண்ட பயணத்தின் ஒரு பகுதியாக இபின்பதூதா இந்தியாவிற்கும் வருகை புரிந்துள்ளார். முகமது பின் துக்ளக் ஆட்சிக் காலத்தில் இவர் டெல்லிக்கு வருகை புரிந்த போது துக்ளக் ஒரு உள்நாட்டுக் குழப்பத்தை தீர்த்து வைப்பதற்காகத் தென்பகுதிக்குச் சென்றிருந்தார். ஆனாலும் அவருக்கு ஒரு வெளிநாட்டுப் பயணி தன்னைக் காண வந்திருப்பது தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டவுடன் ஐயாயிரம் தினார்கள் வெகுமானம் அளித்து தங்குமிடமும் சிறப்பு வசதிகளும் செய்து தந்தார்.[6]
இபின் பதூதாவின் பார்வையில் முகமது பின் துக்ளக்
இபின் பதூதா தனது குறிப்பில் அப்போது இந்தியாவை ஆண்ட மன்னர் முகமது பின் துக்ளக் பற்றிய செய்திகளைப் பதிவு செய்துள்ளார். உள்நாட்டுக் குழப்பம் முடிந்து சில வரங்களின் பின்னர் டெல்லி வந்து சேர்ந்த முகமது பின் துக்ளக், இபின் பதூதாவைச் சந்திக்க அழைப்பு விடுத்தார். இபின் பதூதா துக்ளக்கின் விசித்திரமான மனப்போக்கு பற்றியும் குதர்க்கமான சிந்தனை பற்றியும் முன்னதாகவே அறிந்திருந்த காரணத்தால் அவர் தங்கத்தால் செய்த பரிசுப் பொருட்களுடன் துக்ளக்கைக் காண்பதற்காக காத்துக் கொண்டிருந்தார். துக்ளக் அவரை அருகில் அழைத்து பெர்சிய மொழியில் பேசிப் பாராட்டினார். ஒவ்வொரு முறை அவர் இபின் பதூதாவைப் பாராட்டும் போதும் துக்ளக்கின் கையில் இபின் பதூதா முத்தமிட்டு நன்றி தெரிவிக்க வேண்டியிருந்தது. அந்த ஒரு சந்திப்பில் மட்டும் ஏழுமுறை அவரது கையில் தான் முத்தமிட்டதாகவும் அந்த ஒரு நிகழ்ச்சியே துக்ளக்கின் மனப்போக்கைத் துல்லியமாக எடுத்துக் காட்டியதாகவும் இபின் பதூதா விவரிக்கிறார்.[சான்று தேவை]
துக்ளக் பெர்சிய மொழியில் நன்கு தேர்ச்சி பெற்றவர். அத்தோடு சிறந்த சித்திர எழுத்துக் கலை நிபுணர். சட்டம் மற்றும் மதம் குறித்த தீவிர சிந்தனையாளர். பெர்சிய மொழியில் கவிதைகள் எழுதுபவர். ஆனால் அவர் ஒரு முன்கோபி. சிறிய குற்றங்களுக்குக் கூட கடுமையான தண்டனைகள் வழங்கக்கூடியவர்.
ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் சபையில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான மக்கள் ஏதேதோ காரணங்களுக்காகப் பிடித்துக் கொண்டுவரப்பட்டிருப்பார்கள். துக்ளக் குற்றங்களைப் பற்றி விசாரிப்பதற்கு முன்பாகவே தண்டனையைக் கொடுத்து விடுவார். கைகளை வெட்டி காலிலும் காலை வெட்டி கைகளிலும் தைத்துவிடுங்கள் என்பது போன்ற விசித்திரமான தண்டனைகள் அளிப்பார். ஒரு முறை மத அறிஞர் ஒருவர் துக்ளக் தெரிவித்த கருத்திற்கு மாற்றுக் கருத்து சொன்னதற்காக அவரது தாடி மயிரை ஒவ்வொன்றாகப் பிய்த்துக் கொல்லும்படியாக குரூர தண்டனை அளித்தார் துக்ளக் என இபின் பதூதா தனது குறிப்பில் கூறியுள்ளார்.
இந்தியாவில் இபின் பதூதாவின் அரசியல் பணி
முகமது பின் துக்ளக் தனது நட்பினை வெளிப்படுத்தும் விதமாக இபின் பதூதாவிற்கு நீதிபதி பதவியைக் கொடுத்து, வருடம் ஐயாயிரம் தினார் ஊதியம் வழங்கினார். அன்றைய கால கட்டத்தில் ஒரு சராசரிக் குடும்பத்தின் மாத வருமானம் ஐந்து தினார்கள்தான். இதுமட்டுமல்லாது சில கிராமங்களில் வரி வசூல் செய்து அவரே எடுத்துக் கொள்வதற்கும் உரிமை வழங்கினார். இபின் பதூதா ஏழு ஆண்டுகாலம் துக்ளக்கின் அரசியல் பணியில் இருந்தார். முகமது பின் துக்ளக்கின் நிர்வாகச் சீர்கேடு இந்தியாவைச் சீர்குலையச் செய்தது. இதன் காரணமாக எதிர்ப்பு இயக்கங்கள் வலுக்கத் துவங்கின. துக்ளக் தனது எதிரிகளை ஒழிப்பதற்காக படையோடு டெல்லியை விட்டுச் சென்ற நாட்களில் மொத்த நீதி நிர்வாகமும் இபின் பதூதாவிடமே இருந்தது. அவர் இஸ்லாமிய சட்டங்களை இயற்ற வேண்டும் என்பதில் தீவிரமாக இருந்தார். குறிப்பாக பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான குற்றங்களுக்குக் கடுமையான தண்டனைகளை அளித்தார்.
இபின் பதூதாவின் காலத்தில் இந்தியாவில் சாதாரண மக்கள் தொடர்ந்து வரியாலும் அதிகார நெருக்கடியாலும் கசக்கிப் பிழியப்பட்ட நிகழ்ச்சிகள் அவரது பயணக் குறிப்புகளில் முழுமையாக விவரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.
இபின் பதூதாவின் தென்னிந்தியப் பயணம்
இபின் பதூதா ஏழாண்டு காலம் அரசியல் பணிகளில் இருந்தபோது அவர் இந்தியா முழுவதும் பயணம் செய்துள்ளார்.ஒருமுறை தனது கடற்பயணத்தின்போது அவரது கப்பல் சிதைந்து போய்விடவே அவர் மலபார்ப் பகுதியில் சில மாதங்கள் தங்கியிருந்து தென்னிந்திய மக்களின் வாழ்க்கை முறைகளைக் கண்டறிந்துள்ளார். அப்போது அவர் இராமநாதபுரம் மாவட்டத்தில் உள்ள பெரியபட்டினம் என்ற கடற்கரைத் துறைமுகத்திற்கு வந்து மூன்று மாதம் தங்கியிருந்ததாக ஒரு குறிப்பு எழுதியுள்ளார். தென்னிந்திய மக்கள் வெற்றிலைக்கு அதிக முக்கியத்துவம் கொடுப்பது பற்றி குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். விருந்தினர்களை வரவேற்று வெற்றிலை பாக்கு தருவது அவர்களுக்குத் தங்கமோ வெள்ளியோ தருவதை விடவும் உயர்வானதாகக் கருதப்பட்டதாக அவர் ஒரு குறிப்பில் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
சீனப்பயணம்
துக்ளக்கிற்கு எதிரான புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகள் ஒடுக்கப்பட்டதும் துக்ளக் தனது எதிரிகளோடு தொடர்புள்ளவர்கள் யார் என்ற ஒரு பட்டியலைத் தயாரித்தார். அதில் எதிரி ஒருவரின் வீட்டில் இருந்த சூபி தத்துவவாதி ஒருவருக்கும் இபின் பதூதாவிற்கும் தொடர்பு இருந்தது துக்ளக்கிற்கு தெரிய வந்தது. எங்கே துக்ளக் தன்னையும் கொன்றுவிடக் கூடுமோ என்று அஞ்சிய இபின் பதூதா ஒரு வார கலம் உண்ண நோன்பு இருந்து, பகலும் இரவும் பிரார்த்தனை செய்தபடியிருந்தார். துக்ளக் எப்போது என்ன செய்வார் என்று அவரால் அறிந்துகொள்ள முடியவில்லை. சில நாட்களில் பிச்சைக் காரர் போல வேடமணிந்து டெல்லி தெருக்களில் சுற்றியலைந்துள்ளார். ஒரு நாள் அரசரிடம் இருந்து அழைப்பு வந்தது. அரசரைக் கண்டதும் வணங்கி தான் திரும்பவும் ஹஜ் பயணம் மேற்கொள்ள இருப்பதாக இபின் பதூதா தெரிவித்தார். துக்ளக் அதை மறுத்து அவரை சீனாவிற்கான தூதுவராக நியமித்து, தேவையான பொருட்களும் வேலையாட்களும் கொடுத்து சீனாவிற்கு அனுப்பி வைத்தார். துக்ளக்கிடம் இருந்து தப்புவதற்காக அந்தப் பணியை ஒத்துக் கொண்ட இபின் பதூதா மார்க்கோபோலோவிற்குப் பிறகு சீனாவிற்குச் சென்ற வெளிநாட்டுப் பயணியாவார். சீனாவிற்குச் செல்வதற்காகப் புறப்பட்ட கடற்பயணத்திலும் கப்பல் விபத்திற்கு உள்ளாகி மீனவர்களால் காப்பாற்றப்பட்டு இலங்கை, மாலைதீவு போன்ற நாடுகளுக்கும் சென்ற இபின் பதூதா கடுமையான தடைகளைத் தாண்டிய பின்னரே சீனா சென்றடைந்தார்.[7]
சொந்த நாடு திரும்புதல்
முப்பது ஆண்டுகள் பயணத்தில் பல நாடுகளில் நோயால் பீடிக்கப்பட்டும், சில அரசர்களினால் சிறைகளில் அடைக்கப்பட்டும், பயணம் செய்த கப்பல் விபத்திற்குள்ளாகியும் துன்புற்றார். மோசமான உடல்நலக் கேட்டிற்கு உள்ளான இபின் பதூதா முடிவாகத் தனது சொந்த நாடு திரும்பினார். அவருக்கு சுல்தான் சிறப்பான வரவேற்பு கொடுத்து பாஸ் என்ற நகரில் வசிப்பதற்கான உதவிகள் செய்தார்.[8]
இபின் பதூதாவின் பயணக்குறிப்புகள்
இபின் பதூதாவின் பயணக் குறிப்புகள் யாவும் அவரது இறுதிக் காலத்தில் மொராக்கோவின் சுல்தான் ஆணையின்படி, அவர் சொல்லச் சொல்ல இபின் சஜாயி என்ற கவிஞராய் எழுதப்பட்டது. இபின் பதூதா தனது வயதான காலத்தில் தான் கண்டும் கேட்டும் அறிந்திருந்த விவரங்களை இரண்டு வருட காலம் தினமும் அரச சபையில் தெரியப்படுத்தினார். இபின் சுஜாயி அவற்றைக் குறிப்புகளாக எடுத்துத் தொகுத்து நீண்ட பயண நூலாக்கி அதற்கு புத்தக வடிவம் கொடுத்துள்ளார். 'அறிவைத்தேடிச் செல்வது மனிதனின் முதற்கடமையாகும். எனது பயணம் முழுவதுமே அறிவைத்தேடி நான் மேற்கொண்ட முயற்சிகளே' என்று குறிப்பிடும் இபின் பதூதாவின் பயணக் குறிப்புகள் 14-ஆம் நூற்றாண்டின் இந்தியாவைப் பற்றித் தெரிந்துகொள்வதற்கும், அன்றைய அரசியல் மற்றும் சமூக நிகழ்வுகளைப் பதிவு செய்வதிலும் முக்கிய பங்கு வகித்திருக்கின்றன. இந்த நூலில் இபின் பதூதா கண்ட இந்தியாவைப் பற்றிய நினைவுக் குறிப்புகள் ஏராளம் உள்ளன. குறிப்பாக துக்ளக்கின் குரூரமான தண்டனைகள் பற்றியும், இபின் பதூதா நீதிபதியாக பணியாற்றிய சம்பவங்களைப் பற்றியும் விவரித்திருக்கிறார்.
இபின் பதூதாவின் பயணக் குறிப்புகள் மூன்று தொகுப்புகளாக வெளிவந்துள்ளன. இந்தத் தொகுப்புகளை வாசிக்கும் போது முன்னுக்குப் பின் முரணான சில விவரங்களும் இடம் காலம் பற்றிய குழப்பங்களும் ஏற்படுகின்றன. அத்தோடு இபின் பதூதா எழுதியதற்கு மேலதிகமாக இடைச் செருகல்கள் இருந்திருக்கக்கூடும் எனவும் கருதப்படுகிறது. ஒரு மலையைத் தூக்கிக் கொண்டு பறவையொன்று பறந்து போனதைக் கண்டதாக அவர் எழுதியுள்ள ஒரு குறிப்பு, இபின் பதூதாவும் மற்ற பயணிகளைப் போலவே பல செவி வழிச் செய்திகளை உண்மை எனப் பதிவு செய்திருப்பதையே இது உணர்த்துகிறது.
இன்றைய வரலாற்று அறிஞர்களின் பார்வையில் இபின்பதூதா
இன்றைய வரலாற்று அறிஞர்கள் சிலர், துக்ளக்கின் முட்டாள்தனமான செயல்களுக்குப் பின்னால் இபின் பதூதாவின் பங்கும் இருக்கிறது. இபின் பதூதாவும் குரூரமான தண்டனைகள் தரும் நீதிபதியாகவே பணியாற்றியிருக்கிறார். ஐந்து பெண்களை மணந்திருக்கிறார். மன்னரின் நண்பன் என்ற முறையில் அதிகாரத்தை தவறாகப் பயன்படுத்தியிருக்கிறார் என்று கூறுகின்றனர்.[சான்று தே
Life[edit]
Early life[edit]
All that is known about Ibn Battuta's life comes from the autobiographical information included in the account of his travels, which records that he was of Berber descent,[1] born into a family of Islamic legal scholars in Tangier, Morocco, on 25 February 1304, during the reign of the Marinid dynasty.[4] His family belonged to a Berber tribe known as the Lawata.[5] As a young man, he would have studied at a Sunni Maliki madh'hab (Islamic jurisprudence school), the dominant form of education in North Africa at that time.[6] Maliki Muslims requested Ibn Battuta serve as their religious judge as he was from an area where it was practised.[7]
Itinerary 1325–1332[edit]
First pilgrimage[edit]
In June 1325, at the age of twenty-one, Ibn Battuta set off from his hometown on a hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, a journey that would ordinarily take sixteen months. He would not see Morocco again for twenty-four years.[8]
He travelled to Mecca overland, following the North African coast across the sultanates of Abd al-Wadid and Hafsid. The route took him through Tlemcen, Béjaïa, and then Tunis, where he stayed for two months.[10] For safety, Ibn Battuta usually joined a caravan to reduce the risk of being robbed. He took a bride in the town of Sfax,[11] the first in a series of marriages that would feature in his travels.[12]
In the early spring of 1326, after a journey of over 3,500 km (2,200 mi), Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Alexandria, at the time part of the Bahri Mamluk empire. He met two ascetic pious men in Alexandria. One was Sheikh Burhanuddin who is supposed to have foretold the destiny of Ibn Battuta as a world traveller saying "It seems to me that you are fond of foreign travel. You will visit my brother Fariduddin in India, Rukonuddin in Sind and Burhanuddin in China. Convey my greetings to them". Another pious man Sheikh Murshidi interpreted the meaning of a dream of Ibn Battuta that he was meant to be a world traveller.[13][citation needed][14]
He spent several weeks visiting sites in the area, and then headed inland to Cairo, the capital of the Mamluk Sultanate and an important city. After spending about a month in Cairo,[15] he embarked on the first of many detours within the relative safety of Mamluk territory. Of the three usual routes to Mecca, Ibn Battuta chose the least-travelled, which involved a journey up the Nile valley, then east to the Red Sea port of Aydhab.[a] Upon approaching the town, however, a local rebellion forced him to turn back.[17]
Ibn Battuta returned to Cairo and took a second side trip, this time to Mamluk-controlled Damascus. During his first trip he had encountered a holy man who prophesied that he would only reach Mecca by travelling through Syria.[18] The diversion held an added advantage; because of the holy places that lay along the way, including Hebron, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, the Mamluk authorities spared no efforts in keeping the route safe for pilgrims. Without this help many travellers would be robbed and murdered.[19][b]
After spending the Muslim month of Ramadan in Damascus, he joined a caravan travelling the 1,300 km (810 mi) south to Medina, site of the Mosque of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. After four days in the town, he journeyed on to Mecca, where upon completing his pilgrimage he took the honorific status of El-Hajji. Rather than returning home, Ibn Battuta decided to continue on, choosing as his next destination the Ilkhanate, a Mongol Khanate, to the northeast.[24]
Iraq and Persia[edit]
On 17 November 1326, following a month spent in Mecca, Ibn Battuta joined a large caravan of pilgrims returning to Iraq across the Arabian Peninsula.[25] The group headed north to Medina and then, travelling at night, turned northeast across the Najd plateau to Najaf, on a journey that lasted about two weeks. In Najaf, he visited the mausoleum of Ali, the Fourth Caliph.[26]
Then, instead of continuing on to Baghdad with the caravan, Ibn Battuta started a six-month detour that took him into Persia. From Najaf, he journeyed to Wasit, then followed the river Tigris south to Basra. His next destination was the town of Isfahan across the Zagros Mountains in Persia. He then headed south to Shiraz, a large, flourishing city spared the destruction wrought by Mongol invaders on many more northerly towns. Finally, he returned across the mountains to Baghdad, arriving there in June 1327.[27] Parts of the city were still ruined from the damage inflicted by Hulago Khan's invading army in 1258.[28]
In Baghdad, he found Abu Sa'id, the last Mongol ruler of the unified Ilkhanate, leaving the city and heading north with a large retinue.[29] Ibn Battuta joined the royal caravan for a while, then turned north on the Silk Road to Tabriz, the first major city in the region to open its gates to the Mongols and by then an important trading centre as most of its nearby rivals had been razed by the Mongol invaders.[30]
Ibn Battuta left again for Baghdad, probably in July, but first took an excursion northwards along the river Tigris. He visited Mosul, where he was the guest of the Ilkhanate governor,[31] and then the towns of Cizre (Jazirat ibn 'Umar) and Mardin in modern-day Turkey. At a hermitage on a mountain near Sinjar, he met a Kurdish mystic who gave him some silver coins.[c][34] Once back in Mosul, he joined a "feeder" caravan of pilgrims heading south to Baghdad, where they would meet up with the main caravan that crossed the Arabian Desert to Mecca. Ill with diarrhoea, he arrived in the city weak and exhausted for his second hajj.[35]
Arabia[edit]
Ibn Battuta remained in Mecca for some time (the Rihla suggests about three years, from September 1327 until autumn 1330). Problems with chronology, however, lead commentators to suggest that he may have left after the 1328 hajj.[d]
After the hajj in either 1328 or 1330, he made his way to the port of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast. From there he followed the coast in a series of boats making slow progress against the prevailing south-easterly winds. Once in Yemen he visited Zabīd and later the highland town of Ta'izz, where he met the Rasulid dynasty king (Malik) Mujahid Nur al-Din Ali. Ibn Battuta also mentions visiting Sana'a, but whether he actually did so is doubtful.[36] In all likelihood, he went directly from Ta'izz to the important trading port of Aden, arriving around the beginning of 1329 or 1331.[37]
Somalia[edit]
From Aden, Ibn Battuta embarked on a ship heading for Zeila on the coast of Somalia. He then moved on to Cape Guardafui further down the Somalia seaboard, spending about a week in each location. Later he would visit Mogadishu, the then pre-eminent city of the "Land of the Berbers" (بلد البربر Balad al-Barbar, the medieval Arabic term for the Horn of Africa).[38][39][40]
When Ibn Battuta arrived in 1331, Mogadishu stood at the zenith of its prosperity. He described it as "an exceedingly large city" with many rich merchants, noted for its high-quality fabric that was exported to other countries, including Egypt.[41] Ibn Battuta added that the city was ruled by a Somali Sultan, Abu Bakr ibn Sayx 'Umar,[42][43] who was originally from Berbera in northern Somalia and spoke both Somali (referred to by Battuta as Mogadishan, the Benadir dialect of Somali) and Arabic with equal fluency.[43][44] The Sultan also had a retinue of wazirs (ministers), legal experts, commanders, royal eunuchs, and assorted hangers-on at his beck and call.[43]
Swahili Coast[edit]
Ibn Battuta continued by ship south to the Swahili Coast, a region then known in Arabic as the Bilad al-Zanj ("Land of the Zanj"),[45] with an overnight stop at the island town of Mombasa.[46] Although relatively small at the time, Mombasa would become important in the following century.[47] After a journey along the coast, Ibn Battuta next arrived in the island town of Kilwa in present-day Tanzania,[48] which had become an important transit centre of the gold trade.[49] He described the city as "one of the finest and most beautifully built towns; all the buildings are of wood, and the houses are roofed with dīs reeds".[50]
Ibn Battuta recorded his visit to the Kilwa Sultanate in 1330, and commented favorably on the humility and religion of its ruler, Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman, a descendant of the legendary Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi. He further wrote that the authority of the Sultan extended from Malindi in the north to Inhambane in the south and was particularly impressed by the planning of the city, believing it to be the reason for Kilwa's success along the coast. During this period, he described the construction of the Palace of Husuni Kubwa and a significant extension to the Great Mosque of Kilwa, which was made of coral stones and was the largest Mosque of its kind. With a change in the monsoon winds, Ibn Battuta sailed back to Arabia, first to Oman and the Strait of Hormuz then on to Mecca for the hajj of 1330 (or 1332).[51]
Itinerary 1332–1347[edit]
Anatolia[edit]
After his third pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Battuta decided to seek employment with the Muslim Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq. In the autumn of 1330 (or 1332), he set off for the Seljuk controlled territory of Anatolia with the intention of taking an overland route to India.[52] He crossed the Red Sea and the Eastern Desert to reach the Nile valley and then headed north to Cairo. From there he crossed the Sinai Peninsula to Palestine and then travelled north again through some of the towns that he had visited in 1326. From the Syrian port of Latakia, a Genoese ship took him (and his companions) to Alanya on the southern coast of modern-day Turkey.[53]
He then journeyed westwards along the coast to the port of Antalya.[54] In the town he met members of one of the semi-religious fityan associations.[55] These were a feature of most Anatolian towns in the 13th and 14th centuries. The members were young artisans and had at their head a leader with the title of Akhis.[56] The associations specialised in welcoming travellers. Ibn Battuta was very impressed with the hospitality that he received and would later stay in their hospices in more than 25 towns in Anatolia.[57] From Antalya Ibn Battuta headed inland to Eğirdir which was the capital of the Hamidids. He spent Ramadan (June 1331 or May 1333) in the city.[58]
From this point the itinerary across Anatolia in the Rihla is confused. Ibn Battuta describes travelling westwards from Eğirdir to Milas and then skipping 420 km (260 mi) eastward past Eğirdir to Konya. He then continues travelling in an easterly direction, reaching Erzurum from where he skips 1,160 km (720 mi) back to Birgi which lies north of Milas.[59] Historians believe that Ibn Battuta visited a number of towns in central Anatolia, but not in the order that he describes.[60][e]
Central Asia[edit]
From Sinope he took a sea route to the Crimean Peninsula, arriving in the Golden Horde realm. He went to the port town of Azov, where he met with the emir of the Khan, then to the large and rich city of Majar. He left Majar to meet with Uzbeg Khan's travelling court (Orda), which was at the time near Beshtau mountain. From there he made a journey to Bolghar, which became the northernmost point he reached, and noted its unusually (for a subtropics dweller) short nights in summer. Then he returned to the Khan's court and with it moved to Astrakhan.[citation needed]
Ibn Battuta recorded that while in Bolghar he wanted to travel further north into the land of darkness. The land is snow-covered throughout (northern Siberia) and the only means of transport is dog-drawn sled. There lived a mysterious people who were reluctant to show themselves. They traded with southern people in a peculiar way. Southern merchants brought various goods and placed them in an open area on the snow in the night, then returned to their tents. Next morning they came to the place again and found their merchandise taken by the mysterious people, but in exchange they found fur-skins which could be used for making valuable coats, jackets, and other winter garments. The trade was done between merchants and the mysterious people without seeing each other. As Ibn Battuta was not a merchant and saw no benefit of going there he abandoned the travel to this land of darkness.[63]
When they reached Astrakhan, Öz Beg Khan had just given permission for one of his pregnant wives, Princess Bayalun, a daughter of Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos, to return to her home city of Constantinople to give birth. Ibn Battuta talked his way into this expedition, which would be his first beyond the boundaries of the Islamic world.[64]
Arriving in Constantinople towards the end of 1332 (or 1334), he met the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. He visited the great church of Hagia Sophia and spoke with an Eastern Orthodox priest about his travels in the city of Jerusalem. After a month in the city, Ibn Battuta returned to Astrakhan, then arrived in the capital city Sarai al-Jadid and reported the accounts of his travels to Sultan Öz Beg Khan (r. 1313–1341). Then he continued past the Caspian and Aral Seas to Bukhara and Samarkand, where he visited the court of another Mongolian king, Tarmashirin (r. 1331–1334) of the Chagatai Khanate.[65] From there, he journeyed south to Afghanistan, then crossed into India via the mountain passes of the Hindu Kush.[66] In the Rihla, he mentions these mountains and the history of the range in slave trading.[67][68] He wrote,
Ibn Battuta and his party reached the Indus River on 12 September 1333.[70] From there, he made his way to Delhi and became acquainted with the sultan, Muhammad bin Tughluq.
South Asia[edit]
Muhammad bin Tughluq was renowned as the wealthiest man in the Muslim world at that time. He patronized various scholars, Sufis, qadis, viziers and other functionaries in order to consolidate his rule. As with Mamluk Egypt, the Tughlaq Dynasty was a rare vestigial example of Muslim rule in Asia after the Mongol invasion.[citation needed] On the strength of his years of study in Mecca, Ibn Battuta was appointed a qadi, or judge, by the sultan.[71] However, he found it difficult to enforce Islamic law beyond the sultan's court in Delhi, due to lack of Islamic appeal in India.[72]
It is uncertain by which route Ibn Battuta entered the Indian subcontinent. He may have entered via the Khyber Pass and Peshawar, or further south.[74] He crossed the Sutlej river near the city of Pakpattan,[75] in modern-day Pakistan, where he paid obeisance at the shrine of Baba Farid,[73] before crossing southwest into Rajput country. From the Rajput Kingdom of Sarsatti, Battuta visited Hansi in India, describing it as "among the most beautiful cities, the best constructed and the most populated; it is surrounded with a strong wall, and its founder is said to be one of the great infidel kings, called Tara".[76] Upon his arrival in Sindh, Ibn Battuta mentions the Indian rhinoceros that lived on the banks of the Indus.[77]
The Sultan was erratic even by the standards of the time and for six years Ibn Battuta veered between living the high life of a trusted subordinate and falling under suspicion of treason for a variety of offences. His plan to leave on the pretext of taking another hajj was stymied by the Sultan. The opportunity for Battuta to leave Delhi finally arose in 1341 when an embassy arrived from Yuan dynasty China asking for permission to rebuild a Himalayan Buddhist temple popular with Chinese pilgrims.[f][81]
Ibn Battuta was given charge of the embassy but en route to the coast at the start of the journey to China, he and his large retinue were attacked by a group of bandits.[82] Separated from his companions, he was robbed and nearly lost his life.[83] Despite this setback, within ten days he had caught up with his group and continued on to Khambhat in the Indian state of Gujarat. From there, they sailed to Calicut (now known as Kozhikode), where Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama would land two centuries later. While in Calicut, Battuta was the guest of the ruling Zamorin.[71] While Ibn Battuta visited a mosque on shore, a storm arose and one of the ships of his expedition sank.[84] The other ship then sailed without him only to be seized by a local Sumatran king a few months later.
Afraid to return to Delhi and be seen as a failure, he stayed for a time in southern India under the protection of Jamal-ud-Din, ruler of the small but powerful Nawayath sultanate on the banks of the Sharavathi river next to the Arabian Sea. This area is today known as Hosapattana and lies in the Honavar administrative district of Uttara Kannada. Following the overthrow of the sultanate, Ibn Battuta had no choice but to leave India. Although determined to continue his journey to China, he first took a detour to visit the Maldive Islands where he worked as a judge.[85]
He spent nine months on the islands, much longer than he had intended. As a Chief Qadi, his skills were highly desirable in the formerly Buddhist nation that had recently converted to Islam. Half-kidnapped into staying, he became chief judge and married into the royal family of Omar I. He became embroiled in local politics and left when his strict judgments in the laissez-faire island kingdom began to chafe with its rulers. In the Rihla he mentions his dismay at the local women going about with no clothing above the waist, and the locals taking no notice when he complained.[86] From the Maldives, he carried on to Sri Lanka and visited Sri Pada and Tenavaram temple.
Ibn Battuta's ship almost sank on embarking from Sri Lanka, only for the vessel that came to his rescue to suffer an attack by pirates. Stranded onshore, he worked his way back to the Madurai kingdom in India. Here he spent some time in the court of the short-lived Madurai Sultanate under Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani,[87] from where he returned to the Maldives and boarded a Chinese junk, still intending to reach China and take up his ambassadorial post.
He reached the port of Chittagong in modern-day Bangladesh intending to travel to Sylhet to meet Shah Jalal, who became so renowned that Ibn Battuta, then in Chittagong, made a one-month journey through the mountains of Kamaru near Sylhet to meet him. On his way to Sylhet, Ibn Battuta was greeted by several of Shah Jalal's disciples who had come to assist him on his journey many days before he had arrived. At the meeting in 1345 CE, Ibn Battuta noted that Shah Jalal was tall and lean, fair in complexion and lived by the mosque in a cave, where his only item of value was a goat he kept for milk, butter, and yogurt. He observed that the companions of the Shah Jalal were foreign and known for their strength and bravery. He also mentions that many people would visit the Shah to seek guidance. Ibn Battuta went further north into Assam, then turned around and continued with his original plan.[citation needed]
Southeast Asia[edit]
In 1345, Ibn Battuta travelled on to Samudra Pasai Sultanate in present-day Aceh, Northern Sumatra, where he notes in his travel log that the ruler of Samudra Pasai was a pious Muslim named Sultan Al-Malik Al-Zahir Jamal-ad-Din, who performed his religious duties with utmost zeal and often waged campaigns against animists in the region. The island of Sumatra, according to Ibn Battuta, was rich in camphor, areca nut, cloves, and tin.[88]
The madh'hab he observed was Imam Al-Shafi‘i, whose customs were similar to those he had previously seen in coastal India, especially among the Mappila Muslims, who were also followers of Imam Al-Shafi‘i. At that time Samudra Pasai marked the end of Dar al-Islam, because no territory east of this was ruled by a Muslim. Here he stayed for about two weeks in the wooden walled town as a guest of the sultan, and then the sultan provided him with supplies and sent him on his way on one of his own junks to China.[88]
Ibn Battuta first sailed to Malacca on the Malay Peninsula which he called "Mul Jawi". He met the ruler of Malacca and stayed as a guest for three days.
Ibn Battuta then sailed to a state called Kaylukari in the land of Tawalisi, where he met Urduja, a local princess. Urduja was a brave warrior, and her people are opponents of the Yuan dynasty. She was described as an "idolater", but could write the phrase Bismillah in Islamic calligraphy. The locations of Kaylukari and Tawalisi are disputed. Kaylukari might referred to Po Klong Garai in Champa (now southern Vietnam), and Urduja might be an aristocrat of Champa or the Trần dynasty. Filipinos widely believe that Kaylukari was in present-day Pangasinan Province of the Philippines.[89] In modern times, Urduja has been featured in Filipino textbooks and films as a national heroine. Numerous other locations have been proposed, ranging from Java to somewhere in Guangdong Province, China. However, Sir Henry Yule and William Henry Scott consider both Tawilisi and Urduja to be entirely fictitious. (See Tawalisi for details.)
China[edit]
In the year 1345 Ibn Battuta arrived at Quanzhou in China's Fujian province, then under the rule of the Mongols. One of the first things he noted was that Muslims referred to the city as "Zaitun" (meaning olive), but Ibn Battuta could not find any olives anywhere. He mentioned local artists and their mastery in making portraits of newly arrived foreigners; these were for security purposes. Ibn Battuta praised the craftsmen and their silk and porcelain; as well as fruits such as plums and watermelons and the advantages of paper money.[90]
He described the manufacturing process of large ships in the city of Quanzhou.[91] He also mentioned Chinese cuisine and its usage of animals such as frogs, pigs and even dogs which were sold in the markets, and noted that the chickens in China were larger than those in the west. Scholars however have pointed out numerous errors given in Ibn Battuta's account of China, for example confusing the Yellow River with the Grand Canal and other waterways, as well as believing that porcelain was made from coal.[92]
In Quanzhou, Ibn Battuta was welcomed by the head of the local Muslim merchants (possibly a fānzhǎng or "Leader of Foreigners" simplified Chinese: 番长; traditional Chinese: 番長; pinyin: fānzhǎng）and Sheikh al-Islam (Imam), who came to meet him with flags, drums, trumpets and musicians.[93] Ibn Battuta noted that the Muslim populace lived within a separate portion in the city where they had their own mosques, bazaars and hospitals. In Quanzhou, he met two prominent Persians, Burhan al-Din of Kazerun and Sharif al-Din from Tabriz[94] (both of whom were influential figures noted in the Yuan History as "A-mi-li-ding" and "Sai-fu-ding", respectively).[95] While in Quanzhou he ascended the "Mount of the Hermit" and briefly visited a well-known Taoist monk in a cave.
He then travelled south along the Chinese coast to Guangzhou, where he lodged for two weeks with one of the city's wealthy merchants.[96]
From Guangzhou he went north to Quanzhou and then proceeded to the city of Fuzhou, where he took up residence with Zahir al-Din and was proud to meet Kawam al-Din and a fellow countryman named Al-Bushri of Ceuta, who had become a wealthy merchant in China. Al-Bushri accompanied Ibn Battuta northwards to Hangzhou and paid for the gifts that Ibn Battuta would present to the Mongolian Emperor Togon-temür of the Yuan Dynasty.[97]
Ibn Battuta said that Hangzhou was one of the largest cities he had ever seen,[98] and he noted its charm, describing that the city sat on a beautiful lake surrounded by gentle green hills.[99] He mentions the city's Muslim quarter and resided as a guest with a family of Egyptian origin.[97] During his stay at Hangzhou he was particularly impressed by the large number of well-crafted and well-painted Chinese wooden ships, with coloured sails and silk awnings, assembling in the canals. Later he attended a banquet of the Yuan Mongol administrator of the city named Qurtai, who according to Ibn Battuta, was very fond of the skills of local Chinese conjurers.[100] Ibn Battuta also mentions locals who worship the Solar deity.[101]
He described floating through the Grand Canal on a boat watching crop fields, orchids, merchants in black-silk, and women in flowered-silk and priests also in silk.[102] In Beijing, Ibn Battuta referred to himself as the long-lost ambassador from the Delhi Sultanate and was invited to the Yuan imperial court of Togon-temür (who according to Ibn Battuta was worshipped by some people in China). Ibn Batutta noted that the palace of Khanbaliq was made of wood and that the ruler's "head wife" (Empress Gi) held processions in her honour.[103][104]
Ibn Battuta also wrote he had heard of "the rampart of Yajuj and Majuj" that was "sixty days' travel" from the city of Zeitun (Quanzhou);[105] Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb notes that Ibn Battuta believed that the Great Wall of China was built by Dhul-Qarnayn to contain Gog and Magog as mentioned in the Quran.[105] However, Ibn Battuta, who asked about the wall in China, could find no one who had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it.[106]
Ibn Battuta travelled from Beijing to Hangzhou, and then proceeded to Fuzhou. Upon his return to Quanzhou, he soon boarded a Chinese junk owned by the Sultan of Samudera Pasai Sultanate heading for Southeast Asia, whereupon Ibn Battuta was unfairly charged a hefty sum by the crew and lost much of what he had collected during his stay in China.[107]
Battuta claimed that the Mongol Khan (Qan) had interned with him in his grave, six slave soldiers and four girl slaves.[108] Silver, gold, weapons, and carpets were put into the grave.[109]
Return[edit]
After returning to Quanzhou in 1346, Ibn Battuta began his journey back to Morocco.[110] In Kozhikode, he once again considered throwing himself at the mercy of Muhammad bin Tughluq in Delhi, but thought better of it and decided to carry on to Mecca. On his way to Basra he passed through the Strait of Hormuz, where he learned that Abu Sa'id, last ruler of the Ilkhanate Dynasty had died in Persia. Abu Sa'id's territories had subsequently collapsed due to a fierce civil war between the Persians and Mongols.[111]
In 1348, Ibn Battuta arrived in Damascus with the intention of retracing the route of his first hajj. He then learned that his father had died 15 years earlier[112] and death became the dominant theme for the next year or so. The Black Death had struck and he was on hand as it spread through Syria, Palestine, and Arabia. After reaching Mecca he decided to return to Morocco, nearly a quarter of a century after leaving home.[113] On the way he made one last detour to Sardinia, then in 1349, returned to Tangier by way of Fez, only to discover that his mother had also died a few months before.[114]
Itinerary 1349–1354[edit]
Spain and North Africa[edit]
After a few days in Tangier, Ibn Battuta set out for a trip to the Muslim-controlled territory of al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula. King Alfonso XI of Castile and León had threatened to attack Gibraltar, so in 1350, Ibn Battuta joined a group of Muslims leaving Tangier with the intention of defending the port.[115] By the time he arrived, the Black Death had killed Alfonso and the threat of invasion had receded, so he turned the trip into a sight-seeing tour, travelling through Valencia and ending up in Granada.[116]
After his departure from al-Andalus he decided to travel through Morocco. On his return home, he stopped for a while in Marrakech, which was almost a ghost town following the recent plague and the transfer of the capital to Fez.[117]
Once more Ibn Battuta returned to Tangier, but only stayed for a short while. In 1324, two years before his first visit to Cairo, the West African Malian Mansa, or king of kings, Musa had passed through the same city on his own hajj and caused a sensation with a display of extravagant riches brought from his gold-rich homeland. Although Ibn Battuta never mentioned this visit specifically, when he heard the story it may have planted a seed in his mind as he then decided to cross the Sahara and visit the Muslim kingdoms on its far side.[citation needed]
Mali and Timbuktu[edit]
In the autumn of 1351, Ibn Battuta left Fez and made his way to the town of Sijilmasa on the northern edge of the Sahara in present-day Morocco.[118] There he bought a number of camels and stayed for four months. He set out again with a caravan in February 1352 and after 25 days arrived at the dry salt lake bed of Taghaza with its salt mines. All of the local buildings were made from slabs of salt by the slaves of the Masufa tribe, who cut the salt in thick slabs for transport by camel. Taghaza was a commercial centre and awash with Malian gold, though Ibn Battuta did not form a favourable impression of the place, recording that it was plagued by flies and the water was brackish.[119]
After a ten-day stay in Taghaza, the caravan set out for the oasis of Tasarahla (probably Bir al-Ksaib)[120][g] where it stopped for three days in preparation for the last and most difficult leg of the journey across the vast desert. From Tasarahla, a Masufa scout was sent ahead to the oasis town of Oualata, where he arranged for water to be transported a distance of four days travel where it would meet the thirsty caravan. Oualata was the southern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade route and had recently become part of the Mali Empire. Altogether, the caravan took two months to cross the 1,600 km (990 mi) of desert from Sijilmasa.[121]
From there, Ibn Battuta travelled southwest along a river he believed to be the Nile (it was actually the river Niger), until he reached the capital of the Mali Empire.[h] There he met Mansa Suleyman, king since 1341. Ibn Battuta disapproved of the fact that female slaves, servants and even the daughters of the sultan went about exposing parts of their bodies not befitting a Muslim.[123] He left the capital in February accompanied by a local Malian merchant and journeyed overland by camel to Timbuktu.[124] Though in the next two centuries it would become the most important city in the region, at that time it was a small city and relatively unimportant.[125] It was during this journey that Ibn Battuta first encountered a hippopotamus. The animals were feared by the local boatmen and hunted with lances to which strong cords were attached.[126] After a short stay in Timbuktu, Ibn Battuta journeyed down the Niger to Gao in a canoe carved from a single tree. At the time Gao was an important commercial center.[127]
After spending a month in Gao, Ibn Battuta set off with a large caravan for the oasis of Takedda. On his journey across the desert, he received a message from the Sultan of Morocco commanding him to return home. He set off for Sijilmasa in September 1353, accompanying a large caravan transporting 600 female slaves, and arrived back in Morocco early in 1354.[128]
Ibn Battuta's itinerary gives scholars a glimpse as to when Islam first began to spread into the heart of west Africa.[129]
Works[edit]
After returning home from his travels in 1354, and at the suggestion of the Marinid ruler of Morocco, Abu Inan Faris, Ibn Battuta dictated an account in Arabic of his journeys to Ibn Juzayy, a scholar whom he had previously met in Granada. The account is the only source for Ibn Battuta's adventures. The full title of the manuscript may be translated as A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling (تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار, Tuḥfat an-Nuẓẓār fī Gharāʾib al-Amṣār wa ʿAjāʾib al-Asfār).[130][i] However, it is often simply referred to as The Travels (الرحلة, Rihla),[132] in reference to a standard form of Arabic literature.
There is no indication that Ibn Battuta made any notes or had any journal during his twenty-nine years of travelling.[j] When he came to dictate an account of his experiences he had to rely on memory and manuscripts produced by earlier travellers. Ibn Juzayy did not acknowledge his sources and presented some of the earlier descriptions as Ibn Battuta's own observations. When describing Damascus, Mecca, Medina and some other places in the Middle East, he clearly copied passages from the account by the Andalusian Ibn Jubayr which had been written more than 150 years earlier.[134] Similarly, most of Ibn Juzayy's descriptions of places in Palestine were copied from an account by the 13th-century traveller Muhammad al-Abdari.[135]
Scholars do not believe that Ibn Battuta visited all the places he described and argue that in order to provide a comprehensive description of places in the Muslim world, he relied on hearsay evidence and made use of accounts by earlier travellers. For example, it is considered very unlikely that Ibn Battuta made a trip up the Volga River from New Sarai to visit Bolghar[136] and there are serious doubts about a number of other journeys such as his trip to Sana'a in Yemen,[137] his journey from Balkh to Bistam in Khorasan[138] and his trip around Anatolia.[139]
Ibn Battuta's claim that a Maghrebian called "Abu'l Barakat the Berber" converted the Maldives to Islam is contradicted by an entirely different story which says that the Maldives were converted to Islam after miracles were performed by a Tabrizi named Maulana Shaikh Yusuf Shams-ud-din according to the Tarikh, the official history of the Maldives.[140]
Some scholars have also questioned whether he really visited China.[141] Ibn Battuta may have plagiarized entire sections of his descriptions of China lifted from works by other authors like "Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar" by Shihab al-Umari, Sulaiman al-Tajir, and possibly from Al Juwayni, Rashid al din and an Alexander romance. Furthermore, Ibn Battuta's description and Marco Polo's writings share extremely similar sections and themes, with some of the same commentary, e.g. it is unlikely that the 3rd Caliph Uthman ibn Affan had someone with the exact identical name in China who was encountered by Ibn Battuta.[142]
However, even if the Rihla is not fully based on what its author personally witnessed, it provides an important account of much of the 14th-century world. Sex slaves were used by Ibn Battuta such as in Delhi.[133]:111–13, 137, 141, 238[143] He wedded several women, divorced at least some of them, and in Damascus, Malabar, Delhi, Bukhara, and the Maldives had children by them or by sex slaves.[144] Ibn Battuta insulted Greeks as "enemies of Allah", drunkards and "swine eaters", while at the same time in Ephesus he purchased and used a Greek girl who was one of his many slave girls in his "harem" through Byzantium, Khorasan, Africa, and Palestine.[145] It was two decades before he again returned to find out what happened to one of his wives and child in Damascus.[146]
Ibn Battuta often experienced culture shock in regions he visited where the local customs of recently converted peoples did not fit in with his orthodox Muslim background. Among the Turks and Mongols, he was astonished at the freedom and respect enjoyed by women and remarked that on seeing a Turkish couple in a bazaar one might assume that the man was the woman's servant when he was in fact her husband.[147] He also felt that dress customs in the Maldives, and some sub-Saharan regions in Africa were too revealing.
Little is known about Ibn Battuta's life after completion of his Rihla in 1355. He was appointed a judge in Morocco and died in 1368 or 1369.[148]
Ibn Battuta's work was unknown outside the Muslim world until the beginning of the 19th century, when the German traveller-explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1767–1811) acquired a collection of manuscripts in the Middle East, among which was a 94-page volume containing an abridged version of Ibn Juzayy's text. Three extracts were published in 1818 by the German orientalist Johann Kosegarten.[149] A fourth extract was published the following year.[150] French scholars were alerted to the initial publication by a lengthy review published in the Journal de Savants by the orientalist Silvestre de Sacy.[151]
Three copies of another abridged manuscript were acquired by the Swiss traveller Johann Burckhardt and bequeathed to the University of Cambridge. He gave a brief overview of their content in a book published posthumously in 1819.[152] The Arabic text was translated into English by the orientalist Samuel Lee and published in London in 1829.[153]
In the 1830s, during the French occupation of Algeria, the Bibliothèque Nationale (BNF) in Paris acquired five manuscripts of Ibn Battuta's travels, in which two were complete.[k] One manuscript containing just the second part of the work is dated 1356 and is believed to be Ibn Juzayy's autograph.[158] The BNF manuscripts were used in 1843 by the Irish-French orientalist Baron de Slane to produce a translation into French of Ibn Battuta's visit to the Sudan.[159] They were also studied by the French scholars Charles Defrémery and Beniamino Sanguinetti. Beginning in 1853 they published a series of four volumes containing a critical edition of the Arabic text together with a translation into French.[160] In their introduction Defrémery and Sanguinetti praised Lee's annotations but were critical of his translation which they claimed lacked precision, even in straightforward passages.[l]
In 1929, exactly a century after the publication of Lee's translation, the historian and orientalist Hamilton Gibb published an English translation of selected portions of Defrémery and Sanguinetti's Arabic text.[162] Gibb had proposed to the Hakluyt Society in 1922 that he should prepare an annotated translation of the entire Rihla into English.[163] His intention was to divide the translated text into four volumes, each volume corresponding to one of the volumes published by Defrémery and Sanguinetti. The first volume was not published until 1958.[164] Gibb died in 1971, having completed the first three volumes. The fourth volume was prepared by Charles Beckingham and published in 1994.[165] Defrémery and Sanguinetti's printed text has now been translated into number of other languages.
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