Draft:Ibn Battuta
| Ibn Battuta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| name | Shams al-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Lawati al-Tanji |
| Personal details | |
| religion | Islam |
| works |
|
Ibn Battuta, Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati al-Tanji, known as Abu Abdullah, was a traveler who set out for Mecca in 725 AH and journeyed through Egypt, the Levant, the Hejaz, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Bahrain, Turkestan, Mesopotamia, and parts of India and China, Java, and East Africa, eventually returning to the Maghreb to meet Shah Abu Inan, one of the Marinid rulers. His journey lasted 27 years.
This renowned Amazigh traveler visited Iran five or six times and used the Persian language to communicate with non-Arabs throughout his eastern travels. He traveled to both coasts of the Persian Sea (the present-day Persian Gulf) and to cities in Fars, including Shiraz, Khuzieh (Khuzestan), Tustar (Shushtar), Tabriz, and Khorasan. The Rihla of Ibn Battuta is among the most valuable geographical works of the Middle Ages.
Who Was Ibn Battuta
Shams al-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Lawati al-Tanji, commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was born in Tangier, located in the Maghreb, in the year 703 AH and died in either 770 or 779 AH. He is believed to have belonged to the Lawata Berber tribe. His family consisted of scholars adhering to the Maliki school of jurisprudence and held judicial positions in Morocco[1]. At a young age, early in his journey, he was appointed as the judge of the pilgrimage caravan to Tunis. During his travels, he met with scholars, obtained licenses to transmit their narrations, and later attained the position of judge in India.
This reflects his interest and engagement in religious sciences[2]. Researchers have attempted to portray Ibn Battuta's character and disposition based on his travelogue. They have pointed out his affinity for ascetics and Sufis and his inner inclination toward renouncing worldly life on one hand, and his attachment to the world along with his admission of inability to abandon it on the other, while praising his sincerity and avoidance of hypocritical asceticism and pretense[3].
Some compare him to Herodotus in the context of history and historiography during the Islamic era. Herodotus, after leaving Halicarnassus in Asia Minor—which at that time was under the domination of the Greek government and its appointed dictators—traveled to the farthest reaches of the world, including Babylon in Mesopotamia and Egypt in Africa, gathering extensive information and composing his detailed histories based on such achievements around 365 BCE[4].
Travels of Ibn Battuta
At the age of twenty-two, the desire to travel to Mecca and perform the obligatory pilgrimage transformed his life. Thus, in the year 725 AH, he accepted the hardship of estrangement and separation from his family, departing his homeland solely out of longing to visit the House of God and pay respects at the tomb of the Noble Prophet[5]. Initially, he intended only to perform the pilgrimage and then return to his homeland; however, this journey altered his resolve, leading him from Mecca to Iraq. He visited Najaf, Wasit, and Basra, thereafter proceeding to Abadan. Subsequently, he continued traversing the lands of Iran until reaching Shiraz, where he resided for a time and hastened to visit the tomb of Saadi.
From Iran, he returned to Iraq and once again set out for the Hajj, arriving in Mecca in 728 AH. He remained in that honored city until 730 AH, performing the pilgrimage for three consecutive years, before embarking toward Yemen. From there, he traveled to Maqdishu [Mogadishu] (in Somalia), afterward proceeding to Oman. Via Hormuz Island, he re-entered Iranian territory, traveling through Bahrain to Qatif and Hasa [Al-Ahsa] (formerly known as Hajar), and Yamama. Once more setting course for the House of Worship, he arrived at Mecca the Honored in 732 AH and performed the pilgrimage.
Upon completion of the Hajj rituals, he intended to return to his homeland. However, he instead ventured into Asia Minor. He visited Antioch, proceeded to Konya, and hastened to the shrine of Mevlana Rumi. Thereafter, he crossed Asia Minor, advancing as far as southern Russia. He then traveled to Constantinople. Subsequently, via Iran, he reached Ghazni and Kabul, entered the Indus Valley, and set foot upon the Indian subcontinent. He became an associate of the court of Muhammad Shah, the ruler of that land, accompanied his diplomatic envoy to China, where he resided for a time and assumed the office of judge.
On his return from China, he came to Iran for the third time, visiting the cities of Lar, Fasa, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Shushtar, before proceeding to Najaf, then Kufa and Hilla. From Hilla, he traveled to Baghdad, and from that city departed for Syria and Egypt. Once again taking the road to Mecca, he went to Aydhab, reached Jeddah by sea, and entered the holy city of Mecca on the 22nd of Sha'ban, 749 AH. After performing the Hajj rituals and visiting the purified shrine of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (Seal of the Prophets), he set out for his homeland, arriving in Fez, the capital of Morocco, and entering the court of Abu Inan, monarch of the Marinid dynasty, in 750 AH.
Subsequently, he returned to his birthplace, Tangier, and from there set course for Al-Andalus, visiting Granada (the bride of Andalusian cities), before returning to Fez. From there, this traveler commenced his final journey, venturing into the Black Continent, advancing as far as Timbuktu and Nigeria. Thus, he became "the first traveler to journey within Africa and leave behind an account of his travels[6]". Thereafter, by order of Abu Inan, Ibn Battuta returned to his court in 754 AH, where he settled. Following twenty-nine years of travel, having traversed the greater part of the inhabited lands of his era, he found rest. Since Ibn Battuta's travel notes had been lost amid various incidents, including captivity at the hands of Indians, he dictated his observations and experiences to the renowned court scribe and secretary known as Ibn Juzayy. Ibn Juzayy, through transcription, abridgment, and occasionally elaboration—and in some instances distortion—of Ibn Battuta's accounts[7], compiled the engaging and delightful book Tuhfat al-Nazar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa 'Aja'ib al-Asfar, which later acquired the familiar title Rihlat Ibn Battuta.
Introduction to the Book of Ibn Battuta
The book Tuhfat al-Nazar was composed under the patronage of Sultan Abu Inan during a period when the Sultan selected the renowned scribe and littérateur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi, known as Ibn Juzayy, to compile Ibn Battuta's memoirs. The writing of this book, based upon Ibn Battuta's dictation, was completed over a period of three months in the year (757 AH)[8].
Regarding the accuracy of Ibn Battuta's reports, doubts have existed since the beginning, even during his own lifetime. According to the report of Ibn Khaldun, the contemporary historian of Ibn Battuta, the stories he recounted in the court of Sultan Abu Inan were met with skepticism and denial by the people[9]. Contemporary writers of Ibn Battuta also doubted the veracity of his reports, and some, such as Ibn al-Khatib and Balfiqi, considered him a liar[10]. Recent research has also uncovered errors in Ibn Battuta's travelogue and inconsistencies between certain reports and historical and geographical realities, to the extent that his actual travel to lands such as China or Constantinople has been denied, and his statements in this travelogue deemed derived from other sources[11].
Death
Ibn Battuta lived for twenty-five years after his long journey and died in the year 779 AH[12]. The only surviving work attributed to Ibn Battuta is his Rihla (Travelogue), and through studying it, one can discern his characteristics throughout the book; he was neither a great thinker nor a profound scholar[13], nor did he engage in meticulous scientific or theoretical inquiries. However, he diligently applied his senses, committing what he saw and heard to memory.
Footnotes
- ↑ Al-Durar al-Kamina, Vol. 3, pp. 480–481; Tarikh Nevishthaye Joghrafiayi, p. 331; Tuhfat al-Nazzar, Vol. 1, Introduction, p. 80.
- ↑ Ibn Battuta, pp. 2–3
- ↑ Safarnameh-ye Ibn Battuta, pp. 32–33; Nameh-ye Anjuman Journal, No. 21, p. 7, several examples of sociological and psychological data
- ↑ Khodadadian, Ardeshir: The Achaemenids (1999), section on Herodotus and his historiography.
- ↑ Rihlat Ibn Battuta, (Beirut: Dar Sader, 1986), p. 14
- ↑ De Vaux, Baron Carra, Islamic Thinkers, translated by Ahmad Aram, (Tehran: Office of Islamic Culture Publication, 1363 SH), vol. 1, p. 98.
- ↑ The Travels of Ibn Battuta. Translated by Mohammad Ali Movahed, (Tehran: Center for Scientific and Cultural Publications, 1361 SH), vol. 1, Translator's Introduction, p. 38.
- ↑ History of Geographical Writings, p. 335. Tuhfat al-Nazar, Introduction, vol. 1, pp. 79, 152
- ↑ Tarikh Ibn Khaldun, vol. 1, pp. 227-228.
- ↑ Al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharnata, vol. 3, p. 206.
- ↑ The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta, pp. 8-11; Ibn Battuta, p. 13; Tuhfat al-Nazar, vol. 1, pp. 125-131.
- ↑ Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 121 and 123.
- ↑ Ibn Battuta's Rihla, Introduction by Karam al-Bustani, p. 6