Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta (703–779 AH / 1304–1377 CE) was a Moroccan Maliki jurist and traveler from Tangier, widely known for his extensive journeys across Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe, recorded in his travelogue Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi ghara'ib al-amsar wa-'aja'ib al-asfar Fath al-Shakur fi Marifat…+1.

Lineage and early life

He was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati al-Tanji, known as Ibn Battuta, and referred to in eastern lands by the honorific Shams al-Din Fath al-Shakur fi Marifat…+1. Some sources add further ancestors to his lineage as Ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharna…. He was born in Tangier on 17 Rajab 703 AH (with another report giving 14 Rajab; 1304 CE, and one modern reference giving 1306 CE) into a family established in religious scholarship and the judiciary al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya a…+3. He was raised in Tangier, memorized the Quran, and pursued the study of Maliki jurisprudence Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh …+1.

Travels and judicial career

On Thursday, 2 Rajab 725 AH (1325 CE), at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, Ibn Battuta set out from Tangier alone to perform the pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharna…+2. His first major voyage lasted nearly twenty-four years Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh …. Moving eastward across North Africa through Algeria and Tunisia, he joined pilgrim caravans, visited Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, and reached Mecca in 726 AH Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1. Over the subsequent decades, he traversed Iraq, Persia, Yemen, the East African coast (including Mogadishu), Anatolia, the Black Sea, southern Russia, Constantinople, Khwarazm, Bukhara, Khorasan, and Afghanistan Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+2.

In the Indian subcontinent, he entered the service of Sultan Muhammad Shah (Muhammad bin Tughluq) in Delhi, who appointed him as a Maliki judge (qadi) Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1. In India, he was also given the title Mawlana Badr al-Din Rihlat Ibn Battuta. The Sultan later appointed him to lead an embassy to China Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1. After shipping mishaps along the Malabar Coast, he resided in the Maldives, where he served as a judge for approximately one and a half years Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1. Continuing eastward via Ceylon, Bengal, Sumatra, and Java, he reached China al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1.

He returned to Morocco, arriving in Fez around 750 AH Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi l…. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a journey across the Mediterranean to al-Andalus, visiting the Emirate of Granada, and subsequently undertook a trans-Saharan expedition to West Africa (the Mali Empire and Timbuktu) in 753–754 AH before returning permanently to Morocco al-Mawsua al-Tarikhiyya+1.

Composition of the travelogue and death

Upon his final return, Ibn Battuta entered the court of the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris in Fez al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1. The Sultan commissioned the Granadan man of letters Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi to transcribe and edit Ibn Battuta's dictations Fath al-Shakur fi Marifat…+1. The resulting work, Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi ghara'ib al-amsar wa-'aja'ib al-asfar ("A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Curiosities of Cities and the Wonders of Travel"), was completed in Dhu al-Hijjah 756 AH (or Safar 757 AH) Fath al-Shakur fi Marifat…+1.

Ibn Battuta subsequently served as judge of the Tamesna region in Morocco Rihlat Ibn Battuta. He died in Fez in Rajab 779 AH (1377 CE) at approximately seventy-six years of age, though another report places his death in 777 AH al-Mawsua al-Tarikhiyya+1.

Standing and reception

Ibn Juzayy praised him as "the traveler of the age" (rahhal al-'asr) and noted that calling him "the traveler of this religious community" would not be an exaggeration Rihlat Ibn Battuta. During his visit to Granada, he met scholars including Ibn Juzayy and Abu al-Barakat al-Balafiqi in the garden of Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asim, as documented by Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharna…+1.

Because many of his reports about foreign rulers and customs appeared extraordinary, contemporaries initially met his accounts with skepticism al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharna…+1. Ibn Khaldun recounted in the Muqaddima that when Ibn Battuta returned and described the wealth and practices of the ruler of Delhi, people privately accused him of fabrication; Ibn Khaldun himself was inclined to dismiss the accounts until the Sultan's vizier, Ibn Wudrar, advised him that human societies and states differ vastly in scale and power, cautioning him against denying realities simply because they lay beyond his own experience al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya a…+1.