IBN BATTUTA

 

Ibn Battuta was an Islamic pilgrim. His priority as a Muslim was Mecca, but in his extensive travels he sought out many other mosques and tombs of 'saints' as well. His religious motives were broadened to include the outer bounds of the Islamic world by Burhan al-Din the Lame. Battuta stayed with this imam in Alexandria [Egypt], on his first journey from his home in Tangier [Morocco].

"One day, when I had entered his room, he said to me: 'I see you are fond of travelling and wandering from land to land'.

'Yes', I replied, 'I am fond of it', although there had not as yet entered my mind any thought of penetrating to such distant lands as India and China.

Then he said: 'You must certainly, if God will, visit my brother Farid al-Din in India, and my brother Zakariya al-Din in Sind, and my brother Burhan al-Din in China, and when you reach them convey to them a greeting from me'.

I was amazed at his prediction, and the idea of going to these countries having been cast in my mind, my wanderings never ceased until I had met these three and conveyed his greeting to them."

The following excerpts are from his recollections of these journeys, or Rihla, which were compiled 1354-6. The parts selected refer to his crossing-over of the midsection of the Silk Road (land route) in 1333 and his experience of China in 1346. Side excursions and doubtful destinations (fanciful or plagiarised descriptions) are not included.

TURKESTAN TO AFGHANISTAN

"After ten days journey from al-Sara [Volga River] we reached the city of Sarachuq on the bank of a great and swollen river called Ulusu [Ural River]...At this city we reached the limit of the journey with the horses...and hired camels to draw the wagons...

"From this place we went on for thirty days by forced marches...It is the custom of travellers in this wilderness to use the utmost speed, because of the scarcity of herbage...The water in this desert is...separated by two or three days march, and is rainwater [in surface pools] and shallow wells under the sand.

"After journeying through this desert...we arrived at Khwarizm [Khoresm is a regional name, used here for its capital city, situated on the delta of the Alma Darya at the Aral Sea]...which is the most important city of the Turks...in the dominions of the sultan Uzbak [Ozbeg Khan, Kipchak khanate, Golden Horde] who is represented in it by a great amir called Qutludumar...governor of Khurasan...

"It is one of the regular practices of the amir that the qadi [Ibn Batutta was a trained qadi, a lawyer or judge of Islamic Law] comes daily to his audience-hall...accompanied by the jurists and his clerks. Opposite him sits one of the great amirs and...shaikhs of the Turks...The people bring their disputes to them for decision; those that come within the jurisdiction of the religious law are decided by the qadi, and all others are decided by the amirs. Their decisions are well-regulated and just, for they are free from suspicion of partiality and do not accept bribes.

"When I prepared to leave Khwarizm I hired camels and bought a litter...the servants rode some of the horses and we put horse-cloths on the rest because of the cold...we began our journey through the wilderness which lies between Khwarzim and Bukhara, eighteen days march in sands...Through that desert a journey of six nights without water, at the end of which we reached the town of Wabkana, one day's journey from Bukhara...Its inhabitants preserve grapes from year to year, and they have there a fruit which they call allu [plum]. They dry it and the people carry the dried fruit to India and China.

"Thereafter we travelled for a whole day through contiguous orchards with streams, trees and habitations, and arrived at the city of Bukhara. This city was formerly capital of the lands beyond the river Jaihun [Amu Darya, or the Oxus] but was laid waste by the accursed Tankiz  the Tartar [Chingiz, or Genghis, Khan]...So at the the present time its mosques, colleges and bazaars are in ruins, all but a few...[Sacked by Mongols in 1220-1 conquest, but again by Il-Khans of Iran-Iraq in 1273 and 1316].

"We resumed our journey from Bukhara, making for the Camp of the pious and exalted  'Ala al-Din Tarmashirin' [ruler of Chaghatai Khanate, Central Asia]...We went by way of Nakhshab...His territories lie between four of the great kings of the earth, namely the king of China, the King of India, the king of al-Iraq, and the king Uzbaq, all of whom send him gifts and hold him in high respect and honour...

"We continued to attend the prayer-services in his company ― this was during the period of intense and perishing cold, yet he would never fail to attend the dawn and evening prayers with the congregation. He used to sit reciting a litany in Turkish after the dawn prayer until sunrise, and all those in the mosque would come up to him and he would take each one by the hand and press with his own hand upon his. They used to do the same thing at the time of afternoon prayer.

"...I resolved to proceed on my journey after staying at this sultan's camp for fifty-four days...When I took my leave of the Sultan Tarmashirin I journeyed to the city of Samarqand...built on the bank of the river [Zarafshan]...along which are norias to supply water to the orchards...There were formerly great palaces along its bank, and constructions which bear witness to the lofty aspirations of the townsfolk, but most of this is obliterated, and most of the city itself has also fallen into ruin.

"We set out from Samarqand...We came to the city of Tirmidh...The old city of Timidh was built on the bank of the Jaihun [Amu Darya], and when it was laid in ruins by Tankiz this new city was built two miles from the river.

"Next we crossed the river Jaihun into the land of Khurasan, and marched for a day and a half...through uninhabited desert and sands to the city of Balkh. It is completely dilapidated and uninhabited, but anyone seeing it would think it to be inhabited because of the solidity of its construction (for it was a vast and important city), and the mosques and colleges preserve their outward appearance even now.

"The accursed Tankiz devastated this city...The great cities of Khurasan are four; two of them are inhabited, namely Hurat and Naisabur [Nishapur], and two are in ruins, namely Balkh and Marw [Merv].

Note: Ibn Battuta repeatedly blames the destruction of cities on Ghengis Khan, describing them as "uninhabited". Yet in all cases he still finds accommodation in a "hospice" operated by a hospitable "shaikh" or "qadi". Bukhara, Samarqand, Tirmidh and Balkh were indeed plundered by the Mongols, but the conquest years of 1220-21 were more than a century before Ibn Battuta passed through.

"I continued my journey by way of Hindukhir to Qundus and Baghlan [respectively, the lower and middle reaches of the Qundus river, above its junction with the Amu Darya]. We encamped at Qundus by a flowing river...

"We remained on the outskirts of this village for about forty days, in order to pasture the camels and the horses. At that place are excellent pastures and quantities of herbage, and security there is universally established by reason of the severity of the judgments given by the amir...by the laws of the Turks anyone who steals a horse must restore it and give along with it nine like it; if he cannot find this number his sons are taken, and if he has no sons he is slaughtered like a sheep...It happened that we made a check of our horses after we had camped there for ten nights, and found three of them missing, but after half a month the Tartars brought them to us at our camp, for fear of what might befall them from the application of the laws...

"Another reason for our halt was fear of the snow. For upon the road there is a mountain called Hindukush, which means the slayer of the Indians, because the slave-boys and girls who are brought from the land of India die there in large numbers as a result of the extreme cold and the great quantity of snow. The passage of it extends for a whole day's march. We stayed until the warm weather had definitely set in and crossed this mountain...we kept spreading felt cloths in front of the camels for them to tread on, so that they should not sink in the snow.

"After crossing the mountain we halted at a place called Banj Hir...on a great river of blue water [Panjhir river is the main tributary of Kabul river]...We went on next to Parwan (junction of Panjhir and Ghorband rivers]...

"We travelled next to Kabul. There was in former times a great city, and on its site there is a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called al-Afghan. They hold mountains and defiles and have powerful forces at their disposal, and the majority of them are brigands. Their principal mountain is called Khu Sulaiman...this mountain...looked out over the land of India."

BATTUTA IN CHINA

China had a long tradition of hosting Arab merchants. By the time of Ibn Battuta's visit (about 1345), the system was thoroughly organised. "In every city of China is a quarter where the Muslims live separately and have mosques for their Friday prayers and other assemblies. They are highly regarded and treated with respect."

Despite this, Battuta felt uncomfortable. "China for all its magnificence, did not please me. I was deeply depressed by the prevalence of infidelity and when I left my lodging I saw many offensive things which distressed me so much that I stayed at home and went out only when it was necessary. When I saw Muslims it was as though I met my family and relatives."

Far from the Islamic heartland, he experienced profound alienation. He had not expressed this degree of homesickness even as he crossed the vast open spaces of Central Asia. There he could take some comfort from an imaginary ledger of Muslim gains and losses. 

In the fourteenth century, Dar al Islam was increasing in size. Mongol successor states were converting, or at least their rulers were. Il-khan (Iran-Iraq), Chagatai and Kipchak khanates, and the Indian Sultanate of Delhi were part of "an expanding common faith". However the Great Khans of China had not followed suit. Society remained as it was before the Mongols came, Bhuddist, Confucian and Taoist. Islam was very much a minority religion, tolerated but contained.

Battuta noted of Zaitun "the Muslims live in a separate city"; of Sin Kalan (Canton) "In one part of this city is the town of the Muslims"; of Qanjanfu "The Muslims live [with]in the third wall"; and of al-Khansa "the third city...is inhabited by Muslims". These designated areas offered security and community, but equally they were zones of isolation and control. Chinese officials 'managed' their foreigners.

1.  The Portrait System:

      "No one...rivals [the Chinese] in mastery of painting. They have prodigious facility in it. One of the remarkable things I saw in this connection is that if I visited one of their cities, and then came back to it, I always saw portraits of me and my companions painted on the walls and on paper in the bazaars.

       I went to the Sultan's city, passed through the painters' bazaar, and went to the Sultan's palace with my companions. We were dressed as Iraqis. When I returned from the palace in the evening I passed through the said bazaar. I saw my and my companions' portraits painted on paper and hung on the walls. We each one of us looked at the portrait of his companion; the resemblance was correct in all respects.

       I was told the Sultan had ordered them to do this, and that they had come to the palace while we were there and had begun observing and painting us without our being aware of it. It is their custom to paint everyone who comes among them. They go so far in this that if a foreigner does something that obliges him to flee from them, they circulate his portrait throughout the country and a search is made for him. When someone resembling the portrait is found, he is arrested."

2.  The Inventory System:

       "It is the custom of the Chinese that when a junk wishes to set sail, the admiral and his secretaries come aboard and record the archers, servants and sailors who will sail; the junk is then free to leave. When it returns they come aboard again and compare what they recorded with the persons [on the junk]. If one of the recorded is missing they question the owner of the junk about him, asking for proof that he is dead, or has escaped, or whatever else it may be has happened to him. If he cannot provide this he is arrested.

       When they have done that they order the ship's master to dictate to them a manifest of all the merchandise in it, whether small or great [in value]. Then every one disembarks and the customs officials sit to inspect what they have with them. If they come upon any article that has been concealed from them the junk and whatever is in it is forfeit to the treasury."

3.  The 'Funduq' System:

      "When a Muslim merchant arrives in a Chinese town he chooses to stay with one of the Muslim merchants designated among those domiciled there, or in the funduq. If he prefers to stay with the merchant his money is impounded, the merchant with whom he is to reside takes charge of it, and spends from it on his behalf. When he wishes to leave his money is examined and if any of it is missing the merchant with whom he has stayed and to whom it was entrusted makes good.

       If he wishes to stay in the funduq his money is entrusted to the master of the funduq who is put in charge of it; he buys for the merchant what he wants on his account...

       China is the safest and best country for the traveller. A man travels for nine months alone with great wealth and has nothing to fear. What is responsible for this is that in every post station in their country is a funduq which has a director living there with a company of horse and foot.

       After sunset or nightfall the director comes to the funduq with his secretary and writes down the names of all the travellers who will pass the night there, seals it and locks the door of the funduq. In the morning he and his secretary come and call everybody by name and write down a record. He sends someone with the travellers to conduct them to the next post station and he brings back a certificate from the director of that fanduq confirming that they have all arrived. If he does not do this he is answerable for them.

       This is the procedure in every post station in their country from Sin al-Sin [Canton] to Khan Baliq [Beijing]. In them is everything the traveller needs by way of provisions..."

There was, in Battuta's view, much to admire and recommend about China. Zaitun [Chuan-chou] was surely the greatest port ― "Its harbour is among the biggest in the world, or rather is the biggest; I have seen about a hundred big junks there and innumerable little ones." And Khansa [Hang-chou] was the greatest city ― "It is the biggest city I have seen on the face of the earth. It takes three days to cross it, the traveller journeying and stopping [for the night] in the city." 

But the Moroccan traveller always felt his foreign-ness. So when an excuse to leave came up, he grabbed it. "When rebellion broke out and disorders flared up [in the north], Shaikh Burhan al-Din and others advised me to return [south] before disorder became prevalent [everywhere]...We travelled down the [Great Canal] to Khansa, then to Qanjanfu, and then to al-Zaitin. When I arrived there I found the junks about to sail for India. Among them was a junk belonging to Al-Malik al-Zahir, the lord of al-Jawa [Islamic Sumatra]. Its crew were Muslims. His agent recognised me and was delighted that I had come."

Ibn Battuta set sail on his long journey home to Fez and Tangier.

__________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES:

The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Vol 1, translated and annotated by HAR Gibb, Introduction and pp 23-24. <archive.org/details/travels-of-ibn-battuta-vol1.pdf>

The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Vol 3, HAR Gibb, Ch 9. <archive.org/.../vol3.pdf>

The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Vol 4, translated and annotated by CF Beckingham, Ch 22. <archive.org/details/travels-of-ibn-battuta-vol4.pdf>

SS Gosch & PN Stearns, 2008, Premodern Travel in World History, Ch 7, 'Muslim Travellers'.

D Waines, 2010, The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer, IBTAURUS, London.