The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer

241 Pages·2010·2.18 MB·English

by  David Waines

David Waines is Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at Lancaster University.
He wrote the bestselling textbook An Introduction to Islam, now in its second
edition, and edited a volume entitled Patterns of Everyday Life in the Formation
of the Classical Islamic World series. He has also written many articles on the
medieval Arabic culinary and dietetic traditions.
‘This book is more than just a highly entertaining account of the travels of Ibn
Battuta in Arabia, Africa and South East Asia. It is innovative and offers a re-
markable insight into the world of this intrepid globetrotter who travelled as far
as China. David Waines has succeeded in making readers feel as if they were
really there, so clearly does he present the various anecdotes and the captivating
details of ordinary life. It is a work of great scholarship and will be of interest to
both academe and the general reader. A valuable contribution to Islamic travel
literature.’
– Dionisius A. Agius, Al Qasimi Professor of Arabic Studies & Islamic Mate-
rial Culture, University of Exeter
‘By highlighting Ibn Battuta’s encounters with sex, strangeness and the sacred,
David Waines makes this deservedly most famous of medieval travellers more
intelligible, more enjoyable and more rewarding than ever.’
– Felipe Fernández-Armesto, William P Reynolds Professor of History, Uni-
versity of Notre Dame, and Professorial Fellow of Queen Mary, University of
London
‘In this thoroughly engaging book David Waines places the famous Moroccan
traveller in the colourful context of medieval storytelling and travellers’ tales,
establishing which of his writings were borrowed from other authors and which
are plausible accounts of his own remarkable adventures. Waines shows how the
details about food, hospitality, dress and sexual customs registered by Ibn Battu-
ta fit into the broader milieu of a medieval world in which marvels and miracles,
slave girls and sultans, generosity and cruelty jostle for space and attention. The
Odyssey of Ibn Battuta is a perfect companion-piece to the master-traveller’s own
extraordinary record.’
– Malise Ruthven, author of Islam: A Very Short Introduction and A Historical
Atlas of the Islamic World
Map of the world by the twelfth-century geographer al-Idrisi.
The Odyssey of
ibn battuta
uncommon tales of a medieval adventurer
David Waines
Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
Copyright © 2010 David Waines
The right of David Waines to be identified as the author of this work has been a sserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978 1 84511 805 1
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro by A. & D. Worthington, Newmarket, Suffolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham

Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
Map: The Travels of Ibn Battuta 1325–1354 xii–xiii
1. Travel Tales, Their Creators and Critics 1
2. The Travels 27
3. Tales of Food and Hospitality 67
4. Tales of Sacred Places, Saints, Miracles and Marvels 107
5. Tales of the ‘Other’ 157
Notes 197
Glossary 203
Select Bibliography 209
Index 217


Illustrations
Plate section located between pages 114 and 115.
1. Arabesque, a traditional complex and ornate Islamic ceramic
tile design of geometrical figures. (Aramco World Magazine)
2. Small shops in the old bazaar in Fez, Morocco. (From R.M.
Savory (ed), Islamic Civilisation (Cambridge, 1976))
3. Sketch of the interior of Sultan Hasan’s mosque in Cairo. (From
M. Rogers, The Spread of Islam (Oxford, 1976))
4. Storyteller and audience. (From S. Manning, Those Holy Fields:
Palestine (London, 1892))
5. The poet reciting his wares accompanied by a violest. (From
E.W. Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians (London, 1836))
6. A nineteenth-century sketch of the mosque of Umar, or the
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem. (From S. Manning, Those Holy
Fields: Palestine (London, 1892))
7. Sidon (modern Lebanon). Sketch of the biblical town made
around 1900. (From W.M. Thompson, The Land and the Book
(London, 1901))
8. The Holy Mosque, Mecca, in the pilgrimage season. (From
R.M. Savory (ed), Islamic Civilisation (Cambridge, 1976))
9. The Holy Mosque, Mecca, and the Kaaba, depicted in a
picture of tiles from sixteenth-century Persia. (From R.M.
Savory (ed), Islamic Civilisation (Cambridge, 1976))
10. Traditional-style house in Sanaa, Yemen. (Aramco World
Magazine)
11. Erzerum in eastern Anatolia. (Aramco World Magazine)
vii
12. Miniature showing Jalal al-Din miraculously rescuing a boat
from danger. (From al-Aflaki’s Manaqib al-Arifin, fourteenth
century, Topkapi Museum, Istanbul)
13. Jalal al-Din Rumi advising adepts in the bath. (From al- Aflaki’s
Manaqib al-Arifin, fourteenth century, Topkapi Museum,
Istanbul)
14. Miniature showing the Mawlana performing a whirling dance.
(From al-Aflaki’s Manaqib al-Arifin, fourteenth century,
Topkapi Museum, Istanbul)
15. Modern mud-built Friday mosque in Yaama, Niger. (Aramco
World Magazine)
16. Qutb Minar of the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque in Delhi. (From
M. Rogers, The Spread of Islam (Oxford, 1976))
17. The oldest mosque in Beijing, called Niujie (‘Oxen Street’).
(Aramco World Magazine)
18. Wood block of a seagoing Chinese junk. (Aramco World Maga-
zine)
19. Dhow.
20. Camel caravan.
viii

Preface and Acknowledgements
everal generations of scholars and writers have contributed to a
Sgrowing understanding and appreciation of Ibn Battuta and of his
only work, known simply as The Travels. They continue to fascinate
readers to the present day, evidenced by the publication of a newly edited,
abridged English translation in 2002. The latest edition of the multi-
volume Arabic original was published, fittingly enough in Morocco, in
1997. Purists might claim that there is no substitute for reading the entire
Travels in the original language. Yet reading Ibn Battuta in one of the
dozen or so languages into which he has been translated is a valuable
second option for a far wider readership.
The present work on Ibn Battuta’s odyssey has, of necessity, a more
modest aim. Like an abridged translation, the material presented here
has had to be selective. Moreover, in the spirit of an abridged translation,
the object here has been to allow the reader to ‘listen’ as far as possible
to Ibn Battuta’s own descriptions of his experiences. For this purpose his
own words have been highlighted in italics in the text. The words of other
persons quoted in the travels by Ibn Battuta himself have not been so
treated and appear as quotations in roman type.
The selection of the chapter themes, on the other hand, is entirely my
responsibility. In Chapter 1, Ibn Battuta is briefly placed in the context of
medieval travel writers, both Christian and Muslim, and especially with
Marco Polo, his older contemporary. Notably, each of their travel accounts
was a conscious collaborative venture between the traveller and his ‘editor’.
This was perhaps the medieval version of ‘ghost writing’, except that the
ghost’s name was known in both cases although the actual contribution of
each to the finished work is a matter of controversy among modern critics.
The remainder of the chapter deals with modern critics of Ibn Battuta’s
narrative. Chapter 2 is intended to initiate the reader unfamiliar with Ibn
ix