Ibn Battuta Religion

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Ibn Battuta, or Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati al-Tanji, was a practicing Muslim in the 14th century CE (or the 8th century H) and a voracious traveler who, at the age of twenty-two, felt prompted by the encouragement of the Quran to embark upon many journeys into not only the Muslim world, but also into such foreign regions as China, Russia, and India. He began his lifelong travels in 1325, with the intention of completing one of the five pillars of Islam: the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca, known as Hajj “and to visit the Prophet Muhammad’s tomb at al-Madinah” . On his original pilgrimage to Mecca from Tangier in Morocco, he stopped in Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus, locations where his legal expertise …show more content…

For example, while journeying through northwest Africa and Egypt, Ibn Battuta becomes aware of the capture of two significant Islamic strongholds in Spain, leaving Christendom “almost in command of the Straits”; in response, Ibn Battutah laments at the expansion of Christendom, exclaiming, “may God repair the breach that Islam has suffered thereby” . Conversely, while stopping in Latakiya, the city containing Dair al-Farus—the largest monastery in Syria and Egypt—Ibn Battuta paints the Christians settled there as gracious, welcoming hosts; he states that “Every Muslim who stops there is entertained by the Christians [whose] food is bread, cheese, olives,…and capers” . Furthermore, in the primarily Christian city of Constantinople, Ibn Battuta and his party were warmly welcomed once more; at one point, Ibn Battuta expressed great surprise that Turks, even important Christian monks, believed so ardently “in the merits of one who, though not of their religion, had entered…” places of great Christian …show more content…

He introduces the Chinese as infidels who “worship idols and burn their dead like the Indians do.” He draws attention to the fact that there is segregation between the Muslims and Chinese, explaining that the Muslims live in quarters of the cities that are separate from the rest of it, where there are “mosques for their Sunday prayers and other assemblies.” However, he also praises the Chinese—the merchants especially—who, though they “live in an infidel country…are delighted when a Muslim arrives among them. They say, ‘He has come from the land of Islam’, and give him the legal alms due on his property so that he becomes as rich as one of them.” He also spends several pages praising the beauty of Chinese architecture and commending the ingenuity of its people; however, he ultimately states that, “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

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