Ibn Battutah was an Islamic scholar from Morocco who was born in 1304 and kept travelling throughout his life. His travelogues, often titled as The Travels of Ibn Battutah, have been widely translated and are read all over the world. What is so special about his travels? Let’s find out.
Ibn Battutah started on his travels around 1325, when he was 20 years old. His main reason to travel was to go on a Hajj, or a Pilgrimage to Mecca, to fulfill the fifth pillar of Islam. But his travelling went on for around 29 years and he covered about 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries which were then mostly under the governments of Muslim leaders of the World of Islam, or “Dar al-Islam”. From Africa to Europe to middle-East to India to China – he didn’t miss too many parts of the world. Below is a simple map of his journeys:
Ibn Battutah had never kept journals during his adventures, but when he finally returned to Morocco for good in 1354, the country’s sultan ordered him to compile a travelogue. He spent the next year dictating his story to a writer named Ibn Juzayy. The result was an oral history called A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, better known as the Rihla (or “Travels”). And thanks to the translators, these compilations are available almost everywhere in the world.
Listen to our podcast for some interesting travel tales of Ibn Battutah: Podcast
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