Ibn Battutah 183-200, 273-296

The first section of the reading was about Battutah’s stay in Dilhi.  Upon entering Dilhi, they first went to the court of the sultan.  While in Dilhi Battutah learns that his baby daughter had dies, so he responds by sending one of his slave girls to her for her burial.  I didn’t understand why he did this or what it even meant.  Also he explains that they have particular items that people are to be buried with.  I thought this was interesting because you see this behavior in many different cultures.  In Dilhi, giving gifts seems to have an importance.  I think this because they bring gifts to give to the sultan, and also to the person they first stay with which I think was the sultan’s mother.  Another interesting thing about the sultan is that they call him the “master of the world”.  While this is a major and important city, they know that there are also many other cities around the world and they obviously see themselves as above the other sultans.  On page 190 there is kind of a funny scenario about how Battutah owed merchants in Dilhi money and he didn’t have the money to repay them.  So Battutah wrote a poem in arabic and delivered it to the Sultan.  The sultan enjoyed this poem very much so when he heard about Battutah’s debts, he went to the merchants and demanded them to drop the amount he owed.  This is funny because Battutah knew at this point how to get what he wants, and how to get away with things simply by befriending those above him.  At the end of this story the sultan of Dilhi ordered Battutah to travel to China as his ambassador.  He sent along with him whatever Battutah would need for his journey and sent him on his way.

The next section I read about was from China to Morroco, and then onto Spain.  The first encounter I read about was Battutah and his company being advised to return to China to avoid danger.  They got into a boat and got lost and spent 40 days without knowing which body of water they were in.  Then Battutah eventually arrives at the city of Damascus of Syria.  He stayed here for quite a long time.  Through his travels he learns that his father had died, but that his mother is still alive.  He has been away for so long, but he still keeps his memories of home.  He travels to his homeland and he is overwhelmed by the kindness of his families master.  He learns of his mothers death and goes to visit her grave.  He decides that he would have liked to have spent his life here serving his master.  I don’t think that Battutah regrets traveling around the world but I do think that he wished that he could have spent time here as well.  After these events he decides to join the military and fight “the holy war”. 

Ibn Battutah 101-160

In this part of the book Battutah travels through Asia minor, the Steppe, and Constantinople.  He stops at many great cities during this part of his travels and seems to be impressed with this area of the world.  His first major experience is when he gets onto a Christian boat called the Genoese, and sailed with them for ten days to al-Alaya.  From al-Alaya he traveled to the great city of Bilad al-Rum.  here he notes that they have very good food, the best dressed people, and the women there don’t wear veils!  I also found on page 102 that there is a notion of the division of sects among muslims, he talks about the “sunnah”.  After al-Rum the next major city he encounters is Antaliyah. He remarks that this town is organized very well, and is the most populated town he’s seen.  I thought it was strange that in this town lived people who belonged to different religions but they all separated themselves.  For example the Jews who lived there all lived together in a circle bounded by a wall, the Christians and so on did the same thing that separated them from the Muslims.  Then he traveled to Akridur, he didn’t say much about this place other than it housed fine bazaars, fresh sweet water, and many fruits.  Ladhig is home to seven mosques, beautiful gardens and fine fabrics.  He notes that there are many Greeks who live there and pay money to the Sultan because they are not Muslims.  He also says that Greek women are bought and sold as prostitutes and that as long as they did their business in the bath houses no one said anything about it.  I noticed as I was reading that there was a funny anecdote about when they entered the city.  A group of men came from their booths and took hold of their horses and began arguing.  They spoke a different language so Battutah and his fellow travelers didn’t understand what was going on and thought they were being attacked.  Then finally someone who understood Arabic told them that they were simply arguing over who would take them in to give shelter and food for the night.  I though that was funny because their kind actions had been mistaken for hostility. Next in Quniya Battutah says that they have very fine buildings and many streams and gardens.  From here, the next major city he travels to is called Birgi.  He ends up spending a great deal of time in this city.  The first person they stayed with had them sleep on the roof because it was the hot season and this was the coolest place at night.  The next night they stayed at a knowledgeable professor’s house who lectured to them and treated them very well.  The professor then wrote a letter to the Sultan of this city to inform them of these travelers he encountered.  The Sultan sent a request for the travelers to visit him so they took off into the mountain where he stayed during the hot season.  Battutahs first experience on the mountain was that one of his horses died becuase of the cold temperatures.  Also the Sultan wanted to hear about his travels and write down to tell others about far away cities.  Battutah grew tired of being in the mountain with the Sultan but didn’t want to disrespect him at the same time.  Finally after many days the Sultan gave him and his company alot of clothes, money, gold, a horse, and even a slave girl and sent them on their way.  From the mountain they traveled to Aya Suluq, which was an ancient city built by the Greeks.  It housed one of the most beautiful mosques in the world, and before leaving he bought another Greek slave girl.  In the town of Barghamah, they picked up a man to guide them through the mountains.  The they travel to Bursa, whish as an important city.  Here they had many fine bazaars and two bath-houses for men and for women. Here he met another traveler but Battutah said that he had outdone this other man because he’d been to China and other islands.  From here he traveled to many much smaller towns and began to be escorted by “mounted men” which I think is like a soldier for protection and guidance.  He finally arrives at another great city called Qastamuniyah which was one of the largest cities.  Here there are alot of goods to buy and at low prices.  They stayed in this city for forty days and bought food for very cheap.  When they initially arrived at Constantinople they weren’t permitted in because they were Muslims and needed special permission, but soon after they were permitted to enter.  As before the Sultan here also questioned him about his travels but wanted to know of the places that were religiously important to them.  After Constantinople they journeyed into Turkestan and Afghanistan, which is the desert.  So they sold their horses for a good price, and hired camels to pull the wagons with the provisions and slaves.  They reached the city of Khwarizm which is the most important city to the Turks and has broad streets and fine things, and is very crowded with people. 

3/12 Reading Journal

            This story told us about an outsider visiting the death rituals of another culture.  It is described before the story that it is unknown if the story is talking about Vikings or of the Russians.  I personally do not know enough about either culture to make a guess on which it could be.  This story explained how and why they perform the death rituals that they do.  I found it strange that they kill a slave girl to be cremated along side the man who died.  They justify it by saying that she is to accompany him in the afterlife, but it’s hard to understand why these slaves would choose to be killed.  The outsider describes the people as alcoholics and essentially savages.  He thinks this because they don’t take care to clean themselves properly, their sacrificial practices, and also the way that they treated one another.  It also shows that they had a hierarchy of people in the order that the men were bathed, and by how much jewelry their wives wore.  It is also obvious that this is a patriarchal society as well because of the way they describe the burial of men, and the men show their wealth by giving their wife jewelry.  This story led a lot of insight on how different cultures were viewed.  One point to make is that this outsider seemed tolerant of the other culture, though he didn’t agree with their practices he understood their intentions.  From what we have read in this class before, this case seemed the most modern in the way of thinking.  Although many members of different religions today don’t agree with some of the others beliefs, this doesn’t stop us from understanding their culture.  I think it’s possible that this particular traveler could be atypical of the average person living at the time in terms of his acceptance.  

Ibn Battuta (3-58)

In the first part of the book, Ibn Battuta describes the beginning of his journey to Mecca.  He explains how he left everything at home to go on this journey.  Shortly after his departure he gets invited to join the caravan of the king of Africa, and this ends up being very helpful to him in the end.  Being a part of the caravan provided protection, and help when Ibn needed it.  Ibn became ill a few times and the other people of the caravan helped him, and gave him advice on what should be done.  After a dispute with his father-in-law, Ibn separated from his wife but quickly remarried and had a large feast to entertain the members of the caravan.  Next, Ibn describes several encounters among people that he has stayed with along his journey after separating from the group.  All of these people were surprisingly hospitible and send him away with provisions that he may need in the future.  At each place he stops he describes the state that the city is in and tells of his visits with people that  he meets there.  He also describes landmarks that he passes by as well such as the nile river, and various mosques.  When he started his journey he had planned to go one route, but along the way someone told him to go through the path of Syria, and at first Ibn didn’t take his advice but eventually turned back and used the path through Syria.  Teachers are also described in this part.  They had similar separations among teachers that we still do today.  There was a teacher who only taught calligraphy, and one who taught the Qur’an.  They teach children who went to these teachers the various skills needed to be able to recite prayers.