Ibn Battuta — "I saw in this city many things that are contrary to our religion."
I saw in this city many things that are contrary to our religion.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I was greatly astonished at these people, and their women, who do not observe any modesty towards men."
"The infidels are many in this land, and they are very strong."
"The Sultan of this country has a thousand wives, and he treats them all equally."
"The people of this land are a bad people, and they are not trustworthy."
"The people here have a strange custom of greeting each other by rubbing noses. It was quite an experience to get used to."
About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.