Ibn Battuta — "I saw a man in this city who had a beard so long that it reached his waist. He w…"
I saw a man in this city who had a beard so long that it reached his waist. He was a very respected scholar, but I could not help but chuckle.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I was once given a parrot that could speak many languages. It was a very intelligent bird, and I enjoyed its company."
"I was invited to a feast, and they served me a dish of roasted dog."
"The people of this city are not honest, and they are not righteous."
"The Chinese are a people who are very skillful, but they are not religious."
"The water in this land is very pure and refreshing. I drank so much that I felt like a fish."
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.