Ibn Battuta — "I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam."
I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a woman in this city who had a pet tiger. She walked it on a leash like a dog. I was quite astonished."
"I was greatly astonished at these people, and their women, who do not observe any modesty towards men."
"The women here are not veiled, and they are not shy. They speak openly with men."
"The people of this city are very religious. They pray five times a day and fast during the month of Ramadan."
"The people of this place are not good, and they are not pious."
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.