Ibn Battuta — "The Chinese are a people who do not have a strong belief in God."
The Chinese are a people who do not have a strong belief in God.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck."
"I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam."
"The Chinese are skilled in crafts, but they are not a people of religion."
"I saw a bird in this land that was as big as an ostrich, but it had a long neck like a giraffe. It was a most peculiar creature."
"The women of this country do not cover their heads, and they are not ashamed of this. We saw many of them whose faces were more beautiful than the faces of the men."
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.