Ibn Battuta — "I saw in this city many things that are forbidden in Islam."
I saw in this city many things that are forbidden in Islam.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I was given a sword as a gift, and it was made of very fine steel."
"I was once given a magic carpet in this land, but it did not fly. It was just a very beautiful rug."
"In Anatolia, I met a dervish who could make himself invisible. Or at least, that's what he claimed. I never saw him do it."
"Traveling offers you a hundred roads to adventure, and gives your heart wings!"
"The people of this country are very skilled in archery, and they can shoot an arrow with great accuracy."
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.