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 invited to a feast where they served a dish made of camel hump. It was surprisingly delicious, though I had my reservations at first."
"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 are very beautiful, and they walk about unveiled."
"The women of this city are very beautiful, but they are not modest."
"The women here are beautiful, and they do not veil themselves. This is a strange thing in a Muslim country."
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.