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 have indeed - praise be to God - attained my desire in this world, which was to travel through the earth, and I have attained in this respect what no other person has attained to my knowledge."
"I saw a man who had no arms, and he was able to write with his feet."
"In this city, I saw a strange thing. The women do not veil themselves, and they do not show any shame for this."
"I saw a man in this city who could swallow swords. It was a terrifying but fascinating performance."
"The men of this land wear skirts instead of trousers. It is a strange fashion, but they seem comfortable in it."
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.