Ibn Battuta — "The women of this country are very attractive, and they do not cover their faces…"
The women of this country are very attractive, and they do not cover their faces.
The women of this country are very attractive, and they do not cover their faces.
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"I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam."
"Their women are of surpassing beauty, and are shown more respect than the men. These people are Muslims, punctilious in observing the hours of prayer, studying the books of law, and memorizing the Kor…"
"I was once given a ride on a boat made of reeds. It was very flimsy, and I was afraid it would sink."
"I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck."
"In Mali, I saw a man eat an entire roasted sheep by himself, and then drink a bucket of sour milk. The people there have stomachs like camels."
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.
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