Page 18 - DILMUN NO 7

sot his eyes upon the spot where traces of the
foot of Adam were reputed to be found. lie was
Ibn Battuta oooo the first to speak of the Ismaelitcs, of their for­
geographer tresses and of their violence. He was also the

first to penetrate deep into Africa and to write
of it. After the end of his voyages, he settled
by Dr Ali AHDoy at Fas in North Africa at the Court of the Sultan
Abi Annan. He recounted <o his listeners all he
had seen during his travels. The Sultan was so
In reality, the Muslims of the period (IXth touched by what he heard that he ordered Ibn
to Xlth centuries ) were led to study geography Battuta to write down his experiences.
for several reasons. Ibn Battuta- according to the orders of the
The first motive was religious : in order to Sultan, began to dictate to the Sultan’s scribe
trace the intinerary of the pilgrims bound for ( named Muhamad Ibn Guzey Al-Kalbi ), the
Mecca, it was necessary to acquire a certain observations he had already noted in India and
familiarity with geography. which had been stolen. That the original texts
A second motive was also of a religious containing his experiences during his voyages
nature: according to religious norms, the Mosque in India had been stolen explains a number of
was of necessity oriented toward Mecca. geographical errors which crept into the re­
A third impetus had to do with travelling newed version. Aside from this, to the extent
and with the commercial activities engaged in that he was a faithful believer, he recounted
between the Muslims and China, Russia and the religious .tales in the traditional style, that is,
Island of Zanzibar. Itinerants had to be know­ without analysis : the tale of the beard of Sheik
ledgeable in geography and astronomy, in order Gamel Ad-Din is a case in point.
to avoid the hazards that beset them on the It seems also that this same style of writ­
trade routes of the times. ing was not limited to the writing of religious
One such travelling geographer of the time tales, but was used as well in describing daily
was Ibn Battuta ( 704 - 779 H./ 1304 - 1377 ). life as, for example, in the tale of the single-
His name - Abu Abdul Allah Muhammad breasted women of India which is recited with­
Ibn Ibrahim A1 - Lawati - derives from the out a single critical comment. Nevertheless, in
Berber Tribe “ Lawati ” to which he belonged. order to avoid criticism he suspected might be
However, he became better known as Ibn directed at his use of .this genre of writing, he
Battuta. He was also surnamed “Sams Al-din” expressed himself by means of impersonal
and, as he was born at Tanga, he was also known pronouns such as “ one..., ” or “ they said...” or
as “ the Tanger He visited Mecca when he “ as it is supposed...”.
was 22 years old, after which he travelled to the This impersonal style inspired the orient­
better-known countries of his age, such as alist Dozy to qualify Ibn Battuta as an honorable
Egypt- Syria, Arabia, East Africa, Turkey, voyager.
Southern Russia, India, China, Spain and the
Sudan. It look three consecutive trips to allow Dr. Ali A1 - Doy obtained a B.A. at Damas­
him to visit all these countries, and the space of cus in 1962 and from then until 1969 he was
29 years. The last voyage was the longest. This Editor of the BAPCO Weekly Star. During
longest voyage took him to India, where he 1969 he was preparing for his Ph. D. which he
spent two years as a judge. He worked in the obtained at Sorbonne, Paris 1975. Dr. A1 - Doy
same capacity for a year and a half in China. is now 1st Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign
In each country where he sojourned, he des­ Affairs, Bahrain.
cribed the inhabitants, their customs and all Of the 25 geographers that he wrote about
that had to do with the daily life of the country. for his thesis, Ibn Battuta was just one. He
His religious faith led him to visit the mosques was the last Arab geographer until the end of
and religious sites wherever he went. He even the 14th century.
climbed the Sarandib “ Ceylon ” mountain to

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