A Great Traveler - Ibn Battuta

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Bangladeshi | Studying in EEE (HSTU)

3 years ago

In community: Filipino Readers(42bb)

Once Ibn Battuta had a dream. He was travelling on a huge bird over Asia. On that time he was in a roof in Egypt. Waking up he decided that he would travel the whole world. He also swear that he would never visit a place twice.

At first he went to Makkah with the pilgrims and completed the holy Hajj. At the end of all religious observances, he left Makkah with a large number of pilgrims. At that time he was wearing same white clothes like the other pilgrims. No one in the crowd could not be recognized. They were walking through the wild and sandy desert. They started their journey after sunset to escape from the scorching hit of the sun. They lit torches to find their way in the dark of night.

In the beginning, Ibn Battuta wanted to visit the countries of the Middle East. But after a year, he changed his mind and returned to Makkah to study.

After four years Ibn Battuta started traveling again. He is not a young Haji anymore . He is now a Muslim scholar. This time he did not want to go out just out of curiosity. He heard that Sultan Muhammad Ibn Tughluq of Delhi, India, had a kind heart for the Muslim scholars. So he thought that once he reached India, he might get the Sultan's favor. There he will be able to do religious work in peace.

With this in mind, Ibn Battuta left for India in 1332. Arriving in the Punjab of India, he became separated from the people of the main party. After that, only 21 people remained in his team. At that time the area was notorious for robbers. The robbers could easily hide themselves in the middle of the dunes. It is also easy for them to escape through the dry river after the robbery.

A few days later, Ibn Battuta and his party were caught by robbers. Led by two horsemen, 80 robbers attacked with sharp swords and bows and arrows. However, the people of the caravan did not run away and fought bravely with the band of robbers. They even killed 13 of the attackers. When everything was calm, they found out that Ibn Battuta and his horse had been shot. At midnight that day, very tired and exhausted passengers took shelter in a nearby fort to rest. In the next morning, they saw the heads of 13 robbers on that terrible battlefield.

For all these reasons, it took Ibn Battuta about two years to reach Delhi. But as soon as he reached the palace, he first noticed one aspect of the Sultan's cruel character. Executioners are sitting at all the doors of the palace to carry out the orders of the Sultan. It was learned from them that if the Sultan gave anyone the punishment of death , he was ordered to carry it out immediately. He did this often. The body of the culprit was then left at the entrance of the palace.

The huge doors of the palace were opened for the famous Moroccan tourist Ibn Battuta. He passed the giant guard and the sultan's officials dressed in peacock feathers and slowly appeared at the sultan's chamber.

Thousands of pillars descended from the beautifully decorated curved roof to the Sultan's court. He saw at least 50 huge elephants standing near the walls around the court. 60 horses in front of the elephant. In front of them again the warriors of the Sultan's army. Then a crowd of sultan's servants and officials. The Sultan sat right in the middle of the court.

Ibn Battuta soon realized that what he had heard about the Sultan was true. The Sultan is really a generous man. So Ibn Battuta did not have to be disappointed. He was appointed as a Qazi of Delhi by the Sultan. He also granted him a huge pension so that he could live comfortably.

But even with such a large royal position, Ibn Battuta did not feel secure at all. Because the Sultan's mind is as changeable and whimsical as the weather. He was also very angry person. Once feeling very humiliated for some reason, this Sultan ordered the army to expel everyone from Delhi. Many more such incidents are heard in the name of the Sultan.

One day Ibn Battuta was also deprived of the Sultan's good eye. Sultan summoned Battuta to himself. Ibn Battuta went to the Sultans Chamber with the four servants of the Sultan. He was so frightened that he turned his attention to religion. He fasted and read the Qur'an regularly.

The Sultan's mind melted. The Sultan rewarded Ibn Battuta and sent him to China as an ambassador.

So in 1342 Ibn Battuta started traveling again. About eight years after arriving in Delhi, he left for China. However, three days after leaving Delhi, he was again attacked by robbers.

Ibn Battuta tried to escape on horseback. But this time his luck did not help. His companions also spread around. Forty robbers surrounded him and there was no way to escape. Ibn Battuta dismounted and surrendered.

The robbers took everything he had and took him prisoner. After a few hours, Ibn Battuta realized that he would be killed. However, after a while, one of the robbers took pity on him and released him.

Ibn Battuta escaped death but was left alone in a hostile country. He started living as a fugitive. About a week later he met his friends. But none of them recognized him. Because he lost his horse and nice clothes. His hands and feet were cut and wounded. His friends requested him to return to Delhi as such a bad incident had taken place at the beginning of the trip. But Ibn Battuta was stubborn. He did not return to Delhi but continued on his way to China.

After that...

Ibn Battuta continued to travel to different countries. He has been shipwrecked twice, surviving the terrible plague in Syria. Along the way, he also encountered heavy snowstorms in the Sahara Desert. He died at the age of 64. The path he has traveled in his entire life is equivalent to traveling around the world three times.

More from Ibn Battutas life:

Ibn Battuta's real name is Muhammad Bin Abdullah Bin Battuta. Born in Tangier, Morocco, the tourist has traveled to various countries for 28 years. He visited all the Muslim countries in Asia and Africa at that time. Most of his travels were with merchants.
On his first voyage (1325-1334) Ibn Battuta went to North Africa-Arabia. He went to the Golden Horde (now part of Russia) near Mongolia, the farthest south, via Persia (Iran) and also to India at that time. On other trips he traveled to the Maldives, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Sumatra, China, Spain, the Sahara Desert and West Africa. In all, he covered 100,000 kilometers (72,000 miles).
After studying Islamic law, literature and religion in his native Morocco, Ibn Battuta decided to perform the Hajj in Mecca. Ibn Battuta left Tanzia for Mecca in 1325. He stayed in Tripoli (now Libya) for a while and got married. He then decided to visit Egypt and tour the whole country.
Mecca in Saudi Arabia is known as the holiest place for Muslims. In the middle of the huge mosque of Mecca there is an almost square shaped holy place called Kabaghar. Muslims pray around this house.
The palace of the Sultan of Delhi, seen by Ibn Battuta, had long since been reduced to rubble. The palace looked a lot like the Qutub Mosque in Delhi, India.
The elephants of the Sultan of Delhi were so huge that twenty warriors could go on the backs of those elephants on the battlefield. The Sultan's elephants were also taught to bow their heads in reverence.
The Sultan of Delhi used to welcome guests in the court with one thousand pillars.