Scan barcode
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
I guess we'll never know how much truth is here. The translator has clearly tried to match things up with known records, and they often match.
IB was clearly a very privileged person, even at age 21. There's a very brief explanation of how his trade was very much in demand, but he seems to have been able to walk in anywhere, sometimes dirty and empty-handed, and be given vast amounts of largesse and a prestigious job.
He remembers all the names (not always accurately), even though many are similar and many get reused across generations. Good work for a guy who lost all his possessions several times. Maybe he was mailing his notes home by the really-rather-amazing postal shuttle systems he describes.
The book reminds us that the world of the 1300s was much like ours in some ways, but very different in others. Life was cheap if you weren't rich. Slavery was considered normal.
IB went to many places where Muslims ruled, and many where they didn't. I was surprised at how often the ruling religion appeared to be tolerant of the others, at worst enforcing separation in some areas, or requiring a poll tax. I might change that if I knew more about how one became a slave in those days.
Worth a look, even if you skim sometimes.
IB was clearly a very privileged person, even at age 21. There's a very brief explanation of how his trade was very much in demand, but he seems to have been able to walk in anywhere, sometimes dirty and empty-handed, and be given vast amounts of largesse and a prestigious job.
He remembers all the names (not always accurately), even though many are similar and many get reused across generations. Good work for a guy who lost all his possessions several times. Maybe he was mailing his notes home by the really-rather-amazing postal shuttle systems he describes.
The book reminds us that the world of the 1300s was much like ours in some ways, but very different in others. Life was cheap if you weren't rich. Slavery was considered normal.
IB went to many places where Muslims ruled, and many where they didn't. I was surprised at how often the ruling religion appeared to be tolerant of the others, at worst enforcing separation in some areas, or requiring a poll tax. I might change that if I knew more about how one became a slave in those days.
Worth a look, even if you skim sometimes.
tallulahjt's review against another edition
2.0
If you’re expecting an ethnography and travel diary, expect to be disappointed. 2 stars because I don’t care about the ramblings of an entitled nepo baby who just complains all the time.
kitabiworm's review against another edition
2.0
So I read it's Urdu translation. Didn't like it. The translator used very difficult words, the "footnotes" were useless because they were about the things that didn't need much explaining rather than those things which did need explaining. As far as Batutah is concerned, I didn't like him at all. Self righteous hypocrite.
shadreads_'s review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
4.0
The Travels of Ibn Battutah tells the journey of Ibn Battutah as he left his hometown to travel through the middle east, a big chunk of Asia, Europe and even Africa. He was the Marco Polo before Marco Polo. He describes everything he sees during his travel in such great detail, you can practically see it in front of your eyes. While I read his description of countries in the middle east it gave me such sadness because we can never see the wonders and beauty that he saw in this time, but reading his description gave such amazing insight into how things were at the time.
Some cons: The language that is used in the book can be overly formal and difficult for some readers. You can really tell that this was written as a report, and for a specific ruler. At certain points you can get lost as to where he is and at certain times he jumps from past to present and vice versa. The notes provided from people who have deeply researched Ibn Battutah's journey helped a lot.
Some cons: The language that is used in the book can be overly formal and difficult for some readers. You can really tell that this was written as a report, and for a specific ruler. At certain points you can get lost as to where he is and at certain times he jumps from past to present and vice versa. The notes provided from people who have deeply researched Ibn Battutah's journey helped a lot.
zoejfrank's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
abu_kaddu's review against another edition
5.0
IB's recollections of his journeys drag you back into a time which is hard to imagine in our day and age. At the young age of 21, having no royal connections or source of income, and equipped with only an education as an Islamic judge, IB leaves everything behind and travels across the world to China and back, in a journey that took him 20 years. His travels take him to the borders of the expanding Muslim world, in a journey spanning from Quanzhou to Gao and from Kilwa to the Volga. Despite the territorial vastness of these lands, IB is always at home- being present in the courts of kings, and receiving rich gifts from them along his way.
At the end of it all you can't help feeling a little sad - here was a man who had dedicated himself to the quest to travel, and such was his end. At sea, he was robbed of all his religious relics, wealth and treasures by pirates. In his appointments as local governor, he bore many kids with his slaves, but was forced to leave them behind or be witness to their deaths. On his journey back home, he received the news that his father had passed away 15 years ago, and upon his arrival, he found that he missed the passing of his mother by a few days. Yet despite all these losses, the sheikh remains calm and austere, evoking the blessings and mercy of God upon his deceased family, and continuing his travels.
I think it is difficult to understand this book if you aren't Muslim. To readers today, IB's use of sex slaves, his insulting of infidels, and his anecdotes of miracles or peculiar events seem bewildering and are unsuited to the moral palate of the modern man. This is just the way the world was - Muslim or not. Reading through the book, I found nothing immoral about it - it was just a different time. Whether I believe that time was better, or that if those values are better or if they should come back - that is a question for minds more meticulous than my own.
Few questions:
- What was the world like before? Was it really a better place? Materially? Spiritually? Will the dynamics that allowed for IB to uproot his life and travel indefinitely ever exist again?
- What was the Islamic concept of slavery? Can we write it off as completely immoral now that we are 'enlightened'? Was this normal? Will it ever be normal again?
- IB's attitude towards sex - he discusses it quite freely.
- IB's attitude towards clothing and interactions: the Turkish treatment of women, the dressing of Malians/Maldivians, the open, opposite-gender friendships had by the Malians.
- The stories of sati and the yogis - pretty crazy.
- Speaking out against the Sultan: it never happened. Slight dissent meant TORTURE - punishments were barbaric. Can expand this into a HT discussion.
- Was the world really more religious? Were miracles normal back then? IB discusses these freely, as if it were a normal everyday thing. Pious men roamed everywhere. People went into isolation and fasted for months. Has the modern world killed spirituality, or have we killed our own? Is it even possible to be religious now, or to recapture the same environment? Do we even know what's real?
- What's stopping people from isolation/travel/etc... changed social norms?
- Did this whole discovery of 'globalization' and the trend of the 'anti-global' only become relevant when European powers managed to wrestle their way into the Indian ocean trade network? Asian, Middle Eastern and Indian traders seemed to have settlements on other countries everywhere, without much conflict or complaint about loss of values. The world was globalised far before the invention of the telegram, computer, or mobile phone.
- To what end? What was the point of all this travelling?
At the end of it all you can't help feeling a little sad - here was a man who had dedicated himself to the quest to travel, and such was his end. At sea, he was robbed of all his religious relics, wealth and treasures by pirates. In his appointments as local governor, he bore many kids with his slaves, but was forced to leave them behind or be witness to their deaths. On his journey back home, he received the news that his father had passed away 15 years ago, and upon his arrival, he found that he missed the passing of his mother by a few days. Yet despite all these losses, the sheikh remains calm and austere, evoking the blessings and mercy of God upon his deceased family, and continuing his travels.
I think it is difficult to understand this book if you aren't Muslim. To readers today, IB's use of sex slaves, his insulting of infidels, and his anecdotes of miracles or peculiar events seem bewildering and are unsuited to the moral palate of the modern man. This is just the way the world was - Muslim or not. Reading through the book, I found nothing immoral about it - it was just a different time. Whether I believe that time was better, or that if those values are better or if they should come back - that is a question for minds more meticulous than my own.
Few questions:
- What was the world like before? Was it really a better place? Materially? Spiritually? Will the dynamics that allowed for IB to uproot his life and travel indefinitely ever exist again?
- What was the Islamic concept of slavery? Can we write it off as completely immoral now that we are 'enlightened'? Was this normal? Will it ever be normal again?
- IB's attitude towards sex - he discusses it quite freely.
- IB's attitude towards clothing and interactions: the Turkish treatment of women, the dressing of Malians/Maldivians, the open, opposite-gender friendships had by the Malians.
- The stories of sati and the yogis - pretty crazy.
- Speaking out against the Sultan: it never happened. Slight dissent meant TORTURE - punishments were barbaric. Can expand this into a HT discussion.
- Was the world really more religious? Were miracles normal back then? IB discusses these freely, as if it were a normal everyday thing. Pious men roamed everywhere. People went into isolation and fasted for months. Has the modern world killed spirituality, or have we killed our own? Is it even possible to be religious now, or to recapture the same environment? Do we even know what's real?
- What's stopping people from isolation/travel/etc... changed social norms?
- Did this whole discovery of 'globalization' and the trend of the 'anti-global' only become relevant when European powers managed to wrestle their way into the Indian ocean trade network? Asian, Middle Eastern and Indian traders seemed to have settlements on other countries everywhere, without much conflict or complaint about loss of values. The world was globalised far before the invention of the telegram, computer, or mobile phone.
- To what end? What was the point of all this travelling?
firerosearien's review against another edition
4.0
A very entertaining read, but 14th century sensibilities are...something. OTOH, imagine traveling the world for twenty years, and you're finally making your way back home and BOOM plague hits...
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
Read for research for Islamic reception paper
mehul_dhikonia's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.25
The modern reader in me was deeply conflicted while reading this book. While Ibn Battutah's epic journey paints a surreal yet honest image of the 14th-century Islamic and South-East Asian world, it baffles me how a 3-decade long journey halfway around the world and back would have such little impact on prejudices held by the traveller.
I also couldn't help but actively compare Ibn Battutah to Marco Polo, whose journey I also greatly admire.
This book is also a treasure trove of many reading rabbit holes for tidbits about history, cultures and geographies, rummaging through which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I also couldn't help but actively compare Ibn Battutah to Marco Polo, whose journey I also greatly admire.
This book is also a treasure trove of many reading rabbit holes for tidbits about history, cultures and geographies, rummaging through which I thoroughly enjoyed.