|
He is Abu Abdullah Mohamed, known as IBN BATUTA, the
greatest of Muslim travelers, was born at Tangier in 1304. He entered on
his travels at twenty-one (1325) and closed them in 1355. No other
medieval traveler is known to have journeyed so extensively like Ibn
Batuta did.
In an attempt to rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such
as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy, we will
try to shed more light on the life and travellings of Ibn Batuta, the
great Muslim traveler. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to
strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their
reach.
Ibn Batuta, one of the most remarkable travelers of all time, visited
China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact traveled 75,000 miles,
much more than Marco Polo. Yet Batuta is never mentioned in geography
books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West. Ibn
Batuta's contribution in geography is unquestionably as great as that of
any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible
except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Batuta's
contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great
Muslims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists
suffer the same fate.
The narratives of Ibn Batuta cover various aspects of life in Bengal. He
provides a geographical account of some important places he visited,
such as Sudkawan, 'a vast city on the coast of the great sea', Habank
'one of the most glorious and beautiful cities', Sunarkawan, 'a very
inaccessible city'. He has given accounts of some rivers he traversed,
such as the Ganga (Padma), Jun (Jumna) and Nahr ul-azraq (Surma). The
traveller was enamored of the picturesque landscape, the greenery and
beautiful fields, water-wheels, gardens and villages on both banks of
the Surma, and comments that passing through villages and orchards was
like going through a mart.
Ibn-Batuta provides some information on the political history beginning
from the time of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud till the assumption of
sovereignty by Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah and Alaauddin Ali shah. His
narratives include information on the life of Sheikh Shah Jalal (R),
influence of sufi saints on both Muslims and non-Muslims, existence of
slavery in Bengal, practice of magic and witchcraft by the people of
Kamarupa, abundance of food grains and cheap prices of commodities of
daily use. He refers to the brisk internal and external trade of this
region.
Ibn Batuta noticed marketplaces on the banks of the rivers and
innumerable boats carrying men and merchandise. He has mentioned the
practice of beating drums from every boat on the river as a signal for
identifying inland merchant boats and for detecting stranger boats as a
safeguard against piracy. He also mentions the sea-borne trade-links of
Sonargaon with China, Java and Maldives. In view of the abundance of the
necessaries of life and its soothing scenery on one hand, and the wet
atmosphere and oppressive vapour bath on the other, the traveller
justifies the attitude of foreigners who call Bangladesh a dozakh-i-pur
az n'imat, which means an inferno full of gifts.
Ibn Batuta began by traversing the coast of the Mediterranean from
Tangier to Alexandria, finding time to marry two wives on the road. He
stayed in Cairo for a while, and an unsuccessful attempt to reach Mecca
from Aidhab on the west coast of the Red Sea, he visited Palestine,
Aleppo and Damascus. He then made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina,
traveling thence to Basra, and across the mountains of Khuzestan to
Isfahan, thence to Shiraz and back to Kufa and Baghdad. After an
excursion to Mosul and Diarbekr, he made the Hajj a second time, and
stayed in Mecca for three years.
Afterwards Ibn Batuta sailed down the Red Sea to Aden (then a place of
great trade). Then he continued his journey down the African coast,
visiting Mombassa and Quiloa (Kilwa) together with other places.
Returning north he passed by the chief cities of Oman to New Ormuz (Hurmuz),
which had about 15 years, before, c. 1315, been transferred to its
famous island-site from the mainland (Old Ormuz). After visiting other
parts of the gulf he crossed the breadth of Arabia to Mecca, making the
Hajj (Pilgrimage) for the third time. Crossing the Red Sea, he made a
journey of great hardship to Syene and thence along the Nile to Cairo.
After this, traveling through Syria, he made a circuit among the petty
Turkish states into which Asia Minor was divided after the fall of the
kingdom of Rum (Iconium).
He now crossed the Black Sea to Kaffa. His next stop was Kipchak (the
Mongol khanate of Russia), and joined the camp of the reigning khan
Mohamed Uzbeg, from whom the great and heterogeneous Uzbeg race is
perhaps named.
Among other places he visited was Boighar, he witnessed the shortness of
the summer night, and desired to continue his travels north into the
band of Darkness (in the extreme north of Russia).
Returning to the court of Uzbeg, at Sarai on the Volga, he crossed the
steppes to Khwarizm and Bukhara; thence through Khurasan and Kabul, and
over the Hindu Kush (to which he gives that name, its first occurrence).
Ibn Batuta was the only medieval traveler who is known to have visited
the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. The mere extent of his
travels is estimated at no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not
likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.
|
