Lifestyle

Ibn Battuta prepares to cross the Sahara.At Sijilmasa I bought camels and a four months’ supply of forage for them. Thereupon I set out on the 1st Muharram of the year 53 ...

The king of Gharnata at the time of my visit was Sultan Abu’l-Hajjaj Yusuf. I did not meet him on account of an illness from which he was suffering, but the noble, pious, and...

While I was there I heard a shout behind me (for I had gone ahead of my party) and turning back to them, found the commander of the fort of Suhayl with them. He...

Ibn Battuta praises his natural lord, the sultan of MoroccoMoreover, God has augmented the honour and excellence of the Maghrib by the imamate of our master, the Commander of the Faithful, who has spread...

For I assure you that mutton in Egypt is sold at eighteen ounces for a dirham nuqra, which equals in value six dirhams of the Maghrib, whereas in the Maghrib meat is sold, when...

The khatun declines to return to her husband Uzbeg KhanWhen it became clear to the Turks who were in the khatun’s company that she professed her father’s religion and wished to stay with him,...

He took my hand and said to the Greek (who knew the Arabic tongue), “Say to this Saracen (meaning Muslim), ‘I clasp the hand which has entered Jerusalem and the foot which has walked...

Each monastery possesses pious endowments for the clothing and maintenance of the devotees. Inside every monastery there is a small convent designed for the ascetic retreat of the king who built it, for most...

It has thirteen gates and a sacred enclosure, which is about a mile long and closed by a great gate. No one is prevented from entering this enclosure, and indeed I went into it...

Ibn Battuta describes Constantinople.The city is enormous in size, and in two parts separated by a great river , in which there is a rising and ebbing tide. In former times there was a...