Ibn Battuta praises his natural lord, the sultan of Morocco
Moreover, God has augmented the honour and excellence of the Maghrib by the imamate of our master, the Commander of the Faithful, who has spread the shelter of security throughout its territories and made the sun of equity to rise within its borders, who has caused the clouds of beneficence to shed their rain upon its dwellers in country and town, who has purified it from evildoers, and established it in the ways alike of worldly prosperity and of religious observance.
Ibn Battuta returns to his native Tangiers After I had been privileged to observe this noble majesty and to share in the all-embracing bounty of his beneficence, I set out to visit the tomb of my mother. I arrived at my home town of Tangier and visited her, and went on to the town of Sabta [Ceuta], where I stayed for some months. While I was there I suffered from an illness for three months, but afterwards God restored me to health.
I then proposed to take part in the jihad and the defence of the frontier, so I crossed the sea from Ceuta in a barque belonging to the people of Asila [Arzila], and reached the land of Andalusia (may God Almighty guard her!) where the reward of the dweller is abundant and a recompense is laid up for the settler and visitor.
Sailing from Morocco, Ibn Battuta lands in Gibralter and travels to Ronda.
I went out of Gibraltar to the town of Ronda, one of the strongest and most beautifully situated fortresses of the Muslims. The qadi there was my cousin, the doctor Abu’l-Qasim Muhammad b. Yahya Ibn Battuta. I stayed at Ronda for five days, then went on to the town of Marbala [Marbella].
An ambush by Christian raiders along the road from Marbella to Malaga
The road between these two places is difficult and exceedingly rough. Marbala is a pretty little town in a fertile district. I found there a company of horsemen setting out for Malaqa [Malaga], and intended to go in their company, but God by His grace preserved me, for they went on ahead of me and were captured on the way, as we shall relate.
I set out after them, and when I had traversed the district of Marbala, and entered the district of Suhayl I passed a dead horse lying in the ditch, and a little farther on a pannier of fish thrown on the ground. This aroused my suspicions. In front of me there was a watchtower, and I said to myself, “If an enemy were to appear here, the man on the tower would give the alarm.” So I went on to a house thereabouts, and at it I found a horse killed.
Read More about Ibn Battuta part 12
