The Adventures Of Ibn Battuta-Unity And Diversity Of Islamic Civilization

A Study of the Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land And the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca

In its Golden Age, Islam’s influence reached all the way to Spain, Anatolia, West Africa, and India, among other regions. While these regions were all, in a way, united under a common religion, each of them both altered and were altered by Islam in their own unique ways. Although there were similarities that existed with the spread of Islam to each of those places, many more differences prevailed. Differences and similarities existed in the forms of the role of migration, role of trade, role of cultural exchange, methods of conversion to Islam, and the unique cultural developments in each region.

Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural

In his novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini depicts his homeland Afghanistan as a host to many different cultures and classes, such as Pashtun and Hazara, Sunni and Shiite, with this dichotomy of beliefs and attributes being powerful enough to shape diverse, sometimes negative relationships amongst the characters of the novel and their behavior to each other, as well as establish that individual’s identity. Each person interprets the impact of the role of belief and social status differently, while all living in the same setting, adding to their complexity and depth as a character in the novel with many different figures tied together by the same geographical and cultural conditions.

A brief summary of his life is paramount in the understanding of Battuta’s impressions and reactions to West African society. Abu Abdallah ibn Battuta was born in Morocco in 1304. By 1325, Battuta embarked on his first hajj, or pilgrimage to the holiest Islamic city of Mecca at age twenty-one (Hamdun, King, p. 1). Although expected to complete this religious duty at least once in his or

The Islamic civilization spread to encompass such an extensive empire by using their resources and becoming a peaceful civilization with peaceful people.

These documents discuss their experiences of customs, for example in document 3; it is about bringing every year some young Muslims so that there might always be in town certain Muslim merchants. In addition, it talked about the King of Kilwa’s orders, how the Muslims of Kilwa got possession of the trade and how successful Kilwa became. In document 5, Abdul describes the sea of Zanj and trading routes. It describes the luxurious abundance of gold and prized possessions. Lastly in document 7, Ibn Battuta, shares a biased opinion because he is a Muslim traveler and qadi which is a religious judge, he would declare every case that is concerned with the rulings of the Divine Law to be decided by the qadi, and all cases other than those are decided by the members of the council. Therefore, that is his point of view. All in all, the documents have similarities of traveling to east Africa, but everyone had different perspectives and experiences as well.

Edward Curtis IV is Millennium Chair of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Curtis is also founding co-editor of the Journal of Africana Religions. Edward Curtis’s credentials include a B.A., Kenyon College, 1993. M.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 1997. D.Litt et Phil., University of South Africa, 2000. Curtis does not seem to endorse or show any bias towards any one particular group or person. The main topics in the book only seem to analyze Muslims around the world as a whole and how they interact with other each and other religious groups around the

This chapter begins with the Muhammad and the message he brings. It all began in the Arabian Peninsula, which was mostly desert. The people who lived there were called Nomadic Bedouin, and they are organized in family and clan groups. The importance of long-distance trade networks became important again between China, India, and Persia, Byzantium. The section starts talking about the early life Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born in to a Mecca merchant family in 570 C.E. He had a difficult life growing up, but in 595 C.E, he married a wealthy widow. By the time, he was thirty he became a merchant and exposed too many faiths. He had a spiritual transformation at the age of forty, and declared that there was only one true god, whose name was Allah, “the god.” His believe that Allah would soon bring judgment on the world, and the divine messenger, Gabriel, delivered these revelations to Muhammad. The Quran, also known as the “recitation,” is the holy book of Islam. Muhammad followers complied with his revelations. They had works of poetry and definitive authority on Islam;

The book gives special attention to specific Sufi leaders as well as their followers in Tunisia and Algeria which have traditionally been linked

Mehdi, Zain. “Road to Amir’s Redemption.” Essay Forum, 11 March, 2012. Web. October 8, 2015

Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo were travelers who documented their experiences. These records of their journeys give modern day historians a way of knowing what things were like in those time periods. In The Travels of Marco Polo, The Venetian, the life of a young Italian man exploring a foreign country is explained. Similarly, Ibn Battuta shared his experiences in “A Donation to Those Interested in Curiosities”. These two men share similar experiences, but in different situations and each perceive their experiences differently.

In the novel, Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist, Amir, is torn between two truths as he lived associated with different kinds of religious groups in Afghan society: Pashtuns and Hazaras. Each identity played a unique part in Amir’s life. Whether they had a positive or negative effect, both changed his values and beliefs. Individuals also shaped Amir’s character. Baba, Assef, and Hassan were major influences upon Amir’s growth throughout the book; their differences shaped Amir into the man he later became as all three represented a different side of Afghan society.

Using specific illustrations from Maryse Conde's novel Segu, this is an essay that discusses how the coming of Islam to Bambar society affected that people's traditional, political, social and economic practices as well as challenging the Bambaras' religious beliefs.

Jihad – a dispute or war between followers of Islam faith and those who do not follow the Islam faith; a struggle within a Muslim between good and evil (Dictionary)