Why Arab Scholar Ibn Battuta is The Greatest Explorer of All Time

The Times magazine used to publish on August 1 this year, bypassed many political and economic topics of great concern and left the cover story to the ancient Ibn Battuta, like an opportunity to explore the development of the Islamic world in this era. He was born in Morocco, the Arab world. As Marco Polo, Battuta was growth Western Europe, he was not only a traveler but a symbol of the nation. You can see many universities, parks, shops, and streets named after Ibn Battuta. The Muslim’s reverence for him originated from his travels. Battuta’s journey to the world originated from a Mecca pilgrimage when he was 22 years old. The travel of Battuta's accidental and inevitable, journey of the cruel and unknown is far more than we can imagine. Some people say that it is a coincidence that he became a great traveler. He thought that if he did not go to Mecca for the pilgrimage, he would stay in his hometown. In fact, Battuta's travels have revolutionized his worldview and his life.

The first shaped in his mind has changed by an ancient map. The director of the Tangier Museum, Adris, pointed out that his travel is not for play, but for the work of his predecessors. Before Tangier, Bai Tutai, there was also a famous geographer named Idris, who once traveled around and painted the first ancient world map in the world in 1142. This ancient map stimulated his motivation. For seeking knowledge, his infinite desire prompted him to become a traveler. A replica of this ancient map, collected in the Tangier Museum, like the map at that time, it will turn the south, and the north upside down, and it is full of loopholes. As you can see on the world map, Mecca happens to be in the middle of the hometown of Battuta, between Tangier in Morocco and Beijing in China. Ibn Battuta paid a great deal of attention to the peculiarities of the region, which added a handsome sum to the Book of travel, and provided valuable first-hand information for the later examination. Battuta’s travel was more than 40 years after the end of the lasted Crusade. Although Battuta did not travel to Western Europe ruled by the Roman Catholic Church, he still met many Greek Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. There are even emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire. After Western Rome fell into the hands of the "barbarians," the eastern part of the empire retained the traditional political system, cultural aesthetics, religious beliefs, and the name of the Roman emperor. A pagan foreign traveler looks at the emperor of a great empire as if it were fantasy. For this reason, many people doubt that Battuta’s colleague Marco Polo has seen the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, judging from the description in his travel notes, he saw the record logic of the Eastern Roman Emperor Andronicus III and the details were clear and should be conclusive.

The second shaped in his mind by a factor that changed his mind during the trip – across the continent, narrated his travel experience and what he saw and heard. The travel had recorded by the secretary of the Moroccan Sultan and named it "Ibn Battuta Travel Notes”. He is a replica of the great traveler Marco Polo so that their travels are similar. Both of them spent their youth time in a wealthy city, and they were well-educated and well-educated. It seems that neither of them is a person who is comfortable with the status quo of life, which prompted them to abandon their peaceful life and move toward the East, which was still mysterious at the time. The main purpose of Battuta’s travel felt another place to vacation the holy place of Mecca on the other side, then step by step to the farther east. But the driving force for the two to embark on the vast unknown world seems to be their infinite love for travel, whether it is rich or wealthy or family and friends cannot let their hurried figure stay for a long time. The third shaped, both of them had a close relationship with the Mongol Empire, which ruled most of the world at the time. Outside the gates of Saint Sophia, Battuta met the retired Emperor Andronicus II, who was taken away by his grandson. His experience was similar to the experience of many Dali emperors in the Song Dynasty. The emperor monks and our travelers had an important meeting in the history of Christian Muslim exchanges. After chatting with Battuta, the emperor heard that he went to Jerusalem. He leaned over and turned to the translator: You must tell the Muslims to shake hands with those who worship the Holy Spirit. Battuta is terrified, he described his God experiences in Jerusalem in detail. two talents reluctantly separated. This short and great dialogue took place in a generation of Christians and Muslims. In addition, Battuta recorded the entire incident in Arabic, recording the emperor in the travel record recorded in the Christian monastery and being known to the entire Arab world. Although historians expressed deep doubts about it, and some even suspect that he has not arrived at all. Europe was in the dark Middle Ages, the Islamic world was alive, and all kinds of travel activities were traced from the 7th century AD to the next thousand years. The traveler stories described in this article are from the Islamic world, so for the time being these people are called "Islamic travelers", although other religious and cultural backgrounds have been active in the travel team.

Battuta is eager to travel to the world and has his psychological foundation. At that time, it can be roughly divided into three major cultural circles - the Christian cultural circle in Europe, the Arab cultural circle in North Africa and the Middle East, and the Mongolian-Chinese cultural circle in the East. These three cultural circles are not three iron plates. Synchronous, they were echoing with each other; from the microscopic point of view, because of war, immigration, and other reasons, the formation of you and me, I have you. At that time, the Muslim gathering area had spread all over Europe and Asia. Battuta had admired the "Allah to the Great", and with the help of many Muslims on the way. In the end, he completed his feat of walking 120,000 kilometers. During an inspect, he started from a friendly and tolerant perspective since becoming friends with other peoples and people of faith. Whether in a pagan country or a Muslim country, he can do these things with a calm and calm attitude. The tradition of Islam is respecting to explore knowledge. There are more than 6,500 verses in the Qur’an book, it possesses aa one-eighth of all the context are devoted to natural phenomena, encouraging people to study history and study the world. He said that there has never been an incident of persecuting scientists in the history of Islam. The Islamic believes that as a true Muslim, we should regard seeking knowledge as the highest ideal pursued in our life, and regard seeking knowledge as an important way to approach God. Some Muslims regard modern cultural knowledge and science and technology as enemies of Islam, and these people are completely misled. All knowledge comes from God, whether it is humanities or scientific, and the two aspects related. Some people say that it’s a coincidence that Battuta became a great traveler. He thought that if he did not go to Mecca for the pilgrimage, he would stay in his hometown. In fact, this is completely misunderstanding. Battuta’s travel tempted by an ancient map.

In conclusion, the director of the Tangier Museum, Adris, pointed out that Battuta’s travel isn’t for play, but for the work of his predecessors. Thus, Moroccan identity has realized his accounts of other parts of another world. The map he uses to realize was created by a famous geographer named Idris. He used to travel around and painted the first ancient world map in the world in 1142 AD. This ancient map stimulated the desire of Battuta to seek knowledge, which prompted him to become a traveler. A replica of this ancient map, collected in the Tangier Museum, like the map at that time, it turned the south and north upside down, and itself is full of loopholes. The trip is not only changed Battuta’s mind but also changed Islamic area and world’s mind unprecedented.