A Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer named Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta. He is well-known for his frequent travels and Rihla expeditions. His adventures took over thirty years to complete.
This extended from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe in the west to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China in the east, a distance easily surpassing that of his predecessors. He returned to Morocco after his journey and told Ibn Juzay about his adventures.
Early life and career: Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta was born on February 24, 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra) in Tangier, Morocco, during the Marinid dynasty. Shams ad-Din was his common name. His family was Berber, and he had a long history of serving as judges. He chose to travel after acquiring an education in Islamic law. He left his home in June 1325, when he was twenty-one years old, and embarked on a 16-month hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.
After that, he didn't return to Morocco for at least another 24 years. He traveled largely by land. He frequently preferred to join a caravan to lessen the chance of being assaulted. He married in the town of Sfax. He was a survivor of battles, shipwrecks, and uprisings.
He began his journey by traveling through the Middle East. He sailed down the Red Sea to Mecca after that. He journeyed to Iraq and Iran after crossing the vast Arabian Desert. In 1330, he set sail once more, this time down the Red Sea to Aden, then to Tanzania.
Then, in 1332, Ibn Battuta made the decision to travel to India. The Sultan of Delhi embraced him with warm arms. He was appointed as a judge there. He resided in India for eight years before moving to China. In 1352, Ibn Battuta embarked on a new voyage. He then traveled south, crossing the Sahara desert on his way to Mali, an African country.
Finally, in 1355, he returned to Tangier. Those who were storing Ibn Battuta's Western Orient lists couldn't believe he had visited all of the sites he described. They claimed that Ibn Battuta had to rely on hearsay evidence and use reports from earlier travels in order to provide a complete description of sites in the Muslim world in such a short time.
In the regions he visited, Ibn Battuta frequently encountered cultural shock. His devout Muslim upbringing clashed with the local norms of newly converted people. He was astounded at the behavior of ladies among Turks and Mongols. They were given the right to speak freely. He also thought the Maldives' and several Sub-Saharan African countries' dress codes were excessively exposing.
Little is known about Ibn Battuta's life after the completion of the Rihla in 1355. In 1368, he was appointed as a judge in Morocco and died. Despite this, the Rihla provides a valuable picture of many aspects of life in the 14th century.