As Ibn Battutah nears the end of his journey, he travels throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to what he refers to generally as “the Country of the Blacks.” In particular, he speaks at great length about the city of Malli. In Malli, Ibn Battutah becomes far less concerned with musing over beautiful architecture and religious spaces. It’s possible that this is simply due to a lack of this, or at least a lack of impression made on Ibn Battutah. More likely, I think, is that there was such extensive cultural and biological difference that Ibn Battutah observed that he was simply too shocked by these other differences to note architecture. His main concern, like it is in many other places, is hospitality.
He first reflects on how they provided for him and make them welcome, which he praises, but then he becomes quite ill upon eating a cultural dish – so ill that a friend of his dies – and this is where his perception of their hospitality begins to change. The next section is filled with hatred about how they treat visitors. Here, however, he shows a mixed reaction. While we can infer his view partially changes because he thinks himself poisoned, he does seem to feel much thanks to the men for concocting him a purgative that rids him of his sickness. This scene is a great reflection of our class discussion centering around how Battutah thinks of race and how his perceptions are related to aid and care. When he arrives in Malli, he receives the customary welcome gifts. Being on the receiving end of presents and care to make them comfortable, Battutah praises them beyond their race. Similarly, he still speaks well of them when they heal him during his sickness. However, resentment for the poisoning and a new realization that the gifts presented aren’t “good enough” change Battutah’s mind.
One care that he maintains from earlier sections is that of rulers and sultans. After he heals, he visits the Sultan of Malli, who he immediately begins to say terrible things about, citing him as “miserly” and says his gifts are not sufficient (286). The only thing more he mentions is that they share the same religion, before going on to complain more about the gifts. Battutah expects that his gift will be lavish – robes, money, etc – but is appalled to find that it is no more than a meager amount of bread and beef. He then begins to dig into the character of the people of Malli, calling out his surprise at “their feeble intelligence and exaggerated opinion of something contemptible” (287). Here, we see quite clearly that he thinks his own cultural practices of welcome gifts to be far superior, and that he and his peers find non-monetary gifts to be insulting, though we gleam through the gift and the serving of the favorite cultural food earlier that, in Malli, those gifts are of the highest regard. He goes as far as to accost the sultan into giving him something better.
We learn the most about the beliefs and customs of Battutah’s own country when we are given a detailed account about what was good and what was bad “in the conduct of the Blacks” (289). It is interesting to notice that the things he praises are majoritively religious in nature, while the things he despises are majoritively cultural. For example, he praises the Blacks “avoidance of injustice” and the ways in which the Sultan “doesn’t allow anyone to practice it in any measure” (289-90). He seems to go as far as learning a new practice he finds fascinatingly positive and may be willing to enact himself, and that is the binding of the children until they learn the Qur’an. Religion usurps race and culture in Battutah’s view. Among the “bad” practices are the “comical” recitation of poetry, the nudity of women, and the food they consume, such as dogs and donkeys. This, Battutah finds abominable. Between this and the meal he fell ill from, we can see that he cares greatly about food practices and finds those in Mali animalistic and inferior.