Upon leaving Cairo, Ibn Battutah made his way to Syria, specifically highlighting many of the religious cities he passes through. These include several places of significance to Christianity and Judaism, mainly he mentions Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This portion of his travels involves much more architectural description of holy sites, such as when he wrote of the congregational mosque at Damascus, the capital of Syria. “The inner faces of all the walls of this mosque are decorated with cut stones of gold known as fusaifisa, intermingled with various colours of extraordinary beauty” (37). Culture also remained at he center of his attention, as Ibn Battutah was engrossed in the religious significance of these cities, such as his visiting of religious tombs of what we now more commonly associate with prominent Christian figures. In Islam, many of these people are still acknowledged as prophets appointed by God. This was very interesting to see in Ibn Battutah’s writings, as I would not have expected his religious pilgrimage to include stops at the graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Jesus and his mother Mary. The mention of these names is also usually followed by the customary “(peace be upon him)” or some derivative of this prayer for speaking a notable name.

This portion of the text does not as much concern the physical aspects of travel, at least not in comparison to how his journey started. Much of Ibn Battutah’s writing concerns his description of the holy lands he visits and their customs. There were a few mentions of illness while he was in Damascus it seemed, as he claims to have “witnessed at the time of the Great Plague at Damascus…a remarkable instance of the veneration of the people of Damascus for this mosque” (39). He again chooses to focus on the religious resilience of the city residents, but before leaving the city himself he appears to fall ill as well.

After being treated for this illness, he claims the medical bill has depleted all his funds and he would not have been able to travel. Had it not been for his host’s hospitality, he would have been stuck in Damascus. “Nur al-Din, learning this, hired camels for me and gave me travelling provisions, etc., and money in addition,” (41). While not anecdotes about his actual travels, the fact his pilgrimage was almost completely halted due to health and funding should not be overlooked. It speaks to his inexperience as a young traveler, clearly enamored by the locations and probably not being careful with planning and conserving his resources for the journey ahead.

Much of Ibn Battutah’s travels through this region contained anecdotes and stories of other people’s lives, most of which he obviously heard from the locals and is simply recording. The consistency of these stories was strange to me, almost uncharacteristic of how he is usually so excited to write about the people he meets, not someone already dead long before his arrival. It only makes sense to me in the context of the religious nature of these cities, that many of these stories he retells are relating to the devotion of the people there. The story of Ad’ham seems to be some sort of lesson on prayer, as the man (metaphorically) prays himself to death after being forced into marriage and fornication (34). At least, that is my guess considering the message is not clearly stated in my opinion. Either way, it is intrinsically tied to the act of prayer and the man’s relationship God, so it can be assumed that its retelling bears some lesson regarding this or Ibn Battutah would not have felt the need to write it down.

I found this portion of Ibn Battutah’s journey less compelling. Though he seemed easily influenced by the Shaikh in Cairo and other notable people up until now, parroting the stories of the region and not offering as much of his own insight and experiences. It was however interesting to see how he viewed the many places considered sacred to more than just Islam, as the perspective it gives was something I knew of but had not thought would affect him as it did.