{"id":671,"date":"2022-03-09T21:52:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T02:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/?p=671"},"modified":"2022-03-09T21:52:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T02:52:51","slug":"the-travels-of-ibn-battutah-damascus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/2022\/03\/09\/the-travels-of-ibn-battutah-damascus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Travels of Ibn Battutah: Damascus"},"content":{"rendered":"

During his pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, Ibn Battutah visits the city of Damascus and stays for several weeks during the month of Ramadan. Battutah, both leading up to and during his stay in Damascus, constantly praises the city for its beauty and importance. His narrative especially focuses on the city\u2019s religious nature and the ways in which the Islamic faith influences people, architecture, and culture. Battutah\u2019s status as an Islamic scholar, then, positively affected his time spent in the city as it granted him increased respect and hospitality. During this section of his narrative, Battutah provides insight into the ways which religious customs and beliefs, particularly those of Islam, can act as the foundation of a thriving city.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first section of Battutah\u2019s narrative while in Damascus describes the Mosque of the Umayyads in terms of its history, its appearance, and its role in the everyday lives of Damascus\u2019s people. He establishes the historical importance and religious power of the mosque by explaining the way it was created. While the building was originally divided into two separate parts, one being a Muslim mosque and the other a Christian church, a group of Muslims eventually invaded the Christian church as in act of service to God and made the entire building a mosque; this invasion showed the combined power of Muslim people and supported the notion that, as His servants, God would lead and protect them (37). The implications associated with the creation of the Mosque of the Umayyads align with Battutah\u2019s religious beliefs about the power and greatness of Islamic people. Battutah shows such admiration towards Damascus and its people because the city\u2019s values so closely align with his own. Referencing this story shows the importance of the Islamic faith in Damascus\u2019s history, which Battutah then connects to the still influental role of Islam in present day Damascus.<\/span><\/p>\n

After describing the city\u2019s mosque, Battutah goes on to write about the city\u2019s inhabitants and their customs. He notes the generosity of the people and specifically focuses on the large number of endowments given to those in need. Endowments were granted to a wide range of people for a number of reasons, such as,\u00a0 \u201c[assisting] Pilgrimages\u2026 supplying wedding outfits\u2026 freeing prisoners\u2026 [supporting] travelers\u2026 [and] paving the streets\u201d (40). By endowing their money to those in need, the people of Damascus uphold their religious duty to perform good, charitable, and selfless deeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with being charitable, Battutah also describes Damacus\u2019s people as being helpful and hospitable. He explains several situations in which the city\u2019s people provide the needy with not only food and shelter, but also with education, occupation, and religious opportunities. People during the medieval era typically viewed vagabonds and people of low economic status in a negative light and treated them poorly, but those in Damascus go against this trend by giving above and beyond what is expected. Similar to the nature of the endowments, these actions align with the guiding principles of Islam and show that the people of Damascus uphold their religious duties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Battutah praises these practices for being \u201cthe best of good works\u201d, and claims that these good deeds will lead to recognition and rewards from God (40). Through this comment, Battutah shows his approval of the city and its people. He considers Damascus a great city not because of its physical beauty or upstanding universities, but because of the people who live in the city and the pious, charitable nature of these people. This shows that, above all else, Battutah cares about the real-life application and promotion of the Islamic faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ibn-Bat\u0323t\u0323u\u0304t\u0323a Muh\u0323ammad Ibn-\u02bfAbdalla\u0304h, and Tim Mackintosh-Smith. The Travels of Ibn Battutah<\/i>. Translated by Gibb Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen, Picador, 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During his pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, Ibn Battutah visits the city of Damascus and stays for several weeks during the month of Ramadan. Battutah, both leading up to and during his stay in Damascus, constantly praises the city for its beauty and importance. His narrative especially focuses on the city\u2019s religious nature and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4793,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ibn-battutah","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4793"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}