Ibn Battuta: The Traveler of Islam

According to the earliest prophetic traditions, the invitation to the journey as a means of learning and source of knowledge was praised by the prophet Muhammad, who urged his believers to travel, wherever it was, in search of knowledge and knowledge. One of the phrases that are attributed to him says: "Search for knowledge to the confines of China." The reading of the fascinating story of Ibn Battuta's journey allows us to discover and discover this literary genre itself: the "Rihla that designates the journey and, consequently, the story that is in fact". This genus had been initiated previously by the Chabitian Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217), the first great Arab traveler.

Ibn Battuta was, above all, a real traveler, whose observations are not scientific but rather personal. However, important researchers provide sociological, customs or historical knowledge. We will cite a curious example in relation to Maldivian women, Muslims and very believers, but who were going with the naked trunk or their hair were not covered: like Cadi and Maghreb, Ibn Battuta condemned vehemently and tried to ban this practice that he It hit, however unsuccessful. The sovereign of the island was then a woman and a regime of matriarchal law was applied.

As Oriane Huchon emphasizes in his interesting article "Ibn Battûta: vie et voyages", he wrote his Travels thinking of a Muslim audience aware of the politicoreligious context of the 14th-century Islam. He did not necessarily explain elements that ought to seem obvious but that they would have contributed many keys to the Western reader to understand. Partly because of this, they have long remained unknown to Europeans. Until the 19th century, knowledge of his chronicle was limited mainly to the Muslim world. It was not until the translation of his Trips to the Western world that they were made known from the second half of the 19th century, especially thanks to the translations into German, and later to English and French, this Last published in full in 1858 by C. Defrémery and BR Sanguinetti and reissued in 1997.

Most of the information we provide comes from your personal writings. In his work written in 1356 in collaboration with Ibn Juzzay, he relates his adventures and multiple trips that he had taken, from 1325 to 1354, throughout the known world.

In this way, one finds out that Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier in 1304, under the Marínida dynasty. He followed studies of the Koranic right and abandoned Tangiers with the aim of making the pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, in 1325. He arrived in Arabia after a year and a half, after visiting North Africa, Egypt, Palestine and Syria. During his pilgrimage done in 1326, he discovered Persia and Iraq, before returning to Mecca. He then sailed to East Africa, sailing to Kilwa, to present-day Tanzania, after passing through Mogadishu, Mombasa and Zanzibar. On return, visit Oman and the Persian Gulf, before arriving again in Mecca.

Towards 1330, he embarked on the march again. I decided to go to India, with the goal of finding a place at the service of the Delhi soldier. With this design, he traveled for three years. He went through Egypt, Syria, Constantinople, Asia Minor, the Black Sea and Afghanistan. Ibn Battuta stayed for eight years in India, serving Muhammad Tughluq, the Delhi soldier. She obtained a charge from cadi (judge). In 1341, the sovereign commissioned him to carry out an expedition to the court of the Mongol emperor of China. After the ship was shipwrecked to the southwest of India, Ibn Battuta took advantage of it to travel for two years to the Maldives, southern India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). In the Maldives, I also played the role of cadi. In 1345, he returned to India by sea. He took advantage of it to visit Bengal, Burma, the island of Sumatra and southeast China, to Canton. He said he had traveled to Beijing on the ground, although there were no doubts. In 1346-1347, Ibn Battuta returned to Mecca, completing the hajj one last time. He returned in 1349 to Morocco, before visiting Granada. Finally, in 1353, he completed his last trip, which would take him through the Sahara to Mali and Sudan. In 1355, he settled in Morocco, who would no longer leave.

Another important aspect of our project is the use of instruments based on the place and historical traditions. In other words, in addition to Western historical music, for which we use the medieval instruments in use -viela, rebec, medieval rebab, cistre, medieval lutee, organetto, xeremia, flutes, horns and various percussions-, all the musics of Eastern tradition are interpreted by instruments specifically touched on the different cultures of the countries visited by Ibn Battuta: moroccan and ney for Arab, Turkish, Qanun and Kaval pieces for Turkish music, santur for Iraq and Persia , rebab and zirko bag for Afghan pieces, sarod and table for the music of India and the Maldives, pipe and zheng for the Chinese pieces and kora and valiha for the empire of Mali.

The realization of this great literary, historical, geographic and musical fresco has been made possible thanks to the rich diversity of texts and the chosen music, as well as thanks to the wonderful creative and interpretative capacity of a team of singers and Exceptional musicians, from Hespèrion XXI with regard to the western music and the countries where Ibn Battuta has spent with regard to Oriental music: Morocco, Syria, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (part of which corresponds to Bizanci and L The Ottoman Empire, as well as the Near East, the east coast of Africa and Arabia, Mali, Madagascar, Persia, Afghanistan, Armenia, India and China.