The Adventures of Ibn Battuta – A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century (Paper) (Paperback)

Some parts of the book

Tangier would have counted among its inhabitants many indi- viduals who had traveled to the Middle East, most of them with the main purpose of carrying out the hajj, or pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Mecca and Medina in the Hijaz region of Western Arabia. Islam obliged every Muslim who was not impoverished, enslaved, insane, or endangered by war or epidemic to go to Mecca at least once in his lifetime and to perform there the set of collective ceremonies prescribed by the shari'a. Each year hundreds and often thousands of North Africans fulfilled their duty, joining in a great ritual migration that brought together believers from the far corners of the Afro-Eurasian world. A traveler bound for the Middle East might have any number of mundane or purely personal goals in mind trade, study, diplomacy, or simply adventure, but the hajj was almost always the expressed and over-riding motive. The high aim of reaching Mecca in time for the pilgrimage season in the month of Dhu l-Hijja gave shape to the traveler's itinerary and lent a spirit of jubilation to what was a long, exhausting, and sometimes dangerous journey.