Battuta on Ibn Majid route to Maldive.

Battuta on Ibn Majid route to Maldives

By: Mohamed Nasheed

After a lifetime spent travelling and covering over 75,000 miles in 29 years and while he was over 60 years of age, Battuta says that he “had a desire to travel”. He was 21 years old when he bid farewell to his mother and father, all his dear ones and started his Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims are asked to do the Pilgrimage once in a lifetime, but here is a young man who has decided to do it very early in life.

Battuta Travels were narrated to Ibn Juzayya, a scribe for the Sultan Abu Inan Faris (1348-58) of Morocco.

Ibn Juzayya begins the Travels narrating Battuta’s first departure from home. When Battuta left home on this trip, he might not have known that he would meet over 60 rulers, visit the Maldives, and get married there four times. Coming from a middle-class family of judges, Battuta before leaving home started Jurisprudence studies, the syllabus for Gazi-ship in Islamic rule. For such studies, Battuta would have joined a Madrasa in his hometown.

In the 14 th Century Islamic usage, the term Madrsa was usually specific to institutions of higher learning, and they were often muti disciplinary schools. A student studying Navigation will learn some amount of Medicine, Jurisprudence, Mathematics, Alchemy, Astrology, Poetry, Literature etc. Similarly, a student learning the Law would venture into Navigation and therefore names of places across the globe and a sense of where those places are. By the 14 th century Madrasa’s were well established in Morocco.

In 1323 Al-Attarine Madrasa was opened in Fes. In 1332 construction of the Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan was started within the old city of Salé. The historic Islamic school, Madrasa Ben Youssef Marrakech in the heart of Marrakech, was also established in the 14th century, this madrasa was once the largest Islamic school in North Africa. Battuta was born in 1304 and his Madrasa will have copies of Arab Navigational Books.

The basis of Medieval Arab navigation techniques is the view that the stars are stationary when compared to the earth and therefore stars can be used as guides. The Navigation books give the names of the stars and their elevation from the horizon. It explains how a route may be mapped and narrates routes and names and locations of places. When young Battuta was a student, Ibn Majid, the renown Arab Navigator has not yet standardized the Arab Navigation Syllabus.

That will happen later in the next century. Ibn Majid’s final treatise, Fawa’id was completed around 1490, but Ibn Majid wrote referring to a long list of texts from the older Navigators.

There were three Navigators who were held in high regard in the Arab Navigation world. Ibn Majid calls them the “three lions”. They were, Mohammed Ibn Shadhan, Shahl Ibn Abban and Laith Ibn Kahlan. When the young Battuta was going to Madrsa the texts of the three lions were well in circulation in Tangier.

Ibn Majid mentions another Ibn Abd al-Azeez as a well-known pilot elder to Battuta. The pilot’s father was from Morocco. A navigation treatise, “The Book of beginnings and ends” mentioned by Ibn Majid, was written by a Marakashi navigator.

In 1325 when Ibn Battuta left home, it is likely that his intention was not just a Pilgrimage. The route that he traveled was certainly not the fastest or the easiest route that a Pilgrim from Tangier can take.

He wanted to visit other places. What makes the Middle Ages man leave home and wonder around the world all their lives?

Battuta says that he had a desire to travel; to visit other places and see how others lived. What creates this desire?

The possibility of travel must stand as an obvious reason for travel. The Arab in depth knowledge of navigation and the availability of modes of transport, may it be seaworthy ships or caravans on land makes travel viable.

Trade of goods make journeys financially feasible and Islamic taxation provides for stranded travelers through what is known as ‘ibn Sabeel’ providence. Young

2 people were able to leave home without much personal means, especially if you are educated. Battuta often meets and mentions fellow travelers.

Throughout his accounts, Battuta mentions a long list of travelers that he met and at times meeting the same person in different places.

The Pilgrimage was not only a religious act. It was also an opportunity to find, learn and know more about the world and one’s own life.

Battuta’s Haj trip took him to many lands. To go to Mecca, he chooses a complicated route. First going to southern Iraq and to southwestern Persia to Baghdad, and then to Tabriz and to northern Mesopotamia before returning via Bagdad to Mecca. Battuta’s trip to Cairo took him across north Africa to Cairo and this took him to Alexandria in 1326.

That was 17 years before he will visit the Maldives. In Alexandria he met a Sufi mistic who “was the learned, self-denying, pious and humble Imam Burhan al-Din the Lame”. Battuta rates Imam Burhan al-Din as “one of the greatest of ascetics and a devotee of outstanding personality”. In Alexandria Battuta for three days is the guest of Burhan al-Din.

In his accounts of the travels, India is first mentioned in relation to a miracle performed by Imam Burhan al-Din. The Imam apparently foresaw, Battuta going to India and China. Battuta says he was, “amazed at his prediction, and the idea of going to these countries having been cast into my mind, my wanderings never ceased until I had met these three that he named and conveyed his greeting to them”. With India and China in his intended itinerary he continues his travels, but it is not at yet understood if he has by then heard of the Maldives or decided to come to the Maldives. Later during his travels in Iraq between 1326 and 1327 Battuta went to a place called al–Zaidani. Which is described as a village between Arrajan and Dawraq.

These two villages are identified as present day Behbehan and Fellahiya. Zaidan is either on the Northern coast of the Persian Gulf or very near to that coast.

Narrating details of the town Battuta says Nur al-Din from this town “migrated to join the people of India and he was appointed as Gazi in the Maldives”. Battuta might have heard of the Maldives during 1327, but it will take him another 17 years before he was able to visit the country.

He came to the Maldives in 1343 and before that he arrived at Delhi in March 1334. In Delhi Battuta became acquainted with the Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325 – 1351), who was known as the wealthiest man in the Muslim world.

The Sultan would not let Battuta leave Delhi until 1341 when the Chinese needed help to build a Buddhist Temple and Battuta was sent to China as an Ambassador of the Delhi Sultan.

In Delhi Court Battuta met sharif-al-Samarri, one of the biggest merchants in the west coast of India.

He knew ships and he knew about trading. Samarri was not in the Sultan’s delegation to China, but he had in Delhi agreed to facilitate matters before the delegation set sail. In the Sultan’s delegation was Zahir al-Din of Zanjan. Battuta says he was “one of the most eminent men of learning”. Arab navigators have mapped routes to China, and they were sea routes.

When Battuta left Delhi, through Zahir al-Din or otherwise, he was aware that he had to get to Malabar coast to reach China. With him are also travelling over 15 Chinese dignitaries whose leader is Ambassador Tursi.

How Battuta intend to get to China must have been a topic of conversation with people whom he met. After leaving Delhi in 1341 Battuta gets to a town called Zihar in West Central India. Zihar is identified as the present-day city of Dhar in Madaya Pradesh.

In Zihar Battuta meets Sheikh Ibrahim who is from the Maldives and according to Battuta Sheikh Ibrahim was holding Zihar in fief. Sheikh Ibrahim came to the city and settled outside the city.

He cultivated melons and they were so good and sweet, the Sultan gave him the city of Zihar in fief and “commanded him to build a hospice on a hill overlooking the town”. Battuta says Sheikh Ibrahim “erected a very fine hospice there and used to supply food in it to travelers of every sort”.

3 When he met Maldives Sheikh Ibrahim, Battuta had already done a few sea journeys.

He has been to East Africa, Southern Arabia, and Yemen and, a conversation with Sheikh Ibrahim on the sea journey was very likely. Sending tribute to regional Kings and Sultan’s by sea was common practice in the Maldives.

During later years in the 19th Century, the voyage was referred to as Vedhuma Diun and it may be translated as ‘Going with Tribute’. The Sultanate prepared a special vessel for the purpose and the Sultan would decide on the Chief Navigator for the Voyage.

This Chief navigator is referred as the Nevi or sometimes referred in its Persian form the Nahudha. Sheikh Ibrahim to have come all the way to northern India would have known a few navigators.

Battuta is on a mission to reach China with the presents, the goods, and the letters from the Sultan in Delhi.

The route from Delhi to China must be mapped. Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325 –1351), was not the most benevolent of Muslim Sultans, but he was well educated and had a strong interest in Medicine.

Delhi court had navigation knowledge and was aware of the route to China.

Ibn Majid frequently refers to Chola sources and texts while saying that “It sensible to imagine that every man knows his coast best, although God is all knowing, it is certain that the Cholas live nearer to these coasts than anyone else, so we have used them and their giyas (latitude) valuation as a guide”. Before coming to Zihar, Battuta was in Chandiri, which he said was a large town with magnificent bazars.

The seat and the residence of the Governor of the province of Malwa was in Chandiri, but the chief town of Malwa Province was Zihar. Chandiri had a learned community and Battuta mentions them by name.

The Governor of the place, Izz al-Din al-Bantani who was Battuta says, “a liberal and worthy man who used to invite the men of learning to his company”. The numerous navigators that Ibn Majid refers to are contemporaries with the learned community in Chandiri.

No doubt Battuta would have mentioned to the Governor and the learned men of Chandiri his intentions of reaching China.

Battuta is the Ambassador of the Sultan in Delhi, and the Governor will assist Battuta in his endeavor of reaching China.

The Governor and the learned men in Chandiri are aware that the trips to China are best made from the west coast of the country. If the Malawa Governor is aware of Sheikh Ibrahim from the Maldives, obviously the best advise that the Governor can give is to give directions to Zihar, where the Sheikh lives. Routes from the Malabar coast to the far east and China were well defined centuries before Battuta embarked on his journey to China.

Ibn Majid writing with years of navigation and sailing experience and much material from previous texts, in his book Fawaid mentions 12 Faidha (Benefits) and the 6 th Benefit deals with sailing routes.

Arab navigators mention three types of Dirat (routes). Dirat al-Mul, is a costal route plotted along the mainland. Dirat al-Matlaq is a direct route between two ports and Dirat al-Iqtida is a route taken on two bearings requiring a change of course when out of sight of land.

Sheikh Ibrahim from the Maldives, if he had navigation knowledge will recommend Battuta and entourage on the possible routes that he can take to go to China. Most Maldivian Sheikh’s and learned men knew at least some amount of navigation.

When Ibn Majid died around 1500, Maldives Maalimees (Captains) or Nakhudas (Ship owner), had his text as guides. In fact, after Ibn Majid’s death for several generations, nothing was heard of him until Said Hussain Sidi, a Maldives Captain offered a Majid- Kithaab (book) to James Princep in 1836.

Even today, most inhabited islands in the Maldives have a house named Nevige. Nevi-kan is navigation and a Nevi-ge is a navigation school. In the present-day Nevi-ge, there are no navigation lessons, but very often you will find that they hail from a navigator’s family.

Sheikh Ibrahim in Zihar made a journey from Cambay to the Maldives. Navigators knew that it not possible to reach China simply through a Dirat al-Mul, the coastal route.

Neither can one take a course to China from Cambay as a Dirat al- Matlaq, which is the direct route.

Dirat al-Iqtida, the course changing route must be used but also the other two. Going to China from the west coast of India will involve sailing in all three types of routes.

4 Ibn Majid in his Fawaid mentions matters to do with Mawsim (season) as The Seventh Benefit and later in the Eleventh Benefit. These sections give sailing seasons.

Sailing in the Indian Ocean was always dependent on the fact that winds occur in an annual sequence. In the open ocean, during one part of the year it blew in one direction and during the other part in the opposite direction.

Arab navigators refer to Mawsim to generally mean a fix time of the year, it is the window of favorable seasons to travel from one port to the other. The first period at the onset of the Monsoons is called Mawsim al-Kaws.

The second period is the Damani season. Ibn Majid gives a list of dates that are sailing Mawsim between different ports.

The combination of sailing seasons and the type of route required to go to China often influence ships to call at Maldives and stay there in transit for over 4 to 6 months. Battuta arrived at Cambay, knowing that he would have to make a trip to the Maldives if he were to make it to China.

Battuta says that Cambay is situated on an arm of the sea that resembles a river. “It is navigable for ships and its waters ebb and flow”, Battuta clearly remembers the town of Cambay.

He was very impressed by its architecture and construction. “This city is one of the finest there is in regard”, he says. Cambay had a large merchant community living in lavish mansions.

Battuta was familiar with some of the merchants. He had previously met merchant Sharif al-Samari in Delhi.

In Cambay, Samari lives in a great mansion. Explaining Samari’s house Battuta says, “I have never seen heavier baulks of wood than those which I saw in this house, and its gate is like that of a city”. Beside Samari’s house is a large mosque which is known by his name.

Other mansions are those of the 'king of the merchants' al- Kazarunl, alongside which is his mosque, and that of the merchant Shams al-Din Kulah-Duz. Battuta also include the shipowner Ilyas among the principal men of Cambay.

Battuta is not traveling light. When he left Delhi the Sultan’s presents to the King of China included a hundred horses all saddled and bridled, a hundred male slaves, a hundred Hindu singing and dancing girls and vast amount of cloth and fabric and no doubt assorted goods traded with China.

Between Delhi and Cambay, Battuta has fought battles, escaped death, run for his life and all sorts of misfortune has befallen him.

He has also visited over a dozen towns and villages, met their rulers and people. By Cambay, Battuta is not empty handed and still had a big party traveling with him. The ship, the route and the pilot must now be decided.

Knowing the places that Battuta visited on the west coast of India it is possible to understand further details of Battuta trip by a comparison of Battuta route with ones that Middle Ages Islamic Navigators have suggested.

Ibn Majid is the authority, and he wrote from material contemporary with Battuta and his travels. In the eight Benefit of the Fawaid, Ibn Majid plots a route from Cambay to the south of the peninsular India and explains the theoretical side of isharat (signs to lookout for and landmarks and etc.) and siyasath, which deals with the policy of the navigator and the well-being of the ship and its occupants.

Earlier in the Second Benefit the Fawaid gives the qualities of Mualim, the pilot. The principal Muslim in the court of the Sultan of Gandhar were the children of the Khwaja Buhra, who are now known as the Borah Muslims.

They are a branch of the Ismaillis and prominent as traders and entrepreneurs. Borah merchants have traded with the Maldives for centuries and by the mid 1800’s they had permanently established themselves with shops in Male’, the capital city of the Sultanate.

In Gandhahar Ibrahim the Bohra merchant had six vessels, one of them named the al-Jagir and it had a compliment of fifty rowers and fifty Abyssinian men at arms.\

To al-Jagir they loaded 70 of the horses from the Delhi Sultans presents to the King of China.

Battua started with 100 horses and is now down to 70 and of this 70 it is not clear how many were from the Sultan. Manurt is another ship that belonged to Borah Merchant Ibrahim’s brother. The rest of the Sultan’s horses were loaded on to Manurt, on which were also the horses of Battuta’s companions. The Sultanof Qandahar provided a ship, on it were the horses of Zahir al-Din and Sunbul and their traveling party. On the al-Ukairi resembled a Grab, Qandhahar’s Sultan Jalansi’s Son. Battuta himself was accommodated on the al-Jagir the Borah Ibrahim’s ship. Here begins Battuta’s trip to China. His intention and design were to go to China. It is not known if Ibrahim the shipowner himself was the Navigator of the ship. Ibrahim may or may not have navigated the al-Jagir, but whoever was the navigator would know how to navigate the ship to China. The combination of the sailing season and the route to be taken will require Battuta to visit the Maldives and reside their for many months.

Ibn Juzayya begins the Travels narrating Battuta's first departure from home. When Battuta left home on this trip, he might not have known that he would meet over 60 rulers, visit the Maldives, and get married there four times. Coming from a middle-class family of judges, Battuta before leaving home started Jurisprudence studies, the syllabus for Gazi-ship in Islamic rule. For such studies, Battuta would have joined a Madrasa in his hometown.