Ibn Battuta's Memoir Of Northern Africa

Ibn Battuta

In reading Ibn Battuta’s memoir of northern Africa, he gives us a view of the local Islamic religion and its culture. At the time, northern Africa was a place where the population was mostly black. Those people were of great faith and prayed as any practicing Muslim would. Underlying Battuta’s text, I found that when he wrote his impressions of the religious culture, he was astonished at the similarities and the many differences that were practiced compared to the middle east and what he had seen. Battuta was a very familiar with Islam and even went on hajj to Mecca where he, unlike the others, stayed and studied the religion (Gordon, 105).

Although Battuta didn’t outright compare the Muslims of northern Africa with the Muslims of the middle east he unintentionally did compare them. “Ibn Battuta found the people exotic, but the customs were familiar”

Battuta spoke of how everyone, even the poor of the poor, wore clean white linens to the Friday service. This was the same as the Muslims worshiping in Mecca, who wore “simple white clothing as they performed together rituals reminding them of key events in Islamic history,” (Strayer, 478). These similarities stood out to Battuta and he referred to those actions as “their good qualities” (Strayer, 365). Battuta also spoke of “their bad qualities” (Strayer 365).

During his travels Battuta “met men from all over the Muslim world,” (Gordon, 105). With his studies and travels he had come to the conclusion of the correct way to practice Islam. The people of northern Africa were very open in their relationships, woman especially. Battuta saw this as a bad thing. Women in the community had as much respect, if not more than the men