What did Ibn Battuta see in al-Andalus?
Ibn Battuta's short visit to Granada at the end of his travels captures the last flowering of Muslim Spain — its gardens, its scholars, and the sense that something precious was passing.
8 passages from 2 books in the library
Near the end of his travels Ibn Battuta visited Granada, which he calls "the capital of Al-Andalus," and was struck by its beauty — quoting a resident's verse, "God bless the diverse beauty of Granada that delights." He describes its surroundings, including the Ribat al-Aqab on a mountain overlooking the city and a mosque at the top of Rab Najd by Mount Sabiqa. Above all he records the scholars he met there, men of Granada whose company and learning he prized, conveying a sense of a refined Muslim society he was glad to have reached.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 2 books by Ibn Battuta — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
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"for women's bathing are found. Then I travelled from there to Granada, the capital of Al-Andalus"
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"resident of Granada, aptly said, God bless the diverse beauty of Granada that delights"
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"known as the Ribat al-Aqab. An aqab is a mountain overlooking the outskirts of Granada, about"
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"mosque at the top of Rab Najd outside of Granada, connected to Mount Sabiqa. He was a sheikh"
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
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"in Granada, residing in Damascus, and alternating the role of imam with his brother. May Allah"
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"traversing lands except for China, Serendib Island, the Maghreb, Al-Andalus, and the Sudan,"
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"Abu Abdullah informed me in Granada that he was born in Tangier on Monday, the seventeenth"
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"on imports, and its water is scarce. A poet said, Who will tell al-Andalus that I arrived"
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