What did Ibn Battuta see in Baghdad after the Mongols?
A century after the Mongol sack of Baghdad, Ibn Battuta walked its diminished streets and recorded what had been lost — and what, against every expectation, had survived.
8 passages from 2 books in the library
Ibn Battuta reached Baghdad, "the abode of peace," roughly a century after the Mongol catastrophe he himself records: the Tatars' entry into "the seat of Islam and the Caliphate" and the killing of the Caliph al-Mustasim Billah al-Abbasi, whom he prays God to have mercy on. Yet the city still lived. His arrival coincided with the presence of the King of Iraq, the sultan Shaykh Hassan; he met learned men such as the Baghdadi jurist al-Sarsari, and he still rated Baghdad's markets superior to those he saw elsewhere.
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 →
-
"Haj Abu al-Hassan Ali bin al-Nabi said in a poem, In Iraq, a radiant full moon appeared, banishing its darkness, braving its midday sun. The gentle breezes of Baghdad delighted it. Had it not been for modesty, it would have taken flight. Among its praises by women of Baghdad, alas for its Baghdad and Iraq, and its gazelles with enchantment in their eyes, their displays along the Euphrates, where crescents appear on their necklaces."
-
"and when the envoy informed him of my desire to travel to the noble Hijaz, he commanded provision and transportation for me along with the caravan, writing to the emir of Baghdad Khawaja Maruf to assist. I returned to Baghdad, where I received all the sultan had ordered for me, and as there were over two months before the caravan's departure, I decided to travel to Mosul and Diyarbakir to explore those lands and return to Baghdad in time for the caravan to the noble Hijaz. I departed Baghdad for a place on the Dijail river, a tributary of the Tigris, which irrigates many villages. After two days, we stopped at a prosperous and spacious village called Harba,"
-
"The next morning, we took to the sea intending to reach Majul. In my travels, I usually avoid returning by the same route if possible, and I had intended to head for Baghdad in Iraq. Some people in Basra advised me to travel through Lur's land, then to Persian Iraq, and finally to Arab Iraq. I followed their advice, reaching Majul within four days."
-
"Baghdad is replete with the graves of the righteous and the scholars, may Allah be pleased with them. This eastern side of Baghdad has no fruit, instead, it is brought from the western side because of its gardens and orchards. My arrival in Baghdad coincided with the presence of the King of Iraq, let us mention him here."
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 →
-
"to the prohibition of the animal, and so it was not withheld afterward. I then traveled to Sarsar and afterward to the city of Baghdad. I arrived during the month of Shawwal in the year 48. There I encountered some people from the Maghreb who informed me about the incident in Tarifa and the Roman seizure of Khadrah. May God repair Islam's fracture caused by this. During my visit, the sultan of Baghdad and Iraq was Sheikh Hassan, son of Sultan Abu Sayyid's sister-in-law. After Abu Sayyid's death, he assumed control over his territory in Iraq and married Abu Sayyid's wife, Delshad, the daughter of Damascus Khawaja, son of Emir"
-
"There, I encountered a distinguished jurist from Baghdad called al-Sarsari, named after a town ten miles from Baghdad on the road to Kufa, its name being the same as the sur sur near us in the Maghreb. He had a brother in this city with substantial wealth who left young children under his care, and I left him preparing to take them to Baghdad."
-
"wondrous minaret, which I ascended, revealing the entirety of the city to me. Although ruined, I compared it to Baghdad, except for Baghdad's superior markets. In Marrakech, there is a remarkable school distinguished by its well-planned design and craftsmanship, constructed by the imam our lord, the emir of the Muslims, Abu Hassan, may God be pleased with him. Ibn Juzay commented, In Marrakech, its judge, the historical imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Ausi says, By God, the splendid Marrakech of a land, and welcome its residents, the noblest of inhabitants. If a wanderer away from home and foreign land finds it, they"
-
"They reached the Sultan, and Nasir al-Din al-Tirmidhi, mentioned before, had met Giyas al-Din in Baghdad and confirmed his lineage to the Baghdad scholars. He testified to the Sultan of his lineage's authenticity. When his emissaries arrived, the Sultan gifted them 5,000 dinars and sent 30,000 dinars to Giyas al-Din, encouraging his journey. The Sultan wrote a personal letter to him, showing him great respect and inviting him to visit. When the letter reached him, Giyas al-Din set out on his journey. Upon reaching Sindh, the informers sent word of his arrival, and the Sultan dispatched a reception according to the custom."
Want a different angle?
Type your question below — the answer is built from the same sources, and cited.
Every stop of the thirty-year journey, on one map — with the passage from the Riḥla for each: Ibn Baṭṭūṭa's route, mapped →