Al-Andalus

Muslim Spain — which Ibn Battuta visited during the final century of Islamic rule in the peninsula, when only the Kingdom of Granada remained as an independent Muslim state after centuries of Christian reconquest. His account captures a civilisation in its twilight: still producing scholars and architecture of extraordinary beauty — the Alhambra was under active construction during his visit — while shrinking year by year under the pressure of the surrounding Christian kingdoms. The contrast between the cultural magnificence and the political vulnerability of Granada gives this section of the Rihla a melancholy depth, as Ibn Battuta records a world he instinctively senses is living on borrowed time, a premonition that would be confirmed a century and a half later when Granada fell in 1492.

As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Battuta and the scholars of his school.