Ibn Battutas 1331 Journey to West Africa Essay -- Gender Roles, Mecca

Ibn Battuta’s 1331 journey to West Africa provides a contrast of two worlds: Battuta’s pre-modern Islamic culture conflicting with African societies’ interpretation of Muslim beliefs and tribal traditions. He is especially critical of the various roles of women he observes—thus, allowing us insight into his own judgments formed by his culture and society. A brief summary of his life is paramount in the understanding of Battuta’s impressions and reactions to West African society. Abu Abdallah ibn Battuta was born in Morocco in 1304. By 1325, Battuta embarked on his first hajj, or pilgrimage to the holiest Islamic city of Mecca at age twenty-one (Hamdun, King, p. 1). Although expected to complete this religious duty at least once in his or her lifetime, Battuta accomplished the hajj, â€Å"six or seven times, each time presumably accruing divine merit† (Dunn, p. xvii). Battuta was a part of the ulama, an elite class of Muslim religious and legal scholars who, â€Å"traveled to make the hajj or to further their education in the religious sciences (Dunn, p. xii). Battuta traveled extensively for nearly thirty years, visiting around fifty countries, often multiple times (Dunn, p. ix). He chronicled his lengthy expeditions in the Rihla (Book of Travels), allowing some of the first and only written accounts of Sub-Saharan Afri ca in the 14th century. Battuta’s beliefs regarding status of women in Islamic society is perhaps first alluded to in his account of the MassÃ… «fa of Ä ªwÄ lÄ tan. He chides, â€Å"The condition of these people is strange and their manners outlandish†¦None of them derives his genealogy from his father, but on the contrary, from his maternal uncle† (Battuta, p. 37). Battuta disagrees with the MassÃ… «fa’s tradition of matrilineal derive... ...and counted among his associates eminent scholars, royal officials, rich merchants, and Mongol Kings† (Dunn, p. ix). It is these experiences that also allow us to also extrapolate some of the realities and experiences of the pre-modern Muslim woman. It is these same experiences during this formative period of Islamic society that established and shaped the contemporary Islamic world. Today, just as Ibn Battuta was able to observe other cultures through caravans on camelback, Muslim men and women are now exposed to various cultures in our globalized world through technology without having to travel far. And also just as Battuta, these same men and women are also experiencing the both strengthening and testing of his or her cultural and religious identity. The social constructs of Battuta’s era are being challenged through revolutions and uprisings throughout Islam.