Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Man Who Walked Across The World - Magicians and Mystics

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Tim Mackintosh-Smith follow the journey of the muslim scholar Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta who traveled 40 countries and 3 continents. Along the way he met and ate with sultans, saints, mystics and madmen.

Who is this adventurous muslim scholar:
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد ابن بطوطة‎) (born February 24, 1304; year of death uncertain, possibly 1368 or 1377) was an Arabian, Berber[1] scholar and jurisprudent from the Maliki Madhhab (a school of Fiqh, or Sunni Islamic law), and at times a Qadi or judge. However, he is best known as a traveler and explorer, whose account documents his travels and excursions over a period of almost thirty years, covering some 73,000 miles (117,000 km). These journeys covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the west, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the east, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo.
If you like here is more on Ibn Battuta

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