What did I learn today...

I learned today that not everyone has to live the same kind of life as everyone else. Today our lesson was about Ibn Battuta and his 175 000 mile travels from as far west as Morroco to as far east as China. Everyone always talks about with him with hushed amazement (making me a little irritated in the process) but after having travelled a little bit myself I start to appreciate Ibn Battuta a little more. Most of all I appreciate the fact that he actually decided to do the whole travelling thing. Some people might have thought that his life was frivolous; I mean, what's the point of just travelling from place to place, with no family, no set place, no constancy? Where is his contribution?

That's precisely the point. His contribution was his book that became a bond linking the huge Islamic empire together. Everyone could read his book and get an idea about the life that other Muslims were living in other parts of the world. And the best thing about his book is that it's not like many of the other history books written at the time; it's more a like a travel diary (and in reality it's also like a dictated autobiography; Ibn Battuta didn't actually write the book, but someone else wrote down his lectures on his travels and compiled them in a book) that describes the people and cultures that he explored. It has no pretense of flowery or figurative language, but talks to in a style that is surprisingly similar to modern fus'ha (i.e. something I can understand).

I myself probably wouldn't like to live a life like Ibn Battuta. You have to have a certain penchant for travelling to go on like that for 30 years of your life. But I'm inspired by the fact that he managed to do it...although I can't really understand it. Somehow, he never complains like us Canadians in Cairo about every little thing: the lack of home food, being away from home, etc. etc. And everywhere he went, he worked as a qadi , ruling according to Islamic Shariah.

Nota Bene to some little people close to me: I'm not talking about Islamic Civilization! This is just your older brother talking inside his head. Cool? and let's not let other people dictate to us how we should look at ourselves, our past, or our future.

~Ameer