Ibn Battuta

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Ibn Battūta's Andalusian Journey

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SOURCE: Norris, H. T. “Ibn Battūta's Andalusian Journey.” Geographical Journal 125, no. 2 (June 1959): 186-96.

[In the following essay, Norris traces Ibn Battuta's travels to Andalusia, describing the places he visited and presenting the journey as it might have appeared to the traveler.]

It is strange that Shaykh Abū ‘Abdallah Muḥammad Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, one of the greatest of Muslim travellers, should have delayed his major visit to Spain until the latter part of his career. He was born in Tangier, within sight of the Spanish coast, on 24 February 1304 and he died in 1368/69, in Morocco, “the best of countries, for in it fruits are plentiful and running water and nourishing food are never exhausted.”

He was a Berber, combining literary pursuits with an insatiable thirst for travel. It is on his personal record of the political and social conditions of Islām in the fourteenth century rather than on his geographical observations that posterity has assessed his achievement. The religious devotion of the Moor and the enthusiasm of the scholar impelled him to enter new regions of Asia and Africa, within and without the Muslim world; to Egypt, Asia Minor, Arabia, Persia, India, China and the Indies and eventually to West Africa.

Twenty-four years of his life were spent in Eastern travel by land and sea and sometimes he was exposed to great physical danger. It was not until 1349 that he returned westward to enjoy the remainder of his days in peace and tranquillity in his homeland. On his return he was received in great honour by the Amir of Fez, Abū ‘Inān. Esteemed and contented, he might well have decided that there was no need for him to proceed on further travels, either in Africa or in other lands as yet unvisited. But retirement from a life of journeying soon became intolerable. After visiting the tomb of his mother in Tangier, he proceeded to the port of Ceuta (Sabtah), where he stayed for some months. The reason for this sojourn is unknown. It is more than probable, however, that the journey there was made by land. Since the capture of Algeciras by Alfonso XI in March 1344, and the earlier capture of Tarifa in 1299, the sea routes were precarious. The Christian capture of these two Muslim cities had totally upset the traditional sea links in the Straits between Spain and Africa. These had been either from Ceuta to Algeciras or from Qaṣr Maṣmūdah, a strategic port lying between Tangier and Ceuta, and Tarifa. The capture of both these Spanish cities, Algeciras in particular, was of tremendous value, and Christendom was now almost in command of the Straits. It is not surprising, therefore, that when news of the fall of Algeciras reached Ibn Baṭṭūṭah in Baghdad in 1348, he should have exclaimed “may God repair the breach that Islām has suffered thereby.” The loss of both, besides revealing the inability of the Kingdoms of Fez and Granada to unite permanently, had weakened the value of the Muslim seaports on the southern shore of the Straits, and paved the way for their subsequent capture by the Portuguese. It is quite likely that Ibn Baṭṭūṭah visited Qaṣr Maṣmūdah,1 en route to Ceuta, as it was a convenient “half-way” point between Tangier and Ceuta; a day's march from both, and twelve miles from the latter. It possessed a strong castle on Cape Rās al-Majāz, the nearest point to the Spanish coast, and ships and wherries were constructed in its harbour. It was surrounded by trees, and was inhabited by the Banū Tarīf, a branch of the Maṣmūdah who gave the port their name.

Ceuta, however, was the vital link between Muslim Africa and Spain. Two miles to the west of it rises the rounded peak of Jabal Mūsā (Mount Abyla), named after Mūsā bin Nuṣayr, Tāriq's superior, below which lay a fertile district called Balyūnish, containing abundant streams and productive orchards. In medieval times the whole city of Ceuta was surrounded by gardens, orchards and trees producing fruit in abundance. Sugar-cane and citron trees flourished and the fruits were transported from the district of Balyūnish into the interior. The city of Ceuta was built on seven small hills connected one with another. It was a walled city, possessing nine towers and a gate on its western side facing the hinterland. This side was additionally protected by a curtain wall and a fosse. The city was well populated and was almost a mile from west to east, occupying a peninsula shut in by the sea on every side except the west. Many of the finest buildings, including the “Cathedral Mosque” and the centre of government, were in the south of the city. The east of the peninsula was commanded by a mountain known as Jabal Manīyah or Jabal Mīnah, covered with defence walls and other fortifications, built by al-Manṣūr, minister of the Umayyad ruler Hishām II, it having at that time been chosen as an alternative site for the city. Ceuta boasted an excellent harbour and was an important trading centre for the African interior. There was a market for sorting, polishing, piercing and fashioning coral, which was transported abroad, the greater part to the kingdom of Ghānah in the Sudan. Many steam baths were to be found in the city, sea water being used, as fresh water was precious; and there were many traces of the earlier Byzantine city which had flourished before the Arab conquest.

While Ibn Baṭṭūṭah was in Ceuta he suffered from an illness for three months, “but afterwards God restored me to health.” Many times during his stay and convalescence he must have gazed at the massive shape of the opposite coast named Jabal al-Fatḥ (the Mountain of the Conquest), which from boyhood he knew to be Tāriq's mountain. Its associations with the conqueror of Spain and the days of bygone splendour were well known to him. The news he had heard from men who had crossed from Andalusia filled him with anxiety for the future and impressed upon him the necessity for holy war in defence of the Muslim possessions.

When his health was restored he wished to avail himself of the opportunity to take part in the Jihād and the defence of the frontiers of Islām in Spain. “So I crossed the sea from Ceuta in a coastal craft belonging to the people of Asīlā2 and reached the land of al-Andalus where the reward of the dweller is abundant, and a recompense is laid up for the settler and the visitor.”

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah landed at Gibraltar, which had become the funnel through which close communication was maintained between Ceuta, Tangier and Muslim Spain. “I walked round the mountain and saw the marvellous works executed on it by our master (the late Sultan of Morocco) Abu'l-Hasan, and the armament with which he equipped it, together with the additions made thereto by our master (Abū ‘Inān), may God strengthen him, and I should have liked to remain as one of its defenders to the end of my days.” While in Gibraltar, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah met a number of its leading officials, including the orator Abū Zakarīyā Yaḥyā, and the judge (qāḍī) ‘Isā'l-Barbarī with whom he stayed and with whom he visited the sights of the peninsula. This brief comment is considerably expanded by Ibn Baṭṭūṭah's scribe, Ibn Juzayy, who was far better acquainted with Gibraltar and had resided there during the siege of Algeciras by the Christians between 1342-4. He refers to the Mountain of the Conquest as “the citadel of Islām, an obstruction stuck in the throats of the idolaters.” This description is hardly poetic, and reflects the spirit of the age, when Gibraltar was a place where Muslims stood guard in constant readiness for bitter war. The phrase is akin to that given to the Rock after the foundation of the first city of Gibraltar, by ‘Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad in a.d. 1160. It was from there, “like a blow of a club, he struck at his Christian foes.” It would, however, give a false impression if the Rock is portrayed simply as a fortress. Since a.d. 1160 it had possessed rich lands in the hinterland and the peninsula contained gardens, irrigation systems, windmills, water-cisterns and palaces. Ibn Juzayy is at pains to point out the close historical link between the later Gibraltar and the original conqueror Tāriq bin Ziyād, whose name it bore, and that the remains of the wall built by the latter and his army were still in existence in his day.3

Gibraltar had been captured from the Christians in 1333, by the Marīnid ruler Abu'l-Hasan. He had sent his son Abū Mālik, the so-called King of Algeciras and Ronda, to invest it, and the city fell after six months' siege. As a trophy of the conquest Abū Mālik had removed a great bell weighing ten hundredweight to Fez, and this, reshaped as a lamp, was hung in front of the gate called Bāb al-Kutubīyīn in the mosque of al-Qarawiyīn. At the time of the Muslim recapture the city had been heavily bombarded by siege-engines and a tremendous programme of rebuilding was therefore imperative. Like their Almohad predecessors, the aim of the Marīnids was to use Gibraltar as a springboard for counter-attack. A system of rubuṭ was established. These institutions were primarily fortresses where troops were concentrated at exposed points on the borders between Islām and Christendom. They also served as places of refuge and watch-towers to give warning of enemy attack. According to the historian al-Maqqarī, large quantities of men and munitions of war were sent to both Gibraltar and Algeciras, then still in Muslim hands, and tremendous sums were spent on constructing new walls and towers. Preachers were sent to rally support for the holy war and great gifts and rewards were presented to those who would come over to Gibraltar and Algeciras to fight in the cause of Islām. In the highest point of the Qaṣabah in Gibraltar, in the place occupied by a smaller Almohad or Spanish tower, which had been ruined by siege-engines, a great keep was built, and around the “Red Mound” (at-Turbah al-Hamrā), a region of Red Sands located to the south of the city, an extensive wall was constructed extending from the arsenal to the tile yard.4 Apart from reconstructing the arsenal, he also erected buildings of a non-military nature, including a “Cathedral Mosque.” Abu'l Hasan's successor, Abū ‘Inān, continued the great enterprise of rebuilding the city of Gibraltar, paying particular attention to the extremity of the peninsula. A wall—“the most formidable and useful of its walls”—had been built there by his predecessor, surrounding the mountain on all sides “as the halo surrounds the crescent moon, so that the enemy could discover no prospect of success in attacking it, nor did there appear any way through which he could force an entrnace.” Abū ‘Inān strengthened this and large quantities of munitions, foodstuffs and provisions of all kinds were sent to Gibraltar.

Abū ‘Inān, however, was not interested in Gibraltar solely as a place of defence. Perhaps more than any other Moroccan ruler, ‘Abd al-Mu'min the city's original founder excepted, he combined shrewd military insight with a fascination for the place itself, its unique character and position. According to Ibn Juzayy, “his concern for the affairs of the Jabal reached such lengths that he gave orders for the construction of a model of it, on which he had represented models of its walls, towers, citadel, gates, arsenal, mosques, munition-stores and corn granaries, together with the shape of the Jabal itself and the adjacent Red Mound. The model was executed in the palace precincts; it was a marvellous likeness and a piece of fine craftsmanship. Anyone who has seen the Jabal and then this copy will recognize its merit.”

It is possible to obtain an extremely comprehensive picture of Gibraltar at the time of Ibn Baṭṭūṭah's visit, because its existing Moorish monuments date almost entirely from that period. Medieval Gibraltar occupied the most northerly part of the modern city on a site adjoining the steep cliff which limits the peninsula to the north and faces the narrow tongue of isthmus dividing Gibraltar from Spain. On the most elevated and steepest part of this district, overlooking the sea, was the Qaṣabah, divided into three sections, the most easterly dominated by a keep called La Calahorra5 by the Spaniards and known today as the “Tower of Homage.” This is the tower built by Abu'l Hasan, and it was the pivot of Gibraltar's defences. The lower sections of the Qaṣabah contained extensive living quarters, cisterns and gardens. Below the lowest section lay a district called Villa Vieja by the Spaniards. This was probably the original nucleus of the city and was enclosed within its own walls which had several gateways, probably the most important being the Granada Gate. The whole ward contained habitations and mosques in the fourteenth century. To the west of the Villa Vieja lay a ward called by the Spaniards La Barcina, wedged between the narrow stretch of land at the base of the Rock and the Bay. It also had its own walls and independent gateways. Perhaps the two most important were the Land Gate which faced towards the Isthmus and which was the only exit from the pensinsula, and the Sea Gate which faced the shore. This gate had an arched entrance between two strong towers, entrnace being granted through a right-angled passage, a common Moorish design.

Upon the shore and near to the Sea Gate was the arsenal or naval shipyard (Dār aṣ-Sinā'ah). According to Ibn Juzayy, Abu'l-Hasan constructed it in 1333, “for there was no arsenal in the place before.” This assertion is doubtful, however, as it appears that the Christians constructed one some time after their occupation in 1309. As early as 1279 Arab accounts refer to fleets of vessels putting into Gibraltar and remaining at anchor overnight. It seems likely therefore that the arsenal of fourteenth century Gibraltar was a reconstruction of an earlier Spanish one built by Ferdinand IV, which may have had an even earlier predecessor. In the later Middle Ages a water conduit terminated at the arsenal. This water channel furnished water for the ships anchored within the arsenal and also supplied the castle and much of the city. This no doubt replaced the earlier system built in 1160, when engineers had excavated in the rock face at places where there were natural streams of fresh water. These streams were subsequently linked together by means of small channels and thence conveyed into an aqueduct which descended into the city and terminated in a huge cistern. The water so stored was used as drinking water both by humans and by animals, as well as for irrigating the luxurious gardens in the suburbs. There was also the natural water supply from caves at the base of the Rock (noted by al-Idrīsī) and from St. Michael's cave on the Upper Rock which once had an ancient wall at its mouth, possibly erected for water storage. According to Lt. Col. Thomas James, writing in the eighteenth century, “when the Moors first raised this sea-line wall, they placed earthen pipes in the same, to conduct the water from the Grand Parade to Waterport, where was formerly a large basin to receive it.” The source of this water supply lay in the area of the Red Sands to the south of the southernmost city wall.

The ward to the south of La Barcina was occupied by gardens and orchards, palaces, mosques and perhaps more humble residences. In the sixteenth century it was given the name La Turba6 (crowd), supposedly on account of the type of population who dwelt there, but it is clear from the remains that exist that, in the Moorish period, it contained some of the city's finest buildings. Within the western sea wall there were at least two gates, a “gate of the baths,” probably in the vicinity of the still existing multi-chambered fourteenth century Moorish steam-bath beneath the Gibraltar Museum. Further to the south was another gate known as the “Algeciras Gate.” It is uncertain whether another wall sealed La Turba from the adjacent area of the Red Sands and the southern part of the peninsula. Within this ward was located the “Cathedral Mosque” (al-Jāmi‘al-A‘zam) built by Abu'l Hasan. It was of considerable size and marble was used in its construction. It included an arched courtyard (Saḥn) of orange trees, and this existed comparatively intact up to as late as the eighteenth century.

The southern tip of Gibraltar, Europa Point (Taraf al-Fatḥ), was of considerable importance in the fourteenth century. Throughout Gibraltar's history the danger always existed of an enemy attempting to attack the city from the south and after establishing himself in a commanding position on the summit of the Rock, descending into the residential districts or outflanking the Castle's defences. Apart from watch-towers, defence points with fire towers (rubuṭ and maḥāris) and walls, the base of the peninsula appears to have possessed secular and religious buildings (e.g. Nuestra Señora de Europa, perhaps originally a mosque), and at least one giant cistern (i.e. that known today as the Nun's Well). Other Moorish structures existed on “Windmill Hill” (the eighteenth century “Yard of Fez”), immediately overlooking the southernmost point, and also on the upper slopes of the Rock were sited look-out points, rain-storage systems and Tāriq's Wall (Sūr al-‘Arab).7

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah was clearly impressed by the tremendous spectacle and feverish vitality of Marīnid Gibraltar and wished to remain as one of its defenders to the end of his days. He was a Murābiṭ, a volunteer, who had taken a vow to devote himself to the defence of Islām and to serve a period in a ribāṭ as a member of the garrison. But in spite of his vow, after a stay of unknown duration, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah set out for Ronda, a three day journey. It seems there were family reasons for his visit, as he tells us that the qāḍī was his cousin, the doctor Abu'l-Qāsim Muḥammad Ibn Yaḥyā Ibn Baṭṭūṭah.

We do not know his route but most likely it was more or less identical with the present one through Jimena de la Frontera. He would have entered the sandy isthmus from the Land Gate, and travelled either by horse or mule along the coastal road towards Algeciras, then in Christian hands, and would have struck inland across fertile pasture land, and country heavily wooded with cork trees and forest undergrowth. To the west he would have passed near the mountain stronghold of Castellar which was destined to remain in Moorish hands until the year 1434. He might have glimpsed from the distance its plain solid walls seemingly growing from the miniature mountain on which it is built, and seen the fires from the sentries on guard upon the stumpy towers built at intervals along its walls. Perhaps he passed it by, and never entered through its right-angled gate or rested or slept in white-washed houses crowded within the grey walls, shut away from the outside world of bandits, cattle thieves and shepherds.

The road would have taken him to Jimena. Its name in Moorish times was Kinānah and its inhabitants were of North Arabian origin. But clearly like so many of these towns it had an earlier origin dating back to Roman times. Apart from the picturesque position of its castle, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah must have been struck by the whiteness of its cottages erected along the sides of the slope facing the east. Its castle was extraordinarily strong. Built on a ridge and constructed from Roman materials, the narrow ridged ledge had been levelled to accommodate a citadel. In Moorish times the castle gate, which is still well preserved, was guarded by archers covering it from a wall built at right-angles to it and crowned with a row of pointed battlements. On the northern point of the ridge was a series of cisterns for storing rain water, partly cut into the rock and partly vaulted and cemented. To the south of the citadel was the castle keep protected by an exterior wall and a right-angled entrance. The keep itself contained a giant round tower, vaulted and constructed of Roman stones, completely dominating the neighbouring country and almost inaccessible from the foot of the precipice below.

After Jimena Ibn Baṭṭūṭah must have branched to the east and, crossing the Guadiaro river (Wādī Āruh), followed the gradually ascending road as far as Gaucín, which is a familiar halting place on the road from Gibraltar. There he no doubt rested and inhaled the dry, refreshing mountain air. Gaucín had its castle also, even more fantastic than that of Jimena, straddling a natural crag with a box-like keep built near its easternmost tip. Far below to the south, beneath steep ridges of rock and cultivated land, could be seen the sparkling river and the silhouette of Gibraltar partly hidden amidst low hills, haze and sea.

Leaving Gaucín, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah would have entered the Serrania of Ronda and Malaga which has been described as the “most picturesque part of Andalusia.” According to a historian of the district, quoted by Dozy in ‘Spanish Islam,’ “here and there this mountain range attains true sublimity, with its majestic forests of oaks, cork trees and chestnuts, its deep and gloomy ravines, its torrents thundering over precipices, its ruined castles and villages clinging to the sides of mighty crags whose summits are bare of vegetation and whose flanks seem blackened and calcined by the lighting; elsewhere the landscape smiles with vineyards and meadows, with groves of almond, cherry, citron and pomegranate, or with thickets of oleanders yielding more flowers than leaves; here, shallow streams wind capriciously by orchards whose pears and apples supply all southern Spain; there, lie fields of flax, hemp, and above all, of corn, whence is made a bread which is held to be the whitest and most delicious in the world.”

As Ibn Baṭṭūṭah approached this citadel in the mountain, the Hiṣn Rundah of the Arabs, he would have encountered a hardy, vigorous people, part Berber, part Arab, part neither, having inherited the traditions and traits of a mixture of people, who had lived in these mountains since Roman times. Along the road he must assuredly have encountered shepherds, for in Moorish times these mountains were famous for their flocks of ewes. A total of twenty thousand belonged to the city of Ronda alone. But, apart from its fertility and its mild climate, Ronda was also in the centre of a rich region for quarrying multicoloured marble, black, white, red, grey and mottled, which was exported for building purposes to Malaga, Seville and elsewhere in Andalusia. There were also gold and silver mines in the district, lead on the road to Seville, and deposits of iron and tin near Gaucín.

From earliest times Ronda had been coveted and had witnessed many bitter struggles. Subject to the Berber rulers of Malaga, its Arab population rose in the middle of the eleventh century and under Mu'tamid of Seville the town was fortified and strengthened. During the prince of Seville's visit to inspect his works he was so enchanted that he exclaimed, “O Ronda! fairest jewel of my realm, never before didst thou boast such strength!” Later it had belonged to Granada but in the year 1319 it was ceded to the Marīnid King of Morocco, who gave it to Abū Mālik, his son, together with Algeciras, Jimena, Marbella and Gibraltar. This new grouping was to be of some historical significance, for it detached Ronda from its dependence on Malaga and linked it to Algeciras, and subsequently, after the fall of Algeciras, to Gibraltar. Three years before Abu'l Hasan strengthened Gibraltar's defences, Abū Mālik had established his court at Ronda, capital of the province of Tākarunnā. He had built a palace and a strong castle. He had also strengthened the natural defences by a triple circuit of walls and a network of gateways, some of which were used for entrance and others for exit. Water was brought into the town along two aqueducts, one from a village to the east, the other from Jabal Talūbarah to the west.

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah spent five days in Ronda, meeting several of the town's leading men of learning, and he stayed with one of them, Abu'l Hajjāj Yūsuf, an expert in literature, law and jurisprudence. His brief description of the town as “one of the strongest and most beautifully situated fortresses of the Muslims,” gives no idea of the picturesque splendour and colour of Abū Mālik's capital. The natural position of Ronda with its amphitheatre of steel-grey mountain and the great gorge of the Tajo dividing the city was the ideal place for a Sultan's residence. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah would have entered it from the south, the Moorish city occupying the more southerly portion of the slopes overlooking the gorge. No doubt he visited the great mosque and may have seen, in passing, others with their short stunted red brick minarets faced with plaster and coloured tiles. He may have stood on the rubble ramparts overlooking the meadows and luxurious steam baths, sited in the valley beneath the Moorish and Roman bridges which spanned the entrance to the gorge. Perhaps he saw Abū Mālik's palace with its shaded courtyard, its stuccoed walls and the geometrically carved wooden roofs of the rooms facing its central pool. Other buildings attracting his attention were no doubt the whitewashed houses of the Moorish nobles constructed against the southern face of the gorge with their cool, vaulted chambers, their simple stucco decoration, their horse-shoe arched doors and windows and their luxurious gardens with fountains and trees of many varieties. At the foot of one of these palaces was a structure built by Abū Mālik which in ingenuity can be compared with the inventions of the Malaga engineer al-Hājj Ya‘īsh for ‘Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad.8 In order to ensure access to the river gushing below he had made a stairway of three hundred and sixty-five steps, more than two hundred and fifty feet deep, cut in the solid rock and descending the cliff in zig-zag fashion to a natural rent in the rock. The remaining portion had been built up from the bottom of the chasm with large blocks of stone, and the whole stairway terminated in a chamber and doorway like the entrance to some Egyptian tomb. At various levels in its descent, passages branched off from this staircase into spacious and curiously arched apartments to which light was admitted by narrow casements opening into the sun-drenched gorge. Perhaps this structure served as a secret water supply, maybe it was some place of pleasure whose purpose remains a mystery. All we know is that Abū Mālik built it in the year 1339. It reveals that element of fantasy in the mental make-up of the Marīnids, that same element which induced Abū Mālik to remove the great Gibraltar bell to Fez and Abū ‘Inān to model Gibraltar to satisfy his self-esteem.

But Ronda could not detain Ibn Baṭṭūṭah longer than five days. His eager desire to see and learn more led him on towards Malaga. On his way he passed the Marīnid port of Marbella (Marballah). The journey was difficult. The road would tortuously and was “exceedingly rough.” Even in our time the journey has an element of danger as here and there the road is hidden by precipitous corners and landslides. In the days when caravans brought supplies and luxuries it must have been the haunt of robbers.

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah reached the port of Marbella safely. He was greatly taken by it and describes it as “a pretty little town in a fertile district.” It was located within rich, fig-growing country. His stay there was short, and his intention seems to have been to attach himself to a party in order to reach Malaga. He fell in with a company of horsemen and all had apparently been settled for the journey, when for some reason best known to the traveller he missed them: “Then God by his grace preserved me, for they went on ahead of me and were captured on the way.” As the country was clearly unsafe for travellers to journey alone, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah made his own arrangements with another party. “I set out after them,” he relates, “and when I had traversed the district (ḥawz) of Marbella, I entered the district of Suhayl.” This district included many towns and villages and lay to the west of Malaga. It was given the name of Suhayl because of a certain mountain within its boundaries which was said to be the only spot in Andalusia from which the constellation of Suhayl or Canopus could be seen. In the course of his journey Ibn Baṭṭūṭah passed a dead horse lying in a ditch, and a little beyond it a basket of fish thrown on the ground. These objects aroused his suspicions. He noticed in front of him a watchtower (burj an-nāzūr) and said to himself, “If an enemy were to appear here, the man on the tower would give the alarm.”

The watch-towers of this part of the coast are still landmarks today. Many must date back to Moorish times though all are not so old. Some are tall, circular structures; others square and high with projections for hoisting supplies into the upper stories where the sentries kept watch. At one time there were several in Gibraltar. One of the most spectacular can still be seen to the west of Tarifa on the summit of a giant rock with an elaborate series of steps as the only means of access. Facing the Straits, each tower within sight of its neighbour, this chain of towers was the first line of defence against enemy attacks. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah went to a house in the vicinity of the tower and found another slaughtered horse. While he was there he heard a shout behind him as he had gone on ahead of his party. On his return he found the commander (qā'id) of the fort of Suhayl with them. “He told me that four galleys (ajfān) belonging to the enemy had appeared there, and a number of men on board had landed when the watchman (an-nāzūr) was not in the tower. The horsemen who had just left Marbella, twelve in number, had encountered this raiding force. The Christians had killed one of them, one had escaped, and ten were taken prisoner. A fisherman was killed along with them, and it was he whose basket he had found lying on the ground.”

The commander of the fort of Suhayl (Hiṣn Suhayl), advised Ibn Baṭṭūṭah to spend the night with him in his quarters, so that he could escort him the remaining distance to Malaga. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah was only too glad to take advantage of the offer. “I passed the night in the castle of the regiment of mounted frontiersmen called the Suhayl regiment. All this time the galleys of which we have spoken were lying close by.” It seems likely that this castle (Hiṣn ar-Rābiṭah) is the one now known as Fuengirola Castle. It stands on a high hill overlooking a river. The town of Fuengirola was known as Marsā Suhayl, the central port of the district. The castle has been much restored and today is but a shell of what it must formerly have been. But its great tower over the entrance gate and its typically Moorish right-angled entrance have a quality of masonry and a similarity of style comparable with the great Marīnid monuments of Gibraltar, and in particular the “Tower of Homage.” From this lofty spot at dawn Ibn Baṭṭūṭah would have seen the luxuriant coastal plain and the sandy beaches stretching away to Malaga.

The following day Ibn Baṭṭūṭah reached Malaga (Mālaqah) by horse in the company of his host. He was most impressed; “One of the largest and most beautiful towns of Andalusia. It unites the convenience of both sea and land, and is abundantly supplied with foodstuffs and fruits. I saw grapes being sold in its bazaars at the rate of eight pounds for a small dirham, and its ruby-coloured Murcian pomegranates have no equal in the world. As for figs and almonds, they are exported from Malaga and its outlying districts to the lands both of the East and the West.” Ibn Baṭṭūṭah's description can be matched and confirmed by that of other Arab writers and travellers. Malaga, Granada's port and sister to Algeciras, and capital of the district of Raiyuh, had through its history the advantage of being an agricultural centre and a first-class harbour. According to ash-Shaqundī “its environs are so covered with vines and orchards as to make it almost impossible for the traveller to discover a piece of ground which is not cultivated. Its towers are like the stars in the sky—as numerous and shining as bright. It is intersected by a river whose waters only flow during winter and spring, when rolling its precipitous waters through deep ravines and down lofty hills, it empties them in the sea within the very precincts of the city.” Malaga was famed far and wide for its figs which were exported to Egypt, Syria, ‘Irāq and even India. In Baghdād they were considered as the greatest of delicacies. Ash-Shaqundī travelled along the sea coast from Suhayl to Tīsh, a distance of three days' march, and saw nothing but fig trees, “the branches of which, loaded with fruit, almost touched the ground, so that the little urchins of the villages plucked them without the least trouble.” The figs of Tīsh were considered the best. When a Berber was given one and asked how he liked it he replied, “Thou askest me how I like it, and it has all melted down my throat.” Another peculiarity of Malaga was its fabrication of permitted and prohibited liquors, the most famous being Malaga wine. The city was also noted for its manufacture of silks of all colours and designs, among the most expensive being the beautiful brocades with the names of Khulafā, Umarā and other wealthy noblemen woven into them. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah mentions the gilded pottery, which was also exported to distant countries.

On his arrival he could hardly fail to have been struck by its giant castle which recalled that of Gibraltar in size and strength, and architectural influences. This Qaṣabah was itself dominated by another fortress, even higher, on the summit of Jabal Fāruh, the mountain overlooking the city. The latter possessed two unwalled suburbs known as Rabaḍ al-Funtanālah and Rabaḍ at-Tabbānīn (i.e. of the straw-sellers), possessing hostels and baths. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah's thoughts, however, were turned towards the great mosque (al-Jāmi ‘al-A‘zam) to give thanks for his narrow escape in Suhayl. He entered its spacious court which “is of unequalled beauty, and contains exceptionally tall orange trees,” a feature of many Moorish mosques of Spain. He found the Qāḍī sitting there along with the doctors of the law and the principal inhabitants, all of them engaged in collecting money to ransom the ten horsemen who had been taken prisoner. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah said to the Qāḍī, “Praise be to God, who hath preserved me, and hath not made me one of them.” He then recounted the story how they had left for Malaga before him. The Qāḍī was very surprised and sent Ibn Baṭṭūṭah a hospitality gift, as also did the preacher of Malaga.

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah continued on his journey to Granada going first to the town of Vélez (Ballash) twenty-four miles to the east. It was a fine town, a little inland from the sea. It possessed a magnificent mosque and an abundance of vines, figs and fruit trees. Then the Moorish traveller turned north into mountain country to Alhama (al-Hammah), a smaller town with an elegant mosque. Its name indicated that thermal springs were located in its vicinity. These could be found on the banks of the nearby river and there were separate bath houses for men and women. Al-Hammah is described by al-Idrīsī as having, on the summit of a mountain, a castle of massive proportions. The hot waters were of such fame that sick people from all parts of Andalusia visited the town and stayed there until their diseases were cured. The inhabitants of Almeria used to visit it frequently in spring. Gypsum was locally quarried and exported for building purposes.

In due course Ibn Baṭṭūṭah reached the city of Granada (Gharnāṭah), “the metropolis of Andalusia and the bride of its cities. Its environs have not their equal in any country in the world.” He reckoned the suburbs, bisected by the river Shannīl, as extending for some forty miles and was impressed by the manner in which the city was surrounded by “orchards, gardens, flowery meads, noble buildings and vineyards.” The glorious setting of Islām's last great cultural centre in Spain with the snow-clad mountains beyond had been the inspiration of countless poets and writers before him. It was given the name of ash-Shā'm (Damascus), perhaps because of its similarity to the Syrian capital in its abundance of brooks and trees. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah left it to others to describe its appearance; in Maqqarī's history, for example, one may read of its “Qaṣabah with high walls and strong buildings and a river which intersects its markets, streets and houses, supplies with water its baths and mills inside and outside the walls, and winds through the gardens and orchards of its meadow.”

The Sultan of Granada, Abu‘l Hajjāj Yūsuf, was ill at the time and Ibn Baṭṭūṭah did not meet him. However, the Sultan's mother heard that the famous traveller was in the city and sent him some gold dīnārs to pay for his expenses. Perhaps the Sultan's illness prevented the visitor from seeing the great Red Palace (the Alhambra), the wonder of Moorish Spain. He makes no mention of it, and we can only assume that he never entered the splendid Gate of Justice, or climbed its “Tower of Homage” or meditated in the Court of the Lions or wandered in the enchanted gardens of the Jannat al-‘Arīf (the Generalife). The Moroccan traveller's happiest memory was perhaps the ‘Ayn ad-Dama‘(the fount of tears), the beauty of which entranced him, and its hill “covered with gardens and orchards has no parallel in any other country.”

Ibn Baṭṭūṭah had forgotten the militant intention which had inspired him to undertake his journey. He took the opportunity to meet a number of the distinguished scholars and men of letters of Granada, including the highly esteemed Qāḍī Abu'l Barakāt Muḥammad al-Bala‘ba‘ī. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah met the latter in the garden of the Faqīh Abu'l Qāsim Muḥammad, with whom he sojourned two days and a night. Whilst there Ibn Baṭṭūṭah told them of his travels and Ibn Juzayy, who was also present, recorded the names of the important personages he had met. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah also visited the principal Shaykh, who was also the superior of the Sūfī orders. He spent a few days in the hermitage (zāwiyah) of the Shaykh outside the city itself, and the learned man took him to visit the hospice built on the hill known as the “outpost of the eagle” (Rābiṭat al-‘Uqāb), some eight miles from the city, near the ruined town of Ilbīrah (Elvira). Ibn Baṭṭūṭah also visited the hermitage of the Faqīh, Abu'l-Hasan ‘Alī, known as “the hermitage of the bridle” (al-lijām). This was located in a suburb of Granada called Najd adjoining “the mountain of the ingot” (Jabal as-Sabīkah).9 Mystic orders were common in Granada as elsewhere in Andalusia, and amongst them Ibn Baṭṭūṭah met a company of Persian Fuqarā who had made their home in Granada because of its resemblance to the uplands of Persia. They were a remarkable collection of men, having come to Granada from different countries of the East.

We do not know how long Ibn Baṭṭūṭah spent in Granada, but he seems to have returned to Malaga by the route by which he had come. From Malaga, instead of following the coast, he struck along the mountain ridge, possibly to avoid the danger of capture by Christian raiders. He reached the town of Dhakwān (the modern village of Coin) where there was a fine fortress and an abundance of water, trees and fruit. After reaching Ronda he retraced his steps to Gibraltar, passing en route the village of Banī Riyāḥ10 where he was entertained by the hospitable Shaykh Abu'l-Hasan ‘Alī. At Gibraltar he embarked on the same vessel as that from which he had first landed in the peninsula. His various adventures over, he once more set foot in Africa at Ceuta.

The purpose of his journey to Spain had become increasingly suspect. What was it that made him change his original intention to cross the Straits in order to fight for his religion in the holy war? Was it just a passing whim? Had the wanderlust of seeing new lands blunted his initial keenness? Or had he seen with his own eyes that al-Andalus was a doomed country and that it was only a matter of time before the might of Gibraltar, the wealth of Malaga, and the culture of Granada would be destroyed or pass into Infidel hands?

Almost immediately upon his return to Morocco he decided to travel again, and after a few months spent in Ceuta, took the road to the south on a journey which led to the great Negro kingdoms of the Niger. He crossed the silent monotony of the western Sahara, whose thirsty wastes had unleashed the Almoravids and the Marīnids. But the desert flame had burnt low. There was no second Yūsuf bin Tāshfīn to arise to rescue the Muslims of Spain. Their fate depended on their own resources and their citadels. Desert men had built their walls, but no one knew whether their defenders, decadent and alone, could face the onslaught of Christian zeal.

Notes

  1. Also referred to in Arabic accounts as Qaṣr al-Majāz (the Castle of the Crossing) and al-Qaṣr al-Awwal (the First Castle).

  2. A port lying on the Atlantic coast of Morocco between Tangier and Larache. According to al-Bakrī, the Berbers of Ceuta were from the provinces of Asīlā and al-Baṣrah. It is possible, therefore, that the craft was a local one manned by Berbers from Asīlā.

  3. This seems highly improbable. The most likely explanation is that the wall (which was on the summit) was a relic of the Almohad city of 1160.

  4. A place of doubtful locality, perhaps in the vicinity of the present-day Scud Hill in central-south Gibraltar.

  5. This tower is referred to in the Arabic text as al-Qāhirah al-Uzmā, or al-Ma'tharah al-Uzmā. It is possible that the name Calahorra is derived from al-Qal'ah al-ḥurrah (the Independent Citadel) as it appears that this name was bestowed upon towers of exceptional importance and size, which dominated their immediate surroundings.

  6. One is tempted to see a connection between this name and at-Turbah al-Hamrā (the Red Sands) of Ibn Juzayy. The “Red Sands” proper lay further to the south, but there is no clear distinction.

  7. It is notable that neither Ibn Baṭṭūṭah nor Ibn Juzayy makes mention of the inhabitants of the Upper Rock—the apes. The Arab geographers and historians are silent as to their origin and even their very existence. This is not the case on the African side of the Straits. According to al-Bakrī, “There is no place in the world where so many apes can be found as at Marsā Mūsā (an ancient port lying beneath Mount Abyla and inhabited by the Banī Samgharah). These animals imitate the actions of men who pass near to them. If they see sailors rowing in their canoes they take sticks and try to imitate their actions.”

  8. These included many machines, some of them in Gibraltar; a windmill on its summit and a transportable maqṣūrah in the great mosque at Marrākush.

  9. The Alhambra is built upon this mountain.

  10. Perhaps the village of Banarrabá between Ronda and Gibraltar? Probably derived from Ibn ar-Rabāḥ, but a corruption in the text is possible.

Bibliography

Ignacio de Ayala, ‘Historia de Gibraltar.’ Madrid, 1782.

L. Torres Balbás, “Gibraltar, llave y guarda de España.” Al Andalus, 7 (1942).

Francis Cater, ‘A Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga.’ London, 1774.

Colonel E. J. Dewing, ‘Notes on some curiosities and antiquities of Gibraltar,’ 1901.

‘Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, Travels in Asia and Africa.’ Trans. Prof. H. A. R. Gibb. Routledge, 1929, pp. 311-16. Arab text and trans. by C. Defrémery and Dr. B. R. Sanguinetti, Paris 1858.

al-Idrīsī, ‘Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, edited by Dozy and De Goeje.’ Leiden, 1866.

Lt. Col. T. James, ‘History of the Herculean Straits now called the Straits of Gibraltar,’ 1771.

Major General E. R. Kenyon, ‘Gibraltar under Moor, Spaniard and Briton,’ 1938.

al-Maqqarī, ‘History of the Mohammedan dynasties in Spain.’ Translated by Don Pascual de Gayangos, London, 1843.

Rawḍ al-Qirṭās, ‘Histoire des souverains du Maghreb et annales de la ville de Fés.’ Translated by Beaumier, Paris, 1860.

al-Bakrī, ‘Description de l'Afrique septentrionale. Translated by De Slane, Algiers, 1913.

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