It's Cool To Stay In School

the building blocks of life I think that in my past life as a fourteenth-century woman roaming the desert sands and exploring lighthouses at the fresh age of 22…Ibn Battutah and I would have been BestFriendsForever. But that is beside the point.

In reading this text, I was astounded at the amount of narrative difference that existed between he and Marco Polo, simply on the level of storytelling. In Ibn Battutah’s Mecca-driven travels, I noticed three, standout stylistic differences between the two rough-and-tumble travelers. First, there is actual dialogue. When Ibn Battutah attributes a custom or an observation, there is conversation for the first time in our travel classics. Secondly, there is poetry to his observations. Alexandria is not just a city but also rather a woman who is graceful and humble in her stature. “She is a unique pearl of glowing opalescence. (6) This personification of a place not only applies to Alexandria but to Cairo and Mecca and Baghdad so on and so forth. I believe that this feminization of the land and its people brings true breadth to the text. He embodies the realm of Mother Earth to all of its stunning dimensions. Third, in line with Herodotus and his sparing mentions of Homer’s Odyssey, Ibn Battutah refers to other works of poetry and literature (like that of Arqalah the Damascene and Abu Tammam) to enrich his observations. He is humble in his knowledge and recognizes that many have said it better, so he uses their words to elevate his opinion of education and literacy. Which leads me to my next rant.

We have not discussed much about education in these books and perhaps we were saving the subject up for Mr. Battutah. The traveler himself doubled as a scholar, most definitely. We can see his qadi law education bursting through the verses of his travels. He notes colleges among the way and regards them with high praise, putting cities like Munyat Ibn Khasib above others do to their brainpower institutions. Because in its essence, traveling is an acquisition of knowledge and we go to far means to do so. To quote the Prophet, “Travel in search of knowledge, even though the journey take you to China.” What is so interesting to me is not that Ibn Battutah was educated (though in comparison to the still illiterate population of the world…it is quite remarkable), but rather the fact that he is being used today, in the modern-world, as a get-your-diploma-now type of role model.

His fourteenth-century behind finds itself as the poster boy for international education in an article for a local Yemen publication. The writer encourages her community to learn across borders because new ideas and concepts come from the interaction with new people of unknown cultures. And who better to show someone WHY they should broaden their Yemen horizons than Bill Clinton and Ibn Battutah? Both are strangely used as examples for “reaping the benefits of learning, studying, traveling, and writing abroad.” I commend the writer for her ability to contextualize Battutah in such a contemporary light. To be quite honest, I wouldn’t know how to start drudging up such a past. But her spotlight on his education reminded me as to why his text was so much richer in the first place! Gold star for you, Ibn Battutah.