Jerusalem: A Religious Microcosm?

The Dome of the RockTo refer to Ibn Battutah solely as a religious pilgrim completely sells short his travels and his legacy. As Tim Mackintosh-Smith, the editor of the 2003 edition of his Travels, reflects in his introductory foreword, Ibn Battutah was also a “hagiographer, ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist and gastronome”. Indeed, by reading Battutah’s travelogue it is easy to agree with Mackintosh-Smith: the 29-year journey does not merely focus on our protagonist’s obligatory hajj to Mecca. Still, let’s look at Battutah’s travels through the lens of religion – it is almost impossible to ignore that particular angle. Venturing through the Holy Land, he continually finds himself at many of the most influential sites to the three major Western religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity), and falls easily into the category of hagiographer and “anecdotal historian” simultaneously. We dove into the Travels knowing that Battutah was a Muslim pilgrim, and it is interesting to gauge his reaction to the holy sites of the Judeo-Christian faiths. These worlds collide when Battutah reaches Jerusalem, where Islamic monuments such as the Dome of the Rock lie minutes away from the rumored Hill of Calvary, the exact spot where Jesus was purportedly crucified and buried. While these monuments are still considered incredible feats of architecture today, imagine how overwhelmingly wondrous it must have been for a 14th-century traveler to lay their eyes on the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre! Battutah’s voyages would eventually take him all over southern Europe, where the Gothic movement was in full swing, and through China, where the ancient temples had stood for centuries. Still, seeing these particular “gracious sanctuaries” – especially those two incredibly holy places of Muslim worship – must have been absolutely superb given his clear allegiance to his faith. The influence of early Judeo-Christian architecture on that of the Muslim monuments is impossible to gloss over. The layout of the Dome of the Rock is unbelievably similar to that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, constructed in the 4th century under the supervision of Emperor Constantine’s mother, who decreed the Hill the location of Christ’s Passion and burial. The Dome of the Rock is a second-degree adaptation of Roman art from the early Christian period – a grandiose style not typically seen in Battutah’s native lands. However, modifications on the theme obviously exist, tailoring the building style to the faith: in fact, the interior walls of the Dome of the Rock are inscribed with pleas asking the Muslims to reject the teachings of Christianity. The mélange of inspiration: spiritual, architectural, artistic – to be found in Jerusalem is truly fascinating. Speaking strictly on the subject of monuments, it is even more interesting to note their incredible similarities despite the vast differences in faith bases. In many respects, the amalgam of religious and social culture that Ibn Battutah found in Jerusalem can be considered a microcosm of the Western medieval world.