Ibn Battuta leaves Damascus with the annual pilgrim caravan
When the new moon of the month Shawwal appeared in the same year [1st September 1326],
the Hijaz caravan left Damascus and I set off along with it. At Bosra the caravans usually
halt for four days so that any who have been detained at Damascus by business affairs may
make up on them. Thence they go to the Pool of Ziza, where they stop for a day, and then
through al-Lajjun to the Castle of Karak. Karak, which is also called "The Castle of
the Raven," is one of the most marvellous, impregnable, and celebrated of fortresses.
It is surrounded on all sides by the river-bed, and has but one gate, the entrance to
which is hewn in the living rock, as also is the approach to its vestibule. This fortress
is used by kings as a place of refuge in times of calamity, as the sultan an-Nasir did
when his mamluke Salar seized the supreme authority. The caravan stopped for four days at
a place called ath-Thaniya outside Karak, where preparations were made for entering the
desert.
Thence we Journeyed to Ma'an, which is the last town in Syria, and from 'Aqabat
as-Sawan entered the desert, of which the saying goes: " He who enters it is lost,
and he who leaves it is born."
Crossing the desert from Syria to Medina
After a march of two days we halted at Dhat Hajj, where there are subterranean
waterbeds but no habitations, and then went on to Wadi Baldah (in which there is no water)
and to Tabuk, which is the place to which the Prophet led an expedition. The great caravan
halts at Tabuk for four days to rest and to water the camels and lay in water for the
terrible desert between Tabuk and al-Ula. The custom of the watercarriers is to camp
beside the spring, and they have tanks made of buffalo hides, like great cisterns, from
which they water the camels and fill the waterskins. Each amir or person of rank has a
special tank for the needs of his own camels and personnel; the other people make private
agreements with the watercarriers to water their camels and fill their waterskins for a
fixed sum of money.
From Tabuk the caravan travels with great speed night and day, for fear of this desert.
Halfway through is the valley of al-Ukhaydir, which might well be the valley of Hell (may
God preserve us from it). One year the pilgrims suffered terribly here from the
samoom-wind; the water-supplies dried up and the price of a single drink rose to a
thousand dinars, but both seller and buyer perished. Their story is written on a rock in
the valley.
Five days after leaving Tabuk they reach the well of al-Hijr, which has an abundance of
water, but not a soul draws water there, however violent his thirst, following the example
of the Prophet, who passed it on his expedition to Tabuk and drove on his camel, giving
orders that none should drink of its waters. Here, in some hills of red rock, are the
dwellings of Thamud. They are cut in the rock and have carved thresholds. Anyone seeing
them would take them to be of recent construction. [The] decayed bones [of the former
inhabitants] are to be seen inside these houses.
Al-Ula, a large and pleasant village with palm-gardens and water-springs, lies half a
day's journey or less from al-Hijr. The pilgrims halt there four days to provision
themselves and wash their clothes. They leave behind them here any surplus of provisions
they may have, taking with them nothing but what is strictly necessary. The people of the
village are very trustworthy. The Christian merchants of Syria may come as far as this and
no further, and they trade in provisions and other goods with the pilgrims here. On the
third day after leaving al-Ula the caravan halts in the outskirts of the holy city of
Medina.
Ibn Battuta visits the holy sites of Medina pp. 74-77.
That same evening [the third day after leaving al-Ula, on the route from Syria and
Damascus] we entered the holy sanctuary and reached the illustrious mosque, halting in
salutation at the Gate of Peace; then we prayed in the illustrious "garden"
between the tomb of the Prophet and the noble pulpit, and reverently touched the fragment
that remains of the palm-trunk against which the Prophet stood when he preached. Having
paid our meed of salutation to the lord of men from first to last, the intercessor for
sinners, the Prophet of Mecca, Muhammad, as well as to his two companions who share his
grave, Abu Bakr and 'Omar, we returned to our camp, rejoicing at this great favour
bestowed upon us, praising God for our having reached the former abodes and the
magnificent sanctuaries of His holy Prophet, and praying Him to grant that this visit
should not be our last and that we might be of those whose pilgrimage is accepted.
On this journey, our stay at Medina lasted four days. We used to spend every night in
the illustrious mosque, where the people, after forming circles in the courtyard and,
lighting large numbers of candles, would pass the time either in reciting the Koran from
volumes set on rests in front of them, or in intoning litanies, or in visiting the
sanctuaries of the holy tomb.
From Medina to Mecca through a final desert, the vale of Bazwa
We then set out from Medina towards Mecca, and halted near the mosque of Dhu'l-Hulayfa,
five miles away. It was at this point that the Prophet assumed the pilgrim garb and
obligations, and here too I divested myself of my tailored clothes, bathed, and putting on
the pilgrim's garment I prayed and dedicated myself to the pilgrimage. Our fourth halt
from here was at Badr, where God aided His Prophet and performed His promise. It is a
village containing a series of palm-gardens and a bubbling spring with a stream flowing
from it. Our way lay thence through a frightful desert called the Vale of Bazwa for three
days to the valley of Rabigh where the rainwater forms pools which lie stagnant for a long
time. From this point (which is just before Juhfa) the pilgrims from Egypt and Northwest
Africa put on the pilgrim garment. Three days after leaving Rabigh we reached the pool of
Khulays which lies in a plain and has many palm-gardens. The Bedouin of that neighbourhood
hold a market there, to which they bring sheep, fruits, and condiments. Thence we
travelled through 'Usfan to the Bottom of Marr, a fertile valley with numerous palms and a
spring supplying a stream from which the district is irrigated. From this valley fruit and
vegetables are transported to Mecca
We set out at night from this blessed valley, with hearts full of joy at reaching the
goal of our hopes, and in the morning arrived at the City of Surety, Mecca (may God
ennoble her !), where we immediately entered the holy sanctuary and began the rites of
pilgrimage.
The pious kindness of the people of Mecca
The inhabitants of Mecca are distinguished by many excellent and noble activities and
qualities, by their beneficence to the humble and weak, and by their kindness to
strangers. When any of them makes a feast, he begins by giving food to the religious
devotees who are poor and without resources, inviting them first with kindness and
delicacy. The majority of these unfortunates are to be found by the public bakehouses, and
when anyone has his bread baked and takes it away to his house, they follow him and he
gives each one of them some share of it, sending away none disappointed. Even if he has
but a single loaf, he gives away a third or a half of it, cheerfully and without any
grudgingness.
Another good habit of theirs is this. The orphan children sit in the bazaar, each with
two baskets, one large and one small. When one of the townspeople comes to the bazaar and
buys cereals, meat and vegetables, he hands them to one of these boys, who puts the
cereals in one basket and the meat and vegetables in the other and takes them to the man's
house, so that his meal may be prepared. Meanwhile the man goes about his devotions and
his business. There is no instance of any of the boys having ever abused their trust in
this matter, and they are given a fixed fee of a few coppers.
The cleanliness of the people of Mecca
The Meccans are very elegant and clean in their dress, and most of them wear white
garments, which you always see fresh and snowy. They use a great deal of perfume and kohl
and make free use of toothpicks of green arak-wood. The Meccan women are extraordinarily
beautiful and very pious and modest. They too make great use of perfumes to such a degree
that they will spend the night hungry in order to buy perfumes with the price of their
food. They visit the mosque every Thursday night, wearing their finest apparel; and the
whole sanctuary is saturated with the smell of their perfume. When one of these women goes
away the odour of the perfume clings to the place after she has gone.
***
Ibn Battuta makes his second pilgrimage to Mecca
Ibn Battuta returns to Mecca with the Baghdad pilgrim's caravan pp. 104-107.
When we arrived at Baghdad [after touring Tabriz and other cities in Iran and Iraq] I
found the pilgrims preparing for the journey, so I went to visit the governor and asked
him for the things which the sultan had ordered for me. He assigned me the half of a
camel-litter and provisions and water for four persons, writing out an order to that
effect, then sent for the leader of the caravan and commended me to him. I had already
made the acquaintance of the latter, but our friendship was strengthened and I remained
under his protection and favoured by his bounty, for he gave me even more than had been
ordered for me.
As we left Kufa I fell ill of a diarrhoea and had to be dismounted from the camel many
times a day. The commander of the caravan used to make enquiries for my condition and give
instructions that I should be looked after. My illness continued until I reached Mecca,
the Sanctuary of God (may He exalt her honour and greatness!) I made the circuit of the
Sacred Edifice [the Ka'aba] on arrival, but I was so weak that I had to carry out the
prescribed ceremonies seated, and I made the circuit and the ritual visitation of Safa and
Marwa riding on the amir's horse. When we camped at Mina I began to feel relief and to
recover from my malady. At the end of the Pilgrimage I remained at Mecca all that year,
giving myself up entirely to pious exercises and leading a most agreeable existence After
the next Pilgrimage [of AD 1328] I spent another year there, and yet another after that.
