Editing Ibn Battuta (section)

====First pilgrimage====
On 2 Rajab 725 [[Islamic calendar|AH]] (14 June 1325 AD), Ibn Battuta set off from his home town at the age of 21 to perform a ''[[hajj]]'' (pilgrimage) to [[Mecca]], a journey that would ordinarily take sixteen months. He was eager to learn more about far-away lands and craved adventure. He would not return to Morocco again for 24 years.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|pp=30–31}}

{{blockquote|I set out alone, having neither fellow-traveler in whose companionship I might find cheer, nor caravan whose part I might join, but swayed by an overmastering impulse within me and a desire long-cherished in my bosom to visit these illustrious sanctuaries. So I braced my resolution to quit my dear ones, female and male, and forsook my home as birds forsake their nests. My parents being yet in the bonds of life, it weighed sorely upon me to part from them, and both they and I were afflicted with sorrow at this separation.<ref>{{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA13 13 Vol. 1]}}; {{harvnb|Gibb|1958|p=8}}</ref>}}

He travelled to Mecca overland, following the North African coast across the sultanates of [[Zayyanid dynasty|Abd al-Wadid]] and [[Hafsid]]. The route took him through [[Tlemcen]], [[Béjaïa]], and then [[Tunis]], where he stayed for two months.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=37}}; {{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA21 21 Vol. 1]}}</ref> For safety, Ibn Battuta usually joined a [[Caravan (travelers)|caravan]] to reduce the risk of being robbed. He took a bride in the town of [[Sfax]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325–1354 |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~dmdhist/ibnbattuta.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820121438/http://www.indiana.edu/~dmdhist/ibnbattuta.htm |archive-date=20 August 2017 |access-date=6 December 2017 |website=Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis |publisher=Indiana University}}</ref> but soon left her due to a dispute with the father. That was the first in a series of marriages that would feature in his travels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=39}}; {{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA26 26 Vol. 1]}}</ref>

[[File:Turkish - Tile with the Great Mosque of Mecca - Walters 481307 - View A.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] 17th century tile depicting the [[Kaaba]], in [[Mecca]] ]]

In the early spring of 1326, after a journey of over {{cvt|3500|km}}, Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of [[Alexandria]], at the time part of the [[Bahri dynasty|Bahri Mamluk empire]]. He met two ascetic pious men in Alexandria. One was Sheikh Burhanuddin, who is supposed to have foretold the destiny of Ibn Battuta as a world traveller and told him, "It seems to me that you are fond of foreign travel. You must visit my brother Fariduddin in India, Rukonuddin in Sind, and Burhanuddin in China. Convey my greetings to them." Another pious man, Sheikh Murshidi, interpreted a dream of Ibn Battuta as being that he was meant to be a world traveller.<ref>The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325–1354: Volume I, translated by H.A.R Gibb, pp. 23–24</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA27 27 Vol. 1]}}</ref>

He spent several weeks visiting sites in the area, and then headed inland to [[Cairo]], the capital of the [[Mamluk Sultanate]]. After spending about a month in Cairo,<ref>{{Harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=49}}; {{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA67 67 Vol. 1]}}</ref> he embarked on the first of many detours within the relative safety of Mamluk territory. Of the three usual routes to Mecca, Ibn Battuta chose the least-traveled, which involved a journey up the [[Nile]] valley, then east to the [[Red Sea]] port of [[ʿAydhab]].{{efn|Aydhad was a port on the west coast of the Red Sea at {{Coord|22|19|51|N|36|29|25|E}}.{{sfn|Peacock|Peacock|2008}}}} Upon approaching the town, however, a local rebellion forced him to turn back.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dunn|2005|pp=53–54}}</ref>

Ibn Battuta returned to Cairo and took a second side trip, this time to Mamluk-controlled [[Damascus]]. During his first trip he had encountered a holy man who prophesied that he would only reach Mecca by travelling through [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Syria]].<ref>{{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1853|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA105 105 Vol. 1]}}; {{harvnb|Gibb|1958|p=66}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=53}}</ref> The diversion held an added advantage; because of the holy places that lay along the way, including [[Hebron]], [[Jerusalem]], and [[Bethlehem]], the Mamluk authorities kept the route safe for pilgrims. Without this help many travellers would be robbed and murdered.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|p=54}}{{efn|Ibn Battuta left Cairo on around 16 July 1326 and arrived in Damascus three weeks later on 9 August 1326.{{sfn|Gibb|1958|pp=71, 118}} He described travelling on a complicated zig-zag route across Palestine in which he visited more than twenty cities. Such a journey would have been impossible in the allotted time and both Gibb (1958) and Hrbek (1962) have argued that Ibn Battuta conflated this journey with later journeys that he made in the region.{{sfn|Gibb|1958|p=81 Note 48}}{{sfn|Hrbek|1962|pp=421–425}} Elad (1987) has shown that Ibn Battuta's descriptions of most of the sites in Palestine were not original but were copied (without acknowledgement) from the earlier ''rihla'' by the traveller [[Mohammed al-Abdari al-Hihi|Mohammed al-Abdari]]. Because of these difficulties, it is not possible to determine an accurate chronology of Ibn Battuta's travels in the region.{{sfn|Elad|1987}} }}

After spending the Muslim month of [[Ramadan (calendar month)|Ramadan]], during August,<ref>[https://hijri.habibur.com/726/9/ Islamic Hijri Calendar For Ramadan – 726 Hijri] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519181014/https://hijri.habibur.com/726/9/ |date=19 May 2023 }}. hijri.habibur.com</ref> in Damascus, he joined a caravan travelling the {{cvt|1300|km}} south to [[Medina]], site of the Mosque of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]]. After four days in the town, he journeyed on to Mecca while visiting holy sites along the way; upon his arrival to Mecca he completed his first pilgrimage, in November, and he took the honorific status of ''[[Hajji|El-Hajji]]''. Rather than returning home, Ibn Battuta decided to continue travelling, choosing as his next destination the [[Ilkhanate]], a [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] [[Khanate]], to the northeast.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|pp=66–79}}