Wednesday 21 February 2007

Okay, Fuller - You've Won The First Round - Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller




Okay. Mr T.P. Fuller (full of his smug superior intellectual self, and if he’s not careful his face will end up looking like my liver. And, that’s not a pretty sight. My Liver - as above - hot of the press this morning)

I admit defeat this time. You're obviously an incredibly smart cookie. I've never heard of this great historical Muslim travelling bloke before. But, all I was trying to say was that there is a wave of Muslim extremism which is a direct threat to our freedom and liberty.

Who knows I might even write a scheme of work about him, for my kids.


Here' s a tribute to your mate (taken from the website address below):

Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller
"Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims completely dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travellers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact travelled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West. Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great Musiims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach".

http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/ibn_battuta/

What's your take on the Iran issue?

1 comment:

Metody Jankowiak said...
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