Explorations of Travel with Ibn Battuta and Tim Macintosh-Smith - Essay Example

Travel Writing Fiction and Fascination: Explorations of Travel with Ibn Battuta and Tim Macintosh-Smith Table of Contents Introduction 3 2. Tim Mackintosh-Smith 3 3. Travel and Islam 5 4. Descriptions of the Pyramids of Giza 6 5. Truth in Storytelling 7 6. Conclusion 10 Bibliography 11 Travel Writing, Fiction and Fascination: Explorations of Travel with Ibn Battuta and Tim Macintosh-Smith 1. Introduction Travel writing is a skill that requires a number of different methods of storytelling. The expectation associated with travel writing is that the storyteller is revealing the experiences that embody the culture and nature of a region of the world in which travel has occurred through revelations of a certain amount of truth. However, it is possible to look at travel writing as a skill of storytelling, where the narrative needs to have a beginning, middle, and end, creating a package in which meaning is conveyed that is universal along with specifics of experiences. What this means, however, is that its possible that many travel writers throughout history have fictionalize their story in order to make them more exciting and reader friendly to their audience. One of the most famous world travelers is Ibn Battuta who started out on a journey to Mecca that was to take one year of his life and after 29 years of travel, he came back to write a journal about the experiences he had as he became essential to heads of state, married repeatedly and had multiple concubines, and live the life that was grand and filled with exciting moments. Even as Tim Mackintosh explores the footsteps of Ibn Battuta and travels the route that he took, there is the sense of the storyteller, a feeling that perhaps the story is created as much as it is experienced. Through an exploration of the storytelling process in terms of travel writing, the lines becomes blurred between truth and fiction as the development of the narrative appears to become the central focus of the writer. 2. Tim Mackintosh-Smith In 1345 Ibn Battuta set out to honor one of the Five Pillars of Islam by taking his journey to Mecca. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) creates a narrative about the travels of Ibn Battuta, revealing that he took a journey that was supposed to last 1 year and instead traveled 75000 miles, taking on ten wives and numerous concubines, and then coming home after 29 years to write the book where he chronicled his adventures. He began his journey in Tangiers which was his home, but instead of traveling to Mecca went to Alexandria where he described the city in fantastical metaphors of beauty. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) uses a documentary style of filmmaking in order to record his own journey, which follows the path of Ibn Battuta. He first goes to Tangiers, at this point himself a tourist, which is different than experiences of Ibn Battuta who was born and raised in Tangiers. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) explores the environment from the perspective of a traveler, but one who wants to engage in local experiences. It he suggests that there is a great deal of mythology in Tangiers about Ibn Battuta, especially when he is shown a photograph by the innkeeper where he takes a room which is supposed to be of Ibn Battuta smoking a hookah. Unfortunately, photography was unavailable in the 14th century and the hookah was not invented until the 17th century. This shows that there is a great deal of invented narrative that goes along with the histories and mythologies involving travel. Even as Mackintosh-Smith (2014) describes the travels reported by Ibn Battuta, there is a sense of the fantastic. Ibn Battuta rights of traveling the 75,000 miles but his travel is random and without any appearance of a plan or intention. He claims to have had 10 wives and numerous concubines, but there is no evidence of a life like this before he left Tangiers, nor is there any writing that exists about a life like this after he comes home, 29 years later. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) reveals that Ibn Battuta, who had just left home at the age of 22, had married once, divorced her because of an argument with her father, and then married again before he ever arrived in Alexandria. After Alexandria, Ibn Battuta had a desire to meet the greatest holy man in Egypt. Therefore, he traveled south to a small place called Munyal Bani Murshid that was down the River Nile. This man was Murshidi, who is still remembered in the region according to Mackintosh-Smith’s experiences. He was the greatest living saint of the time. He had the power of foretelling the future. The narrative written by Ibn Battuta states that he was told by this holy man to sleep on the roof of the mosque during which time he had a great dream which saw him on the wing of an eagle, flying first towards Mecca, then towards Yemen and beyond. What should be noted here is that this vehicle of the dream is a great way in which to introduce the rest of his story. This becomes an important turning point in his story. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) states that the prophecy about Ibn Battuta’s travels could be seen as a contents page for the travels he would undertake. Even as Ibn Battuta retells the story of a near death experience, he can connect it through prophesy which foretold this experience. This would give connectivity to the narrative and give greater meaning to what occurred. 3. Travel and Islam Had he taken this entire journey, all 75,000 miles, he would have had to travel at least seven mile per day for 11,000 days. Ibn Battuta tells the story in which he met approximately 60 different heads of state, traveled to 40 countries, and served as an advisor to several of those heads of state. In reading his journal, it is possible to count as many as 2000 people that he met or whose tombs, he was able to see during his travels. He describes life in Central Asia, Turkey, West and East Africa, the Malay Peninsula, and parts of India, which are taken as contemporary knowledge about those regions. In many cases, his recitations are considered to be the only source of understanding life during that time (Aramco World 2000). Travel was an important part of Islam, the pilgrimage to Mecca being one of the five pillars, and the mandate that anyone capable should take this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. It was also considered important to the people of Islam to help travelers and to provide for them as they went into the world (Mackintosh-Smith 2014). However, after describing only one bout of homesickness, his choices in terms of travel began to reflect a need to learn more about the world. Along with his insights into the cultures to which he traveled, it is reported that he is able to describe the way in which rule in order was established within some of these nations. He had an appreciation for the infrastructure that is required in order to create a city at how the government systems would achieve political stability through a number of different forms of outreach to the people (Aramco World 2000). This is reflective of the way in which Islamic heritage views the concept of travel. During his film, Mackintosh-Smith (2014) explores the concept of travel and its importance to the Islamic religion. One of the young man that he interviews states that “we travel to discover the secrets of the universe… But knowledge of God is impossible, however much we study” (Mackintosh-Smith 2014). During this exchange, Mackintosh – Smith (2014) is an important area to the Islamic religion, speaking with a group of students about the nature of travel and its associations with God. This particular narrative piece provides the audience with a sense of the purpose of travel as a means of connecting to a greater sense of the world. In terms of storytelling, Mackintosh – Smith has created an overall sense of the reasons that Ibn Battuta may have undertaken such a fantastic journey and then come home and recite the story for future readers. 4. Descriptions of the Pyramids of Giza According to Mackintosh-Smith (2014) Ibn Battuta showed little interest in the pyramids or ruins of Egypt. On the top of a pharisaic temple in Luxor is the resting place of a Muslim saint who performed hadj every year. The imam gave Mackintosh-Smith (2014) a history of the spot even though he was Christian, showing that they could be tolerant of him in this holy place. Despite Ibn Battutas disinterest in the Tombs of the Pharaohs, tomb visiting of Muslim saints is an important part of the Islamic traditions. Once again, it is emphasized that travel is an important part of Islam because travel helps towards understanding God. Because he was telling the story of the travels of Ibn Battuta, the pyramids of Egypt were basically ignored and the deeper message that he found in the tomb of the Muslim saint presided over his visit to Luxor. A travel writer like Brian Fagan (2006, p. 64), as an example, will describe something like the great pyramids in terms of the way in which they create an emotional environment. Not only are the pyramids described, but they become a living presence and a way in which to express their historical value. Even makes the connections between the ancient purposes as well as the colonization of the British which resulted in English and carving their names on these great architectural achievements. Through creating this expressive narrative, the travel writer is not only discussing experiences, but creating an environment in which the reader experiences a sense of place and time in relationship to what the travel writer is discussing. 5. Truth in Storytelling To be a great travel writer one must become a great storyteller. Describing the adventures that occur when traveling to exotic locations requires the ability to take the experience and textualize it in terms of history, location, and time period. It also requires the ability to fictionalize the story to make it more palatable to the reader. Many of the great stories that have been told are now being revealed as fictions that the writers created in order to excite their audiences. As an example, Marco Polo may never have actually visited China and his experiences could be the combination of stories that he had heard from people who had been there. It is also likely that Ibn Battuta never went into China, at best. He arrived at the Maldives and maybe went into Bengal, but never actually went into China (Dunn 1986, p. 250). Tim Mackintosh-Smith (2010 n.p.) suggests that the reason that Ibn Battuta gave only a very vague account of his time in China because the Muslim communities were not acting in a way that he believed that the slums should act. Although Ibn Battuta wrote in length about most of his journeys, the fact that he was miserable. While he was in China may have led to the fact that it only occupies about 6% of his entire work, despite the fact that he supposedly spent some time there (Dunn 1986, p. 248). Whether or not he actually traveled to Palestine is also questioned by Amikam Elad (1987 p. 256). Janicsek also questions whether or not Ibn Battuta was truthful in his writing. Questions about the truth of the book reflect some of the problems with using travel histories as actual histories. The travel writer uses his skills as a fiction writer in order to enhance what he is telling the reader, creating a sense of wonder about the world and the truth is not a necessity. An interesting comparison can be made to the fictionalized travel film in which a journey is undertaken that both covers mileage as well as meaning. An example of this can be seen in the film Le Grande Voyage with Ismael Ferroukhi (2004) in which a father and son attempts to go on their hadj, seeking out Mecca and in the process finding deeper meaning to their relationship. This concept of the journey has been a common theme in literature as a way in which to develop transition from one space into the next space. This can also be seen as the theme in many travel stories where the journey was a part of the development of change within the main characters. A book like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (2007) reveals how the fictionalization of the truth creates the beginning, end, and middle for the characters in the book or story where real life rarely really has these definitive sections. In the book Eat, Pray, Love the protagonist is also the author, reciting the experiences that she had been traveling to Italy, where she enjoyed the sensuality of food, India, where she learned to restrain and focus on spirituality, and eventually into Indonesia where she continued restraint, but finally found love. As a travel novel, Gilbert (2007) creates a beginning middle and end through which this journey takes place, but her story did not end at the end of the story. This would have to be true for Ibn Battuta as well because he lived on after coming home to Tangiers, although no further record exists of what happened to him after he wrote his travelogue (Mackintosh-Smith 2014). Despite the appearance and claims from both Mackintosh – Smith (2014) and Ibn Battuta, it is clear that both of these travel writers are creating stories through which to express a greater meaning than just exploring their travels. In addition, as the travel journal, was something that was written after Ibn Battuta came back home, it would not be unreasonable to believe that much of it was embellished. Just like there are questions as to whether or not he actually went into Palestine or China, it is possible that he used these regions of the world in order to give greater depth to the book that he was writing. In addition, there are many implausible situations that create a grander narrative and if the truth were told. His development of the story of his 10 wives, and multiple concubines place him at the center of highly sexualized environment. In addition, the fact that he knew over 60 state leaders and acted as advisor to some of them is just as implausible. Ibn Battuta’s story is one of fantastical adventure in which a simple one year journey turned into 29 years of experience, sexuality, and high-level intrigue at the governmental level The act of travel writing becomes based on the importance of the storytelling aspect rather than the development of truth. Carl Thompson (2011) discusses the modes of travel writing and how they become dependent upon objective the strategies so that information can appear authoritative. Although the belief was that observation was a part of eyewitness experience, the focus is on creating a sense of the events and the material phenomenon so that the external world becomes transformed from a reader rather than simply expressed. 6. Conclusion It is possible that a mistake is made when someone looks at a travel journal and begins to use it as a source of history. The intentions of the travel writer are to create a story, told the reader into the location so that they feel something important about the place and time in which the experiences of the writer existed. Because the objective is not necessarily just to recite the truth, it is highly likely that the travel writer is going to embellish or even create stories that will help the reader to understand the meaning behind the experiences rather than just the experiences themselves. A travel writer, more often than not, wants to create a point. Mackintosh-Smith (2014) created a sense of culture in the process of using comparisons between his own journey and that of Ibn Battuta. In reality, his journey was singular and the events that he was portraying in the narrative of the video were constructed with the intention of providing the audience with specific ideas about these cultures. It is likely, then, that Ibn Battuta created much of his narrative as well. His intentions were likely to tell a story more than they were to tell the truth. A travel writer is a storyteller and with the skills he is able to create a narrative that pulls the reader into the location, gathering meaning, and helping them transform as much as the concept of the journey allows for transformation. Bibliography Aramco World. July/August 2000. “From Pilgrim to World Traveler: Tangier to Makkah. Mackintosh-Smith, Tim 27 February 2014. “The Man who Walked Across the World Part 1”. YouTube. Available from [3 May 2015]. Dunn, Ross E. 1986. The adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim traveler of the 14th century. Berkley: University of California Press Elad, Amikam. 1987."The description of the travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa in Palestine: is it original?." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series) Vol. 119, No. 2, p. 256-272. Fagan, Brian. M. 2006. From Stonehenge to Samarkand. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gilbert, E. 2007. Eat, pray, love: One womans search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia. New York: Penguin Group. Janicsek, Stephen. 1929 “Ibn Battuta’s Juorney to Bulghar: Is it a fabrication? Journal of the royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland Vol.61, No. 4, 791-800. Le Grande Voyage. 2004 (DVD). Ognan Pictures, France. Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. 2010. Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam with Ibn Battutah. New York: Hodder & Stoughton. Thompson, Carl. 2011. Travel writing. London: Routledge. Read More