More than three years ago, the Islamic world celebrated with pride the 700 anniversary of the Tangerine voyager (1304-1377) Ibn Battûta. Without doubt, this great figure is among the incomparable and galactic travellers of the world. Ibn Battûta deserved this cosmopolitan fame because of his splendid achievements, like journeys to the Islamic countries and the Near East: Egypt, Sardinia, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Iran, Smaller Asia, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, India, China, Maldives, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ceylon, among others.

His real name is Chams Eddin Ibn Abdellah Allawati Attanji. Having finished his religious studies in the koranic institute, he left his native city Tangiers at the 22 years (1325), leaving to Mecca in fulfilment of a religious ideal: the pilgrimage.

Ibn Battûta returned to his native land till A.C.1349, a few months after the death of his mother. He spent some years there, until the King of Fez ordered him to undertake the job of peripatetic ambassador. Ibn Battûta was again inspired to discover a new horizon, opening up again other notable routes to Andalusia and to the sub-Saharan region of Mali and Niger.

Peculiarly, this nomadic hero did not settle down until 1353 in Fez, again after the circumstance of his appointment as a secretary in the royal cabinet, by the Merinid sovereign, Abú Inan.
In his fabulous voyage, Ibn Battûta crossed about 120,000 km. He visited pagan places as well as monotheist states, traversing the limits of the Islamic world. Thus he crossed the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe, in an epoch in which most of the countries had a strong rate of insecurity in their ways, not counting the great difficulties of travel. As well, Ibn Battûta endured the rigors of the climate and he was saved several times from epidemics. In many cities that he visited, this Saracen knew the generous hospitality, as well as the misery of his guests. Sometimes, he lived in palaces; others, in huts. In China he had a cultural and religious shock, seeing the Chinese devouring with joy dogs and cats! But... if he had not supported all these conditions, this hero never would have achieved such success.

During his sojourn in Mecca, Ibn Battûta studied jurisprudence, a fact which soon allowed him to practise as a judge in countries like the Maldives. On the other hand, his knowledge of Persian and Turkish enabled him to gain quickly the confidence, the astonishment and the admiration of his interlocutors. This is so for Persian and Turkish were among the expanded languages in the non-Arab states of the Muslim World.

Ibn Battûta was able to visit kings and dignitaries of the great empires of his era. His personal magnetism charmed his hosts. In the gardens of palaces and mansions, this indefatigable Saracen assiduously discoursed with his hosts about poetry, theology, geography, crusades and so on.
As a testimony of his trips, and with the aid of Ibn Jouzay (secretary of the Merinid Sultan Abú Inan), Ibn Battûta left to humanity a great publication: the Rihla. In addition to his notes written in classical Arabic during his trip, Ibn Battûta dictated his narrations in Moroccan Arabic to his comrade in the royal palace. Thus, this esoteric master reworked the text in the usual language of scholars.

The Rihla is a travel chronicle and one of the most translated works in the world, even in languages of countries that Ibn Battûta did not set foot. The Rihla is an exciting compendium, or rather, a mixture of genres and disciplines. It is, simultaneously, autobiography, novel, history, geography, toponymy, policy, hagiography, liturgy, numismatics, ethnography, anthropology and so forth. As an example of these translations, we cite one in Spanish, the one by Serafín Fanjul and Federico Arbos, titled Ibn Battûta: A través del Islam.

Nowadays, the body of this illustrious ambassador of Islam rests peacefully in a small mausoleum in the labyrinths of the old Medina of Tangiers. Although there is no memorial tablet at the entrance of the mausoleum, from time to time this place becomes a visiting space of numerous intellectuals. And before finishing, we hope that the chief executives in the Tourist Board in Tangiers erect as rapidly as possible the memorial brass and also include the tomb of Ibn Battûta in the tourist street map. Thus, at least, the dream of many intellectuals in seeing a commemorative plate of Ibn Battûta would not evaporate!!!!!