April 20, 1352
I traveled to many cities and countries in this short period of time. I took ships, and I walked, along with riding on camels. All of the cities that we went to were beautiful with aritifcats and gorgeous surroundings. But the most beautiful city had to be Marrakesh (Document C2). All of Marrakesh's religous symbols are plentiful and elaborate. They're mosques, crosses, and other aspects of thier religous lives seem to be the center of society. Everything around this is still mesmorizing, but they definitely top all of them. Besides thier religous items, it is built in a wide open area with a surplus of surplies (Document C2). But eventualy all good things must come to an end. I had to leave Marrakesh and the next challenge for me was to cross the Sahara. We had to get the caemels, otherwise known as the ships of the sea, ready for travel. These amazing creatures can go days on end without water and that is why the are the only means of transportation for te Sahara Desert. But, its not only the camels that need to prepare for this trip. Our whole caravan needs to gather a much water as we can bring along with us and enough food to keep us sustained for the entirety of the journey (Document C2).
March 16, 1326
Crossing into Syria is one of the most challenging aspects of mosts peoples journeys to Mecca, but not ours. Most people have to go through a series of complicated procedures. First of all everybody has to pay major fees at the station of Qatya (Document G).They also check your bags whenever they choose to and they do not hesitate. Besides getting your bags checked and paying a fine, you need to have certified passports. If you want to cross into Egypt, you would need a passport from Syria. If you would like to cross into Syria, you need a passport from Egypt (Document G).Overall there is really no easy way to do this. Also, they smoothen the sand before nightfall so they could see what tracks are left in the morning (Document G). They are so serious about protecting their countries because they do not want any attacks from Iraq to come into their cities. I thought this process was quite bizzare, but we were given permission to pass through for our journey to Mecca and this was a huge shock to our whole caravan (Document G). They treated us like we were royalty and we were allowed passage to the town of which borders Egypt. No one knew that this would have been one of the easiest parts of the trips, but the security for Syria treated us with the utmost respect. Throughout my journey I have noticed that people are becoming more and more respectful no matter where we travel or what cultures we come across.
Novemeber 12, 1325
We finally reached Tunis and my fever subdued greatly. We entered the town and everybody was greeted as soon as we arrived, but I knew no one. These merchants that I was traveling with have lived there their whole lives so of course they would know everybody. But I just felt so alone. I never felt like this before and I could not help my emotions so I just started uncontrollably sobbing. Finally one of the kind people of the town came up and greeted me(Document C). They brought me into town and introduced me to new people. There was famous scholars everywhere! Many notable people were in the town due to the festival that had been going on while we were present. We finally formed the pilgrim caravan for our journey, and I was nominated the judge. We set off on our Pilgrimage where we traveled great distances until we reached Qabis. Our caravan encountered heavy rainfall so we we were staionary for ten days (Document C). We kept moving on after that and I met my first wife. She was the daughter of one of the syndics from Tunis , but me and her father unfortunately got into a fight. This invalidated our marriage and I soon married my second wife, the daughter of a student of Fez. I put off the caravan for a day, because it was important for me to be conducted to my new wife (Document C).
June 14, 1325
Today was the first day of my Pilgrimage to Mecca (Document A). I have no one by my side. No one for company, or for moral support. I have wanted to make this journey for years, but I have finally decided to do it. At 22 years of age, my parents are still alive and they are very saddened about my decision (Document A). It will be hard to leave everything that I have, but it is something that I feel like I have to do. At the first town that I stopped at, two ambassadors had just left. One of the citizens in town told me to join them, but I had to ask for God's consent first (Document A). Soon after I raced after them and we finally were united. The men stopped in the town of Miliana and I stayed with them for ten days. I knew we had to set out again soon, but both of them fell sick due to the sweltering heat (Document A). One soon passed away because his conditions were so horrible. I knew this party would not be the best to travel with so decided to leave them. I continued my adventure with a group of merchants from Tunis, because I decided it would be better to travel with more people because there is strength in numbers. I was determined to survive and complete my Pilgrimage to Mecca.
June 20, 1325
Today I finally reached the town of al-Jaza’ir, but we did not completely pass through the town just yet. We had to wait for a fellow group of people who had been on the journey with us, so we could reunite with them (Document B). Eventually we continued on with our journey finally residing in Bijaya. The leader of this region, Ibn Sayyid an-Nas, ruled a tyrannical government. A member of our party died along the way, and he left all of his riches to a certain man. This man was being delivered the gold, but when doing so, this harsh ruler forced the man to give him the money that didn’t belong to him (Document B). As we were stopping in Bijaya a fever came across me. Everybody was telling me to rest and recover, but this was my journey to Mecca. I couldn’t even imagine giving in even for a day, and wait for the fever to pass, I had to keep going. When we arrived at Qusantinah, we decided to stay there for a little while and we set up camp. But in the middle of the night a heavy rainfall appeared so we bolted into town to seek refuge. When we awoke in the morning the governor came to greet us. Everybody there was very nice and treated us with their best manners. Once we left this respectful town, I was once again contaminated with the fever, but as I said I would not rest until I reached Mecca (Document B).
