Space Section

This exhibit focuses mainly on religious and economic spaces. During Battuta’s travel to the Arabian Sea from Mecca, he stops at various locations, at various cities, each differentiating from one another. As the exhibit progresses forward, a transition from religious space to economic space is seen quite clearly. After leaving Mecca, Batttute leaves for the Arabian Sea with a two-minded set on either sailing to India or heading down to Africa. Throughout this journey, Battuta experiences new things and they are interpreted from both a religious and economical perspective. To understand this better, I will be breaking down these two spaces separately.

Religious Space: A religious or sacred place is distinguished from other types of spaces because of the fact that it primarily focuses on the surrounding environment, the practises, the objects and the central belief. Using these exact symbols, the faith and hope that is developed are considered as a sacred space (Gordon, 2002). Using sacred narratives, having the same beliefs also develop a sacred place, even if the physical place itself is considered non-sacred. In this particular exhibit, Mecca is considered the centre of a religious space because the Kaaba is where all Muslims congregate to share a similar fate in God. In the travels of Ibn Battuta, he greatly praises his stay at Mecca and emphasizes the religious importance of this particular place (Dunn, 2012). He talks with immense details about how people from Egpyt, Syria, Turkey would follow specific routes and meet up at one specific place. This a symbolism of unity and fate, and that can be defined as a religious space. In the story, where Battuta arrives at Taiz, he is greeted by a Rasulid sultan who is also a Muslim and allows various scholars like Battuta to stay at his place. What's noticeable here is that many of the scholars were also non - Muslim, yet they were all together with religious differentiation. While this is not a religious space, we know from the stories that prior to a meal, the sultan must say the Arabic chant Bismillah first before anyone else can eat. This respect for each other's religion can also be categorized as a religious space, but it quickly transitions into a social space given the various classes of people present here.

Economic Space:

Economic Space is mainly defined based on the moralities people use to build relations with economic values (Saar and Palaang, 2009). Factors like the economy, inequalities, social and political circumstances, all affect the way how space and place change. For example, after Ibn Battuta left Taiz, a place where he received high-quality service in hospitality, he arrived at Aden (Dunn, 2012). What he experienced at Taiz could be a classification of both a religious space and social class space (as noted before). He was greeted by the sultan with great care and moral values, but with strict customs on where to sit and when to eat. He also noticed differences in services between the higher distinct class and classes lower than them. However, at Aden, he saw a completely different scenario. He saw an international trading centre where there were huge vessels docked on shore, and enormous collections of items were being traded. Here he saw people interacting with others with economic values at the point of trade, which can be classified as an economic space. He saw people building financial relationships along with varied hospitality. Most of the ships that ported there were trading goods to many other places, creating establishments across countries. When Battuta arrived at Mogadishu, he saw a more busy place of trading, and what was different here compared to Aden was the town was specifically built and redesigned with the trading port centred. This change in economic space is seen to drastically lower down when he arrives at a small town where its shore was not a trading point but an unsanitized location (Dunn, 2012). In conclusion, the value of a specific place is reflected through the surrounding space. It works like an abstract where people shape the space the way they want it to be and based on that they modify the place. This is what is seen from an overall perspective in Battuta’s travel to the Arabian Sea. A mix of religious, social and economic space with major transitions throughout.