(Ibn Battuta visits Mogadishu)

I took ship at Aden, and after four days at sea reached Zayla (Zeila, on the African coast), the town of the Berberah, who are a Negro people.  Who are followers of the Imam al-Shafi.(1)

Their land is a desert extending for two months' journey from Zayla to Maqdashaw (Mogadishu). Their beasts of burden are camels, and they possess sheep which are famous for their butter. The people are dark skinned and most people are rejecters (Shiite people who rejected the first three caliphs.) (2)

Zayla is a large city with a great bazaar, but it is the dirtiest, most abominable, and most stinking town in the world. The reason for the stench is the quality of its fish and the blood of the camels that they slaughter in the streets. When we got there, we chose to spend the night at sea, in spite of its extreme roughness, rather then in the town, because of its filth.

On leaving Zayla we sailed for fifteen days and came to Maqdasha (Mogadishu), which is an enormous town. Its inhabitants are merchants and have many camels, of which they slaughter hundreds every day . They also have many sheep. The merchants are wealthy, and manufacture textiles which takes its name from the city and which is exported to Egypt and elsewhere.

Among the customs of the people of this town is the following:   When a vessel reaches the port, it is met by sumbuqs (3), which are small boats, in each of which are a number of young men, each carrying a covered dish containing food. He presents this to one of the merchants on the ship saying this is my guest, and all the others do the same. Each merchant on disembarking goes only to the house of the young man who is his host, except those who have made frequent journeys to the town and know its people well; these live where they please. The host then sells his goods for him and buys for him, and if anyone buys anything from him at too low a price, or sells to him in the absence of his host, the sale is regarded by them as invalid. This practice is of great advantage to them.

When the young men came on board the ship on which I was, one of them approached me. My companions said to him: He is not one of the merchants: he is a lawyer. Then the young men called his companions and said: This man is the guest of the Qadi (4). One of the Qadi's friends came among them, and he told him of this. The Qadi came down to the beach with some of his pupils and send one on board to fetch me. Then I disembarked with my companions, and greeted the Qadi and his followers. He said to me: In the name of God, let us go and greet the Shaikh. Who is the Shaikh? I asked, and he replied: The Sultan. For it is their custom to call the Sultan Shaikh. I answered the Qadi (4): I will visit him as soon as I have found lodging. He replied: it is the custom here, whenever a lawyer, or a Sharif (5) or a holy man comes, that he should not go up to his lodging until he has seen the sultan. So I did what I was asked in accordance with their custom.

CONCERNING THE SULTAN OF MOGADISHU (6)

As we have said, the Sultan of Mogadishu is called Shaikh by his subjects. His name is Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh Omar, and by race he is a Berber.(huwa fi'l-asl min al-Barbara). He talks in the language of Mogadishu but knows Arabic. When a ship arrives, it is the custom for it to be boarded by the Sultan's sanbuq, to inquire where it came from, who are the owners and who its captain. They also inquire the nature of the cargo and what merchants and other persons on board. All this is told to the sultan, who invites as his guest anyone worthy of such honor.
When I arrived at the palace with the Qadi (4), whose name was Ibn Burhan al-Misri(meaning from Egypt), a eunuch came out and greeted him. The Qadi said: Go and do your duty, and inform our master the Shaikh that this man has arrived from the Hijaz (7). He delivered his message and returned with a plate containing betel leaves and areca nuts. He gave me six leaves of betel and some nuts, and the same amount to the Qadi: the rest he divided among my companions and the pupils of the Qadi. Then he brought a sprinkler that contained Damascus rose water, and sprinkled some on me and on the Qadi, and said: Our master orders that he be lodged in the house reserved for Islamic students.
The Qadi took me by the hand, and we went to this house, which is near that of the Shaikh. It was decorated with carpets and contained everything needful. Later the same eunuch brought us food from the Shaikh's house. He was accompanied by one of the wazirs (8), whose particular duty it was to look after guests. he said to us: Our master greets you and bids you welcome. After this the meal was served and we ate.
The food of these people is rice topped with butter (gee) and a sauce containing meat, chicken, fish and vegetables served on a large wooden dish.  They also serve unripe banana cooked in milk and serve it as a sauce. Sour milk with pickled lemon, bunches of pickled chilies with vinegar and salt, green ginger, and mangoes which look like apples but have a nut inside. Ripe mangoes are very sweet and are eaten like fruit, but unripe mangoes are as acid as lemons, and are cooked in vinegar. When the Mogadishu people have taken a mouthful of  rice, they take some of these pickles. One of them eats as much as a whole group from Arabia, they were extremely large and fat of body.
When we had eaten, the Qadi (4) went away. We stayed there for three days  food being brought to us three times a day, as is their custom.  And on the fourth, a Friday, the Qadi and one of the wazirs (8) brought me a set of garments. The clothing consisted of a silk wrapper an upper garment of Egyptian linen with markings, a lined gown of Jerusalem material, and an Egyptian turban with embroideries. They also brought my companions clothes suitable to their rank.
   We then went to the Friday mosque and prayed behind the sultans screen (maqsurah). When the Shaykh came out I greeted him and he bade me welcome. He talked to the qadi in the local language, and then said to me in Arabic: You are welcome, you have honored  our country by coming and having rejoiced us. He went out into the courtyard of the mosque and stopped at the tomb of his father. He recited a passage of the Koran and prayed. Then came the wazirs, the amirs (13) and military commanders and greeted him. In doing this they observed the same customs as are followed in the Yemen. The man who gives his greeting places his forefinger on the ground, and then on his head, and says: May God prolong your might.
After that the Shaikh went out of the door of the mosque and puts his sandals on ordering the qadi and myself to do the same, and set out for his palace on foot. All the other people walked barefoot. Over his head were carried four canopies of colored silk, each surmounted by a golden bird. He wore a sweeping cloak of green Jerusalem material over clothes of Egyptian linen. He had a silk girdle and a large turban. In front of him they beat drums and played trumpets and oboes (9). He was preceded by the amirs (13) of the army and followed by the Qadi, the lawyers and the Sharifs. (5)
With this ceremony he entered his audience hall. The wazirs (8), amirs and military commanders took their places on a bench set for them. A special carpet was spread for the Qadi on which he sad alone. He was accompanied by the lawyers and the Sharifs. There they all remained until the afternoon prayer, which they said together with the Shaikh. Then all the soldiers were drown up in lines according to their rank, and the drums, oboes (9), trumpets, and flutes played. While they played, everyone stayed in one place, and anyone, who happened to be moving about, immediately stood still. When the band stopped playing, those present greeted the Shaikh with their fingers in the manner we have described and then went away. This is their custom every Friday.
On Saturday the people come to the door of the Shaikh's house and sit on the bench outside. The Qadi, the lawyers or faqihs (10), the Sharifs (5), the imams (11), the shaikhs and the hadji (12) enter an outer room and sit on wooden benches arranged for that purpose. The Qadi (4) sits on his bench alone, and each of these classes of  people have their own bench, which is not shared by any other. The Shaikh then takes his place in the hall of audience, and sends for the Qadi. He takes his place on the Shaikh's left, and then the lawyers come in, and the chief of them sit in front of the Shaikh. The others then greet the Shaikh and go back again. Then the Sharifs enter, and the eldest of them sits before him: the others greet him and go back outside. But if they are guests of the Shaikh, they sit on his right hand. The same ceremonial is observed by persons of position and pilgrims, and then by the wazirs (8), the amirs (13) and the military commanders, each rank by itself.
Then food is brought, and the Qadi, the Sharifs (5) and those who are in the audience chamber eat in the presence of the Shaikh, and he with them. If he wishes to honor one of the chief amirs (13), he sends for him and has him eat with them. The rest eat in the refectory.
There they observe the same precedence as that of their entering the Shaikh's audience chamber.
After this the court session begins. The Shaikh retires to his private apartments, and the Qadi (4) hears cases involving the sharia (religious law) while the council of ministers (wazirs and amirs) hear civil cases. When the sultan's opinion is required, the court sent a written request and he replies by writing on the back of the note and returning it.

(1) Imam al-Shafi: Mohammed bin Idris Shafi'i: (767–820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and scholar, who was the first contributor of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. His legacy on juridical matters and teaching eventually led to the formation of Shafi'i school of fiqh.

(2) Note: Al-Dimashqi (1325) notes: The island of Berbera is populated by Muslim Negroes, who belong to the Zeidite sect and Shafiite. (The Zayadite are Shia Muslims and the Shafiite are Sunni).

(3) Sumbuq: A type of dhow, a small Arabian boat.

(4) Qadi: a Muslim judge who renders decisions according to the Shariʿah (Islamic law).

(5) Sharif: meaning "noble", "highborn", or "honourable", traditionally used as a title for the descendants of

(6) CONCERNING THE SULTAN OF MOGADISHU: The various  tribes occupied different quarters in Mogadishu (hence presumably its expansion), but recognized the supremacy of the tribe of Muqri, who called themselves Qahtanis, i.e. south-Arabians, and furnished the qadi of the city. The sultanate seems to have emerged only towards the end of the thirteenth century, and the most noted of its sultans was this Abu Bakr b. Fakhr al-Din.

(7) Hijaz: the province of Mecca.

(8) Wazirs: ministers; assistants to the Sultan.

(9) Oboes: a woodwind musical instrument with a double-reed mouthpiece, a slender tubular body, and holes stopped by keys.

(10) Faqih: A Faqih is an expert in fiqh (Jurist).

(11) Imam : the person who leads prayers in a mosque./ a title of various (Shia) Muslim leaders.

(12) Hadji : someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

(13) Amir: a ruler, chief, or commander in Islamic countries.