Of the three usual routes to Mecca, Ibn Battuta chose the least-travelled, which involved a journey up the Nile valley, then east to the Red Sea port of Aydhab. After spending about a month in Cairo, he embarked on the first of many detours within the relative safety of Mamluk territory. He spent several weeks visiting sites in the area, and then headed inland to Cairo, the capital of the Mamluk Sultanate and an important city. Convey my greetings to them.' Another pious man Sheikh Murshidi interpreted the meaning of a dream of Ibn Battuta that he was meant to be a world traveller. You must visit my brother Fariduddin in India, Rukonuddin in Sind, and Burhanuddin in China. One was Sheikh Burhanuddin, who is supposed to have foretold the destiny of Ibn Battuta as a world traveller and told him, 'It seems to me that you are fond of foreign travel. He met two ascetic pious men in Alexandria.

In the early spring of 1326, after a journey of over 3,500 km (2,200 mi), Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Alexandria, at the time part of the Bahri Mamluk empire. Ottoman 17th century tile depicting the Kaaba, in Mecca Near the end of his life, he dictated an account of his journeys, titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling, but commonly known as The Rihla. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of southern Eurasia, including Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, China, and the Iberian Peninsula.

He travelled more than any other explorer in pre-modern history, totalling around 117,000 km (73,000 mi), surpassing Zheng He with about 50,000 km (31,000 mi) and Marco Polo with 24,000 km (15,000 mi). Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ibraḥim ibn Muḥammad ibn YusufĪbu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah ( Arabic: أَبُو عَبْد الله مُحَمَّد اِبْن عَبْد الله اللَّوَاتِيّ الطَّنْجِيّ اِبْن بَطُّوطَة, romanized: ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Lawātiyy aṭ-Ṭanjiyy ibn Baṭṭūṭah, / ˌ ɪ b ən b æ t ˈ t uː t ɑː/ 24 February 1304 – 1368/1369), commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim world.

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