I was enchanted by Ibn Battuta’s travels, but I came away from them feeling that he was a bit of a jerk. Multiple times on his journey he’d marry a local woman, get her pregnant, and then move on, leaving her only a paltry sum to support herself and their kid.
To IB's defense, he did make a point to seek after his lost progeny on the way home. One son of his in Damascus had died, and another in Maldives he decided was better off staying with his mother for reasons he doesn't mention. Moreover, there are at least three separate towns he visits where he mentions that it was the custom of the women of that place to marry travelers and then divorce them rather than leave (Oulata, the Maldives, and another town in Iraq I can't remember the name of). So you might be applying presentism there, even though I agree with the spirit of what you're saying.
Sounds a lot like Kerouac's "On the road", that heralded masterpiece of '60s counterculture.
Totally agree. And the amount of sexual access these upper class medieval Muslims had is pretty insane. Not only does IB marry women and leave them, he buys "slave girls" all the time on the cheap.
Why do you think non-muslim communities of that time were any different. Do you when USA end slavery or when they recognize women as full human beings?
حبيبي I read his comment many times but I do not read that what you read. He doesn't say other communities were strictly superior.