Records of Muslims from outside of Arabia/North Africa who went on a Haji?

by MushroomMountain123

There were significant Muslim communities in China, India, West Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Has a study been done on their accounts? What do their records of going on Haji and travelling to Mecca tell us? How were they received? How did they compare the Arab territories with their own?

TheNorthernSea

The most famous example would be Mansa Musa a.k.a. King Musa I of Mali. One of the richest rulers in history, Musa went with 80 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold, and a gigantic retinue of servants, soldiers, slaves, maids, etc. His generosity caused entire markets to crash. This brought the Empire of Mali into greater contact with the outside world and brought it to European attention. He brought back with him numerous treasures and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic thought.

Here's a quick link: http://www.academia.edu/1593503/Lion_Of_Mali_The_Hajj_of_Mansa_Musa

And the Stuff You Missed in History Class has an interesting podcast on the matter.

tka11486

Not sure about Hajj specifically or what time period you are looking for but there are several well known scholars who traveled the Muslim world in the middle ages and kept extensive accounts of their travelers (similar to Marco Polo). One great person to start with is Ibn Battuta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta