August 8, 2011 | Vol. 178, No. 5

Journey 2011: Travels Through Islam

Discovering a world of change and challenge in the footsteps of the 14th century explorer Ibn Battua

World Wanderer (Ibn Battuta's Journey)

Ibn Battuta chronicled the medieval era's great globalizing force: Islam

The Rise of Moderate Islam (Journey / The New Islamists)

The Arab Spring is forcing once extremist groups to soften their political positions

It Takes a Neighborhood (Journey / Istanbul)

Why Istanbul's Bagcilar quarter is where to see the new Turkey

Urban legend the Pull of Tangier (Journey)

Somalia's Sea Wolves (Journey / Piracy)

For the world, piracy is a major scourge. For Somalia, it's big business

The Making of an Emirate (Journey / Dubai)

It was Western, not Islamic, financial know-how that built Dubai's grandeur

In Pursuit of Romance (Journey / The Sexes)

For young Saudi men and women, dating means staying ahead of the law

The Sands, and Waters, of Time (Journey / The Sahara)

The New Great Game (Journey / Central Asia)

The theater is Kazakhstan. The player: China

The Exodus from Bukhara (Journey / Jews)

History on a Plate (Journey / Food)

A taste of Ibn Battuta's world survives in a wheat-and-meat delicacy

One Faith, Many Strains (Journey / Schisms)

Shades of Radicalism (Journey / Kerala)

Kerala has long been India's most open and tolerant state. That's changing

Spain's Identity Crisis (Journey)

Muslim immigrants are changing the complexion of a deeply Catholic land

A Voyager for the Ages (Journey / Travelogue)

What Ibn Battuta saw and heard centuries ago still resonates today

The Enduring Message of Hangzhou (Journey)

One Man's Odyssey (Journey / The Route)

Along with Marco Polo and Zheng He, Ibn Battuta is one of history's great explorers. He set out from his native Tangier in 1325, when he was just 21. By the time he returned home for good almost 30 years later, he had covered some 120,000 km and nearly every part of the Islamic world

Editor's Desk: An Islamic Odyssey (Journey)