Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
When Ibn Battuta reached Egypt, he received help from a sheikh after he handed him a letter from a friend in Tangier. The sheikh listened to his dream and told him about a saying from the Prophet Muhammed, "Go in search of knowledge even if your journey takes you to China." This inspired Ibn Battuta to travel all over the known world. See the movie, "Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta" narrated by Ben Kingsley and produced by National Geographic.