''Riḥla'' ( ar, رحلة) refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, or travelogue. It constitutes a genre of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of "travel in search of knowledge" (الرحلة في طلب العلم), the ''riḥla'' as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route.Netton, I.R., “Riḥla”, in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'', Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 12 July 2018 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6298> The classical ''riḥla'' in medieval Arabic

travel literature The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern pe ...

, like those written by

Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: 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 ...

(known commonly as ''

The Rihla ''The Rihla'', formal title ''A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling'', is the travelogue written by Ibn Battuta, documenting his lifetime of travel and exploration, which according to his descr ...

'') and

Ibn Jubayr Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 – 29 November 1217; ar, ابن جبير), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to ...

, includes a description of the "personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities" experienced by traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance the 19th century ''riḥla''s of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the riḥla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.

As travel

The ''Rihla'' travel practice originated in

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

and served to connect Muslims of Morocco to the collective consciousness of the ''

ummah ' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history. It is a synonym for ' ...

'' across the Islamic world, thereby generating a larger sense of community. ''Rihla'' consists of three types: #''Rihla'' - journey within Morocco, typically to meet with other

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

s before traveling beyond the local area. #''Rihla hijaziyya'' - journey to the ''

Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Prov ...

'' which would be transmitted via an oral or written report. #''Rihla sifariyya'' - journey to foreign lands including to embassies and missions in territories in ''Dar al-Harb''. Events on these journeys would be the basis of the extant travel literature. The performance of ''Rihla'' was considered in

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...

as a qualifier for teachers and political leaders. These journey also coincided with the end of the

Mongol invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastation ...

and a new opportunity for Islamic expansion.

As literature

The travel narratives of

and

are perceived as "archetypical exponents of the flowering of he ''riḥla''genre," but should not be perceived as its founders. Concerning Ibn Jubayr's voyage to Mecca in 1183, one writer claimed that "...his two-year journey made a considerable impact on literary history. His account of his travels and tribulations in the East served as the foundational work of a new genre of writing, the rihla, or the creative travelogue: a mix of personal narrative, description, opinion and anecdote. In following centuries, countless people emulated and even plagiarized him." Travel narratives were written prior to Ibn Jubayr's; for example, the 12th century ''riḥla'' of

Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi or, in full Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn al-ʿArabī al-Maʿāfirī al-Ishbīlī ( ar, أبو بكر محمّد ابن عبدالله ابن العربى المعافرى الأسفلى) born in Sevilla in 1076 ...

, and accounts of foreign lands visited by merchants and diplomats (such as the 9th century accounts of India and China by Abu Zayd al-Sirafi, and the 10th century ''riḥla'' by

Ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of his ...

with the Abbasid mission to the Volga) long predate Ibn Jubayr's travelogue. The best known ''rihla'' narrative is

's ''Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling'' (, or ), often referred to as the ''Travels of Ibn Battuta'' (, or ). The ''Travels'' was dictated to

Ibn Juzayy Abu al-Qasim, Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Abd Allah, Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi al-Gharnati () was an Andalusian Maliki-Ash'ari scholar and poet of Arab origin. Works He wrote many religious works such as his ''al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyyah'' or "T ...

on orders from the

Marinid The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

Sultan

Abu Inan Faris Abu Inan Faris (1329 – 10 January 1358) ( ar, أبو عنان فارس بن علي) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He succeeded his father Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman in 1348. He extended his rule over Tlemcen and Ifriqiya, which covered ...

who was impressed by the story of Ibn Battuta. Although Ibn Battuta was an accomplished and well-documented explorer, his travels had been unknown outside the Islamic world for many years. The ''Rihla'' of Abdallah al-Tijani describes his 970-day round trip from

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

to Tripoli between 1306 and 1309..

References

External links

Ibn Battuta’s ''Rihla'' (Arabic online text)

World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

{{Islamic geography Hajj accounts Geographical works of the medieval Islamic world Travel books 14th-century books Arabic words and phrases Medieval Arabic literature Education in the medieval Islamic world

As travel

As literature

See also

References

Further reading

External links