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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
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VOLUME
04
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79-93
OCLC
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1121105677
Publisher:
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Servi
ABSTRACT
The research showed different trends in travel literature according to what each journey includes. There are journeys
with a religious orientation, others with a geographical orientation only, a third with a civilizational orientation, a
fourth written to document the trip itself, and so on. It also showed that this beautiful aspect of travel literature and
what it includes in terms of descriptions of imagination and reality is of great importance in the field of literature and
poetry, its great importance for several other disciplines, including historians and researchers in sociology, geography,
philosophy, economics, politics, and others, by providing necessary information that is not obtained from the general
books written in those fields.
KEYWORDS
Geographical Literature, Arab Muslims, Educational Process.
INTRODUCTION
Travel literature is one of the literary genres with its
own characteristics and unique character, but it has
not received the study it deserves. This literary genre
has been marginalized to the point that we almost
forgot about it, concerning it here and there in the
scattered studies that dealt with it historically,
Research Article
TRAVEL AND GEOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE AMONG ARAB MUSLIMS
AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS
Submission Date:
Sep 28, 2024,
Accepted Date:
Oct 03, 2024,
Published Date:
Oct 08, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajsshr/Volume04Issue10-06
Helen Mohammed Abdul Hussein Al-Badri
Asst. Prof., Geography Department, Faculty of Education for Girls, University of Kufa, Iraq
Zainab Kadhim Jawad
Asst. Prof., Najaf Education Directorate, Iraq
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajsshr
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 04 Issue 10-2024
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
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OCLC
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Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
geographically, or sociologically due to the integrated
heritage it carries of news of societies and their
traditions. It is a comprehensive and inclusive genre
combining various sciences, including history,
geography, and economics, and its rich literary
heritage. Travel books and geographical discoveries
have become of great importance from a literary point
of view due to their diversity of writing fields, as they
contain narration, a narrative tendency, poetic verses,
beautiful words, good expression, and an eloquent
literary style. Travel books have scientific importance
in the educational process and the literary importance
they occupy. This study came in an introduction, three
chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction was
devoted to defining the journey and travel literature. I
discussed in the first section, "Travel Literature in the
past," while the second section was titled "Travel
literature in the modern era." In the third section, I
took the title "The importance of travel literature in the
educational
process,"
while
the
conclusion
summarized the most critical results.
Definition of the journey: Man was created with a love
of exploration, travel, and discovering the secrets
surrounding him to get to know and control the
environment in which he lives, and from there, the
spirit of curiosity rises above him that goes beyond the
spot he is familiar with and lives into another place to
renew his life and to search for his requirements and
complete his shortcomings, and to get to know new
people and an environment that provides him with
comfort and luxury.
Man's life is a journey since the beginning of humanity,
inherited from his father Adam; peace be upon him,
when he also set foot on the surface of the earth and
spread out in it, searching and exploring what is around
him, thus becoming addicted to the first journey in
human life. The journey has played an essential and
authentic role in the intellectual and civilizational
development of nations and the development of
knowledge and experiences of human civilizations
throughout the ages. Those journeys were to the
hidden land, as man's unwillingness to settle down
pushed him to travel and discover the unknown land.
After journeys were for trade, grazing, exchanging
benefits, and improving living conditions, the journey
became individual, and its goals were to get to know
distant horizons. "We find in the ancient Arab heritage,
specifically in the pre-Islamic era before the advent of
Islam, that the Arabs in ancient times used to make
regular journeys for trade, and they were two essential
journeys, the first in winter and the second in summer.
This was mentioned in the Holy Quran; God Almighty
said: "For the mutual support of the Quraysh (1)
Understanding the winter and summer journeys (2)".
Travel Literature
Travel literature is a type of literature in which the
writer depicts the events that happened to him and the
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things he encountered during a trip he made to one of
the countries. Travel books are considered one of the
most critical geographical, historical, and social
sources because the writer derives information and
facts from live observation and direct photography,
which makes reading them rich, enjoyable, and
entertaining. A large number of novels and stories can
be classified in some way under the name of travel
literature. This broad name, as we see, is able to
accommodate the works of Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo,
Charles Darwin, Andre Gide, Ernest Hemingway, and
Naguib Mahfouz, despite the significant differences
between them because the idea that unites them is the
idea of the journey itself, the temporal, spatial or
psychological journey.
A large group of writings fall under the name of travel
literature, which differs in many aspects in terms of the
writer's style, the writing method, the purpose of
writing, the audience to which the writer is directed,
and the interests of each of them, the writer and his
audience. But these writings all share in that they
describe a journey that a person takes to a particular
place for some reason and enters the chapter of myth.
In addition to recording the travels of travelers, there
is another type of travel literature, which is popular
fictional stories such as Sinbad [?], which is considered
a symbol of the traveler addicted to travel, and literary
stories such as Ibn Tufayl's story about Hayy ibn
Yaqzan, and the Epistle of Forgiveness by Abu al-Ala al-
Ma'arri. The tremendous poetic and literary epics in the
history of humanity are also considered travel
literature, such as the Greek Odyssey, the Babylonian
Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Arabic Epic of Abu Zayd al-
Hilali. The first topic: Travel literature in the past: Travel
literature in the past
The theoretical framework is the guide that leads the
study to achieve the desired results, as it accurately
defines the scientific problem and sets scientific
hypotheses for it, and through it, the objectives of the
study can be accurately determined, its structure
drawn, its method and means of achieving it
determined, and similar studies can be reviewed. For all
of this, this topic was developed:
First: The research problem:
Research problem: Defining the study problem is an
essential feature in forming the structure of the study
and its scientific method, as the scientific method aims
to track the phenomenon from all its aspects in order
to reach a solution to the study problem - which is the
axis - around which the study revolves. ", The research
problem is summarized as follows:
Do the geographical areas in which literature and poets
are based have importance in their literary and poetic
writings? Does travel literature have another
significance that differs from literary importance?
Second: The study hypothesis:
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Research hypothesis
The scientific hypothesis is a basic introduction to
studying the problem, the features of which begin to
appear in the researcher's mind, and through it he tries
to reach results that can also be accepted, modified or
even rejected. The research hypothesis is:
Geographical areas are important in their literary and
poetic writings.
Travel literature has another importance that differs
from literary importance.
Third: Research aims:
The research aims here to identify the impact of
geographical spatial differences on Arab Muslim
writers and the reflection of the characteristics of
those spatial differences of the places they visit and to
transform those characteristics and spatial scenes into
prose or poetic texts, as it aims to identify the
importance of travel literature in the educational
process.
Fourth: The questions that the research answers
: Do
the geographical areas visited by writers and poets
have importance in their literary and poetic writings?
Does travel literature have another importance that
differs from literary importance?
Fifth: Research methodology
: This research relied on
the descriptive-analytical method.
Sixth: Research tools
: Studying the narrative accounts
of several writers and poets who visited several
regions and employed reality and imagination in their
writings to reach the impact of spatial differences in
the regions they visited and to identify the intellectual
developments of the writers' writings during different
periods and how they dealt with the natural and
human phenomena that attracted and fascinated each
of them.
Seventh: How to analyze the results:
This research
studied the journeys and geographical discoveries that
several Arab Muslim writers and poets visited during
different periods to reach the impact of those visits on
the mentality of the writer, thinker, and poet in a way
that is reflected in their intellectual productions in the
field of travel literature. Therefore, the research was
divided into three sections: the first deals with ancient
travel literature, and the second includes travel
literature in the modern era (we present the most
important writers in this field during those periods in
these two sections). In the third research, we address
the importance of travel literature in the educational
process, not only in literature and language but also in
various specializations.
Eighth: Research structure
: To achieve the goal of the
study, scientific necessity required that the study be in
three sections: The first section dealt with "travel
literature in the past," while the second section
reviewed "travel literature in the modern era," and in
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the third section, "the importance of travel literature in
the educational process" was studied. As for the
conclusion, I made it a summary of the most important
results reached. Ninth: Travel literature in the past:
Arabic literature is considered one of the most
enjoyable forms of literature, as Arabic culture and
literature are among the oldest literary tales in the
world. Travel literature is a section of Arabic literature
that has many readers. Travel literature has a lot of fun,
as the writer depicts a semi-realistic picture of what he
encountered on his journey, and we find this from the
beginning of Ibn Battuta to Naguib Mahfouz and many
others between these two great writers. Arabic
literature is considered diverse and includes many
sections that fall under its umbrella. You find many
throughout history who love Arabic literature, even
fans of the famous English literature. You also find
some follow Arabic literature, which is full of
adventures and interesting tales that develop the
reader's spirit, distance him from the bitter reality of
travel to times he did not live in, and give his
imagination free rein in drawing the literary story he
reads. Travel literature among Arabs and Muslims
extends to the third century AH when the literary
journey (sailing by sea to the Indian Ocean) was
documented. It is an exploratory journey.
There is also another journey that the Abbasid Caliph
Al-Wathiq commissioned to Salam Al-Tarjuman to
discover the dam of Gog and Magog, called To the
Caucasus Mountains Fortresses. There are many other
literary journeys, but the most distinguished of these
journeys that changed the thinking of travel literature
is the journey of Al-Biruni in the fifth century AH, which
was called (Investigation of what India has of an
acceptable saying in mind or Marzul). This journey was
to India, and everything he encountered was
documented and clearly, which completely changed
his thinking about India and learning about their
culture and the ancient Sanskrit language, which was
the language of India at the time. Travel literature was
initially limited to explorers, geographers, and travel
enthusiasts to new places, as it was limited to because
they used to write about what they passed through
during their journeys and what they saw for the first
time during their travel to these places. There is
another type, such as the fictional character who
Travels stories like Sinbad and Abu Zaid al-Hilali, the
most famous fictional characters in the Arab world.
There are also great poetic and literary epics
considered in travel literature, such as the Babylonian
Epic of Gilgamesh and the Arabic Epic of Abu Zaid al-
Hilali. These epics are a mixture of the legend of the
fictional story and its blending with some historical
facts.
The sixth century AH to the twelfth century is the most
productive century for travel literature in the history of
the Arabs, as in this historical period you will find many
enjoyable and significant writings, and perhaps the
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most prominent of them are two examples: the
journey of Ibn Jubayr Al-Andalusi, which is in fact three
journeys, the first to Mecca for Hajj, the second to the
East, which took two years (585-587) AH, and the third
to the East as well, which Ibn Jubayr made as a warning
to an old sheikh who wanted to console himself for the
loss of his wife in 601 AH, and after that he did not
return to his country of Andalusia, but instead stayed
for nearly ten years moving between Mecca, Jerusalem
and Cairo, working in teaching until his death in
Alexandria, and he recorded for us the resistance of
the Muslims to the Crusader invasion led by Nur al-Din
and Saladin, and he also described aspects of life in
Sicily and the Norman court, in literary language and
exciting imagery, in addition to explaining aspects of
luxury and prosperous life in Mecca.
The second model in travel literature is represented by
Ibn Battuta, the most significant Muslim traveler
whose journey began in the eighth century AH in the
year 725 AH. His first journey began from Tangier in
Morocco to Mecca, and he continued for 29 years,
traveling from one country to another. He finally
returned to dictate his observations and memories to a
writer named Muhammad bin Juzay al-Kalbi, by order
of the Sultan of Morocco at the time, to document the
journey of Ibn Battuta, the most significant Muslim
traveler throughout history. Ibn Battuta called his
journey “A Gift to the Beholders in the Wonders of
Cities and the Marvels of Travel.” Ibn B
attuta narrated
his observations of African countries, and he was the
first to discover them. He also depicted many customs
in Indian societies three centuries after the Islamic
conquest and Islamic brotherhood among its people in
a way we do not find in traditional historical sources. In
the travel literature of the eighth century AH, there is
the book Khatrat al-Tayf fi Rihlat al-
Shita’ wa al
-Sayf by
the famous Granada writer Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib, as
well as Nafadat al-
Jarrab fi ‘Ilalat al
-Ightirab, in which
he described his observations in the Maghreb during
his exile there, and it is in three parts.
This is in addition to Ibn Khaldun’s book, Introduction
to Ibn Khaldun and His Journey West and East, which is
a mixture of autobiography and travel literature
written in a smooth language, with an accurate
description of his journey to both Andalusia, where he
stayed as a guest of the King of Granada from Banu al-
Ahmar, and Seville when the King sent him on an
embassy to its Christian ruler, and then Egypt, where
he stayed for nearly a quarter of a century, alternating
between teaching and judicial positions. In the
eleventh century AH, the journey of Al-Shihab to meet
the beloved emerged, which goes back to the Morisco
Afoqay, who fled the Spanish lands for fear of the
Inquisition and settled in the Maghreb, and its Sultan
Zaydan Al-Nasir bin Ahmed appointed him as his
ambassador to the countries of Europe, so he collected
all these adventures in his book.
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Travel books are among the most critical geographical,
historical, and social sources because the writer
derives information and facts from live observation
and direct photography, which makes their reading
rich if it is exposed to the cultures of peoples and their
customs directly linked to a specific geography and
thought. In the modern era, travel literature has
primarily declined, but some historical journeys remain
that have been known through books in which the
journey was recorded, such as the journey of the
scientific mission sent by the ruler Muhammad Ali of
Egypt to France in order to transfer the French
experience, which was recorded by Rifa’a al
-Tahtawi in
his book Takhlis al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz, and he was able
to transfer the European civilization that had begun to
advance at that time. After him, Ahmed Faris al-Shidyaq
came with his famous book Al-Wasita fi Ahwal Malta, in
which he transferred many of the customs and
traditions in Malta and many other travel literature
from this period. However, in recent periods, with the
progress in means of transportation and connections,
and the methods of travel becoming different from
what they were in the past, travel literature has almost
completely disappeared, as the journeys in the past
included geographers, explorers, and literary writers,
but today, journeys do not include that. The travel time
has become very short, which does not give time to
record what was done, unlike in the past, when
journeys used to last for long periods. This will be
presented in detail in the following section.
The second section: Travel Literature in the Modern
Era
Travel literature in the past and the present: Travel
literature was previously associated with Muslim
travelers, as they used to document their travels,
whether by their desire, by the willingness of their
friends, or what the rulers requested from travelers
who reached distant places, and these writings helped
guide people when they arrived in the cities in which
the travelers' records were written, so these records
were a guide for them, but in the modern era, many of
the concepts associated with this type of literary arts
have changed, and it is sometimes called tourism
literature. Some circumstances have led to the decline
of this type of literary art due to the ease of travel,
discovering regions, and documenting everything
related to them scientifically in a visual, written, or
audible manner. Travel literature in the modern era:
The Arab literary journey took a new step that was a
real turning point when Arab travelers came into
contact with Western civilization. The direction of the
journey changed from the East and West to Europe.
Arab travelers interacted with Western civilization,
most notably the duo "Rifa'a al-Tahtawi" (1801-1873)
and Khair al-Din al-Tunisi (1810-1890), who came into
contact with European life and the secretions of the
French Revolution. They suggested taking advantage
of its positive aspects while insisting that the European
and Arab Islamic civilizations differ. Therefore, they
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rejected what conflicts with Islam. In addition to the
travels of "Ahmad Faris Al-Shidyaq (1887 AD) to Malta,
Britain, and France, he collected their news in two
books called "Al-Wasita fi Ma'rifat Ahwal Malta" and
"Kashf Al-Makhba' a Funun Uruba." Travels in the Arab
world multiplied in the twentieth century. The
directions varied, the most famous of which was the
travel of "Muhammad Labib Al-Batnouni" known for
his Hijazi journey "Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Rida"
who had two trips to Syria, and "Muhammad Al-Khidr
Hussein" who had many trips in Morocco and Levant
published in various Arab magazines.
- In the nineteenth century: The nineteenth century
witnessed models of travel whose paths differed, their
purposes multiplied, and their levels of expression
varied, as did the intellectual, political, and social
importance of their owners. Travel literature became
an artistic form included in literature and not a living
historical and geographical study as it was before.
Among its models in the nineteenth century:
• Takhlis Al
-Ibriz fi Takhlis Bariz by Rifa'a Rafi' Al-
Tahtawi, who accompanied the mission sent by
Muhammad Ali to study in France, to be a preacher and
an imam, and Al-Tahtawi's journey depicts his
fascination with the manifestations of the European
Renaissance, with criticism of some of their customs in
a literary style.
• Ahmed Faris Al
-Shidyaq: He is famous for his book Al-
Wasita fi Ahwal Malta, which describes various
customs and traditions, especially those of Maltese
women.
• Issa Ibn Hisham, the literature of the modern Arabic
novel, is considered one of the books of fictional travel,
as it narrates a journey undertaken by the hero Issa Ibn
Hisham in the company of one of the Pashas of Egypt
after this Pasha emerged from his grave. He had died a
long time ago, then he went out to wander the streets
of Egypt and its government departments, including
the courts, and he describes to us in a scientific,
satirical style the manifestations of the negative
transformation that affected life.
• Hussein Fawzi: An Egyptian writer who went on a
journey that he called the modern Sinbad.
• Tawfiq Al
-Hakim: His journey is called The Flower of
Life, in which he deals with aspects of life in Paris in a
theatrical, narrative sense.
Hijazi travel literature, modern literature has known
examples of it:
• Al
-Battanuni's Hijazi journey.
• Shakib Arslan's journey: the gentle impressions in the
pilgrim's mind to the holiest destination, which
proceeds spontaneously like the ancients.
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• Hamad Al
-Jasser: He recorded his travels in the
libraries of Europe in search of manuscripts related to
the Arabian Peninsula and listed the names of many
manuscripts, their contents, and his opinions about
them, with a narration of some anecdotes and
situations that enter this journey into the field of
exciting and amusing literature.
• Muhamma
d bin Nasser Al-Aboudi: Assistant
Secretary-General of the Muslim World League; his
work in the League allowed him to visit most parts of
the world, so his many observations and insights
resulted in more than one hundred and sixty books on
travel literature.
- In the twentieth century: The journeys of the
twentieth century differed from those that preceded
them in terms of goal and direction, as well as in
content and style. Previous journeys had been directed
outside the homeland. In contrast, the journeys of this
period were directed more towards the homeland,
especially those undertaken by reformers for the
reformist idea and spreading it among the masses, and
calling them to awaken and rise. Others went to the
Arab East, Europe, the Soviet Union, and China. The
aim was also to serve the people. The art of travel
developed in the modern era and was interested in
conveying impressions, feelings, and perceptions, in
addition to geography and history. It also conveyed
ideological, cultural, and civilizational issues from
writers' viewpoints. The purposes also varied from
religious to educational to travel and tourism. Other
reasons for this emerged, such as attending meetings,
festivals, cultural demonstrations, and performing
political or diplomatic tasks. The methods of
documenting these journeys differed; some were
independent in complete books, some took up space
in other books such as biographies or memoirs, and
some remained confined to newspapers and
magazines.
The decline of travel literature: Travel literature has
declined from what it was in previous eras and even the
early twentieth century, even though the current era is
genuinely considered the era of travel and journey due
to the enormous possibilities and facilities that have
occurred, such that travel has become part of the
ordinary life of the ordinary man and tourism in its
current concept has become the opposite of what
conditions were in the past, as the first travelers were
writers, historians, geographers and explorers;
Therefore, their writings were a complete, accurate
and profound record of their impressions of the lives of
the peoples they visited, their behavior, customs,
traditions, social and political systems, etc. The
writings of these people reveal a high degree of ability
for precise observation and analysis, as we notice in the
writings of Ibn Fadlan, for example, or Al-Biruni's book
"Tahqiq ma li-l-Hind min maqwalah fi al-
‘Aql aw
mardhulah," as well as the writings of European
travelers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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However, their writings were not free of bias towards
their European culture, in addition to some of them
being immersed in fantasies, exaggerations, inaccurate
judgments, and slander. Perhaps the primary
responsibility for the backwardness of travel literature
today is due to the traveler being deprived of the actual
travel experience with all its depth, excitement, and
discovery.
Travel has become accessible and available to all
people, and the traveler has lost his privacy in what is
called pre-organized group trips, which has made the
modern "tourist" replace the old "traveler."" The
traveler means distinction, individuality, originality,
and depth, and the tourist is the superficial follower
who leaves the matters of his trip in the hands of
others, sees with the eyes of those who organized the
trip, and understands and issues hasty judgments
emanating from others and not from himself. This
transformation from the traveler to the tourist is one
of the most important reasons for today's decline in
travel literature. In addition to that, the means of
communication, especially television and the Internet,
such that the user of these means thinks that he knows
everything about the world and that he has visited
every place in the world while sitting at home and has
not moved from his place in front of the television or
computer screen. The importance of travel literature in
the educational process: Travel literature is a set of
literary works that deal with the author's impressions,
observations, feelings, emotions, and thoughts about
his travels, in which he describes what he saw in
different countries of people's customs, traditions,
schools, hospitals, etc. Considering what has been
written in travel literature, we will conclude that the
books written in this field have two characteristics:
literary and scientific.
As for the scholarly, it means observing reality and
conveying "images and scenes in a way that achieves
emotional impact or conveys the feelings and
emotions that the person who sees those scenes,
monuments, and images finds in himself. This
dimension fills the soul with pleasure and influence and
gives the journey a literary feature instead of stopping
at the limit of recording, documenting, and stagnation.
Travel books have scientific importance in addition to
literary
importance.
They
benefithistorians,
geographers, sociologists, and others by providing
critical information tht obtained from general books
written in various historical, geographical, social, and
economic specializations. Travel literature is like a blog
many researchers and students resort to to extract
knowledge
and
information
with
complete
reassurance and comfort. Ahmed Abu Saeed says: "As
for the scientific value, it lies in the fact that most of
these journeys contain a lot of knowledge and records
closely related to geography and history. In addition to
mentioning the various types of troubles and horrors
that their writers suffered, there are pictures and
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comprehensive reports on the economic, social,
political, and urban conditions of the Arabs and the
people who lived next to them. Asia, Africa, and some
of the European nations: such as mentioning
archaeological
landmarks,
studying
economic
relations, describing kingdoms and countries, regions
and countries, paths and roads, and other things that
are still considered today an essential reference in
studying the geographical, urban, social and economic
description of some countries.
The importance of travel books from a literary
perspective is evident, as they contain narration, a
narrative tendency, poetic verses, beautiful words,
good expression, and an eloquent literary style. I will
explain below the services of travel in various fields, in
the field of geography: The same applies to the
geographical aspect. If the traveler "records his
geographical observations on the earth's surface, he is
working in the service of geography. When he
describes kingdoms, countries, regions, cities, and
paths, and when he talks about nature, climate,
population distribution phenomena, and other things
that are considered to be at the core of geographical
studies, he is considered from this perspective to be an
essential reference for those who study these topics...
This is because travel is an accurate record of the
various aspects of life in a particular society and a
specific historical stage. Researcher Nawab says that
travelers have taken care of paths and measuring road
distances, and they are thus geographers without
knowing it. They have deposited a lot of news about
their travels in their travel logs. They did not miss
describing the roads they took and recording the
distances they covered, and the landmarks they saw, in
addition to the difficulties they encountered. They
faced them and the stations they stopped, and they
took the initiative to warn in the areas of danger and
advised to take the safe path, so the essence of the
experience they went through becomes clear from all
of that, and then presented it.
We see that most travelers mentioned the
geographical aspect of their journeys; for example, Ibn
Jubayr talked about the mountains of Mecca, saying:
"On both sides of the road in this place are four
mountains: two mountains from here, and two
mountains from there, on which are flags of stones,
and he told us that they are the blessed mountains on
which Abraham, peace be upon him, made parts of the
bird and then called them - according to what God
Almighty narrated, asking Him, Glory be to Him, to
show him how He revives the dead - and around those
four mountains are other mountains.
Ibn Battuta talked about the geography of Mecca,
saying: "It is a large city with connected buildings,
rectangular, in the middle of a valley surrounded by
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mountains, so its visitor does not see it until he reaches
it. And those mountains that are spread over it are not
excessively lofty. The two mountains of Al-Akhshaban
are Jabal Abi Qais, which is to the south and east of it,
Jabal Qaiqan, which is to the west of it, and to the
north of it is the Red Mountain. And from the direction
of Abi Qais are Ajyad Al-Akbar and Ajyad Al-Asghar. We
saw that there is important information in travel books
that is not little for geographers, as they benefited
from it a lot. "Travel books were a source for many
geographers, and also Ibn al-Faqih transferred in his
book "Mukhtasar al-Buldan" large parts of Sulayman al-
Sirafi's journey.
In the field of history: Travels in the field of history
provide some information that the science specialized
in this field did not provide us. If history works to
describe and investigate the life of countries and their
history in its various aspects (political, social,
economic, and cultural), then travel gave all of that its
appropriate dimension and addressed the analysis of
aspects that historical documents did not address.
Travels placed all of that in the circle of radiation that it
directed to clarify reality and take history out of its
narrow boundaries. The historian cannot dispense with
the travels that were written in a period that he studies
or writes about, so there is some information, events,
and names of different places, scholars, politicians, and
religious men in the travels that we did not find in
history books. Studying it from a historical perspective
is useful in understanding the scientific, literary, social,
economic, and even political aspects, as all of these
aspects were written according to what the traveler
saw and touched, and there is no doubt that these
matters are not found in general or special history
books whose authors focused on political events.
In the field of political science, It is worth noting that
the travelers' observation of the political conditions in
the Islamic countries they passed through revealed
many things to us, such as, for example, the
relationship between the Islamic kingdoms each other
or with the Ottoman state, or with the Christian
kingdoms. For example, Ibn Jubayr referred in his
journey to the leader of Jeddah and the ruler of Mecca,
saying: "Our separation from Jeddah was after the
pilgrims guaranteed each other, and their names were
fixed in the reins of the leader of Jeddah, Ali bin
Muwaffaq, as he received from his sultan, the ruler of
Mecca, Mukthar bin Isa." Ibn Battuta also spoke about
the rulers of Medina during his journey, saying: The
emir of Medina was Kabish bin Mansour bin Jamar. He
had killed his uncle Muqbil. It is said that he performed
ablution with his blood. Then Kabish went out in the
year twenty-seven to the desert in the intense heat
with his companions, ... and they killed Kabish bin
Mansour patiently and licked his blood. After him, his
brother Tufail bin Mansour took over, who had exiled
Abu Sufyan al-Fasi.
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In sociology, The journeys include various aspects of
social life, including social classes, celebrations,
customs, traditions, clothing, foods, drinks, etc. The
travelers remembered to mention the class of scholars
in their travels; instead, they gave them great
importance and talked about their councils, lessons,
and services to remove innovations and evils and
enjoin good and forbid evil. For example, Ibn Battuta
talks about the scholars of the Hijaz, saying: "Among
them is the righteous Khader Al-Ajami, who fasts,
recites and circumambulates a lot. The importance of
travel literature from an educational perspective: In
addition to the importance of travel literature from a
literary perspective and its importance from a scientific
standpoint, travel literature can achieve another
importance that is no less important in terms of the
two aspects mentioned: the educational importance.
Suppose the traveler provides us with historical,
geographical,
economic,
social,
and
cultural
information that aids every scholar in his field and
specialty, from geographers to historians and
sociologists.
In that case, this traveler also benefits from this trip, as
he learns a lot about the country he visited by
interacting with people. He also benefits from the
scholars he sits with and talks with while gaining
experience and expertise as he obtains abundant
knowledge and experiences. Many in various fields of
education and teaching methods and refinement, due
to the difficulties he sometimes encounters, and what
confirms this is that when the departed returns, he
works in teaching, as he was assigned to the judiciary
and other tasks. Here, the educational importance of
trips emerges, as they are the most academic schools
for a person and enrich his thinking and reflections
about himself and others. Travel books educate the
reader and enrich his thinking and information about a
region or a society when they depict the features of the
region's civilization in a specific era, a civilization that is
the source of the culture of that society. With this
importance, travel literature will be necessary from
three aspects: the literary, scientific, and educational
aspects.
CONCLUSION
The gist of the speech is that the traveler provides
valuable information on the different aspects of life on
his journey, sometimes in an eloquent literary style that
amazes the reader. We find literary models of stories,
novels, poetry, autobiography, and other types of
literature in travel literature. Travel literature also
contains valuable and rare information about history,
geography, politics, economics, sociology, and others,
as we have explained by presenting examples from the
travels of Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta. Historians,
geographers, sociologists, and politicians have
benefited from travel books, quoted from them, and
decorated their books with them. Thus, their books
have become reliable and respected by readers and
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researchers. We have noticed that travel literature has
great importance from an educational perspective as
well, as the traveler learns a lot of information and
learns from many scholars and sheiks during his
journey and gains extensive experience and expertise.
Travels educate the reader and influence his thoughts
and reflections about himself and others.
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First: The Holy Quran
1.
Hosni Mahmoud: Travel Literature among the
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2.
Surah Quraish, verses 1,2
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Abdul Razzaq Muhammad Al-Batihi, Methods of
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5.
https://www.almrsal.com/post/480329
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Sayed Hamed Al-Nasaj, The Journey of Travel
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Ahmed Abu Saad, Travel Literature and its
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22.
Nawab, Dr. Awatif Muhammad Yusuf, Travel Books
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Ibn Jubayr's Journey, p. 57, Dar Sadir - Beirut
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Ibn Battuta's Journey, p. 153, p. 124, Dar Sadir -
Beirut
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Al-Shawabkeh, Nawal Abdul Rahman, Andalusian,
and Moroccan Travel Literature until the End of the
Ninth Century AH, p. 53
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Al-Nasaj, Sayyid Hamid, The Journey's Journey, p. 8
