Golden Roads: Migration,Pilgrimage and Travel in Mediaeval and Modern Islam

The triple themes of this book - migration, pilgrimage and travel in Islam - are as old as the religion itself. The Prophet Muhammad made his famous archetypal Hijra (migration) from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD, a year which became the Year 1 of the Muslim lunar calendar; the Hajj (pilgrimage) of Farewell enacted by the Prophet in 632 AD provided the paradigm for all future pilgrimages to the sacred Ka'ba in Mecca; while a much quoted hadith portrays the Founder of Islam counselling his followers that they should seek knowledge even as far as China. The concept of Rihla (travel) in search of knowledge thus became a primary motif in the lives of many medieval - and modern - Muslim scholars, jurists, collectors of tradition and, indeed, ordinary people.