SELECTIONS FROM THE REVITALISATION OF THE SCIENCES OF RELIGION

Al-Ghazalis Ihya Ulum al-Din

The E hi!s "# T$a%el

Cha& e$ One C"n!e$nin' he E hi!s #"$ he ("u$ney #$"m Ou se " he Re u$n an) he In en i"n "# T$a%elin' an) I s *ene#i s +a$ One The *ene#i "# T$a%el an) i s E,!ellen!e an) In en i"n Know that travel is a kind of movement and association in, which there are advantages and disadvantages. The benefits, which are an incentive to travel are derived either from fleeing from something or seeking something. The traveler may be traveling because there is some disturbance in the place he lives, and if the disturbance had not occurred he would not have traveled, or he might have a purpose for, which he travels, or he may be seeking something somewhere. Taking flight from a matter, which is harmful to him in his worldly affairs: such as the plague, a local epidemic, or fear of adversity, or cost of living. It is either collective or individual as in the case of one who has the intention to escape from some harm in his own town. As for the religious benefits, such as when someone has been tried with influence and wealth and many causes, which hindered him from devoting himself to Allah alone, he would prefer travel and laziness and to distance himself from wealth and influence, or as in the one who has been forced into invention, or has been appointed to a position, which is unlawful for him, so he seeks to take flight from it.

hat is re!uired from traveling is either worldly things such as wealth and influence, or religious. The religious is either knowledge or work. Knowledge is either religious science or human science or the science of the earth and its wonders, as the "ourney of Thul Karnain in his tour around the earth. ork is either worship or a visit, worship is pilgrimage, #mrah and $ihad. The visit is also of devotion, such as the intention to visit a place like %akkah or $erusalem, and ports like Ale&andria, as staying there is a kind of devotion, or it may be the intention is to visit the righteous people and the scholars and they are either dead, so you visit their graves, or alive, and you will be blessed by seeing them. 'ou would benefit from seeing their circumstances in strengthening your desire to take them as your e&ample. These are the benefits of travel, and we gain from it that travel is divided into blameworthy, praiseworthy, and the permissible. The praiseworthy is divided into the unlawful such as the pilgrimage and the !uest for knowledge, which is an obligation upon every %uslim, the commendable such as visiting scholars and observing them. (rom all these the intention of travel is clear, as the meaning of the intention is the incentive, which causes you to travel and the setting out to answer the invitation. )et him have the *ereafter as his intention in all his travels, and that is evident in the obligatory and the commendable, but it is impossible in the disliked and forbidden. As for the permissible, it depends upon the intention. As long as his intention in seeking wealth is to suffice himself from asking, and to keep the dignity of his family and to spend in charity according to what can be afforded, this permissible will become, with this intention of the *ereafter, work. +ut if he traveled to make pilgrimage but his incentive was for show, that would be out of being acts of the *ereafter, this is because of what the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, said: -.urely the deed is according to the intention./ +a$ T-" C"n!e$nin' he E hi!s "# he T$a%ele$ #$"m his Se in' Ou " his Re u$n The traveler should pay his debts before leaving, and make arrangements for those he is obliged to support, and return all trusts to their owners, if he has any, and he should not take with him any provisions e&cept what is lawful and good.

And he should take e&tra provisions with him to give to his traveling companions. Ibn #mar 0may Allah be pleased with them1 said: -(rom the generosity of a man is the goodness of his provisions when he travels./ hen traveling it is necessary to speak kindly to the people and to offer food and to behave in a good mannered way on the "ourney. *e should choose a companion so that he does not travel alone. A companion who would help him in the religion, so if he forgets, he reminds him, and help him if he remembers. As the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, said: -A man is on the religion of his friend./ And the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, has forbidden any person from traveling alone. *e should go to bid farewell to friends and family, to offer the prayer of the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, upon his departure. .omeone said: -I accompanied Abd Allah ibn #mar 0may Allah be pleased with them1 from %akkah to %adinah, and when I wanted to leave him, he saw me off and said: 2I heard the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, saying: 2)u!man said most surely when Allah, the Almighty is entrusted *e keeps it. And I am entrusting Allah, the Almighty with your religion, your sincerity and the seal of your deeds3./ The traveler should perform the prayer of asking Allah to choose for him before his travel, according to what we have described in the book of prayer. At the time of his departure he should perform the prayer for traveling. hen he reaches the door of his house he should say: -In the name of Allah, I put my trust in Allah, there is no power nor intercession e&cept with Allah, my )ord I seek refuge in you that I mislead or misled or that I humiliate someone or that I be humiliated, or oppress or be oppressed, or to be ignorant or have things kept from me./ And when he walks he must say: -4 Allah by 'ou I travel, and upon 'ou I relay, there is no power or intercession e&cept with 'ou and towards 'ou I set myself. 4 Allah 'ou are my trust and 'ou are my hope, keep me away from worry, there is no god e&cept 'ou, 4 Allah endue me with piety, and forgive me my sins, and turn me towards good wherever I go./ *e should leave the house early. $abir said: -The ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, departed on Thursday when he was going to Tabuk and said: 24 Allah bless my nation in their earliness3./ The traveler should take with him si& things. Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: - hen he traveled the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, used to take si& things with him: a mirror, a bottle, a scissors, a siwak 0toothbrush1 kohl, and a comb. C"n!e$nin' he E hi!s "# Re u$nin' #$"m T$a%el

The ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, used, on his return from campaign or pilgrimage or #mrah, to praise Allah upon every hillock of the earth three times and say: -There is no god e&cept Allah alone, no partner to *im, to *i is the dominion and all thanks, and *e has power over all things, we are returning repentant, worshiping, prostrating, to our )ord we are most grateful. Allah has fulfilled *is promise and given victory to *is servant and alone ahs defeated the allies./ And when he arrives back in his town, he should say: -4 Allah make for us in it a stay and a good provision./ And he should send in advance to his family someone to give them glad tidings of his arrival, so that he does not enter upon them suddenly, and might see them while they are unprepared. *e should not arrive at his house at night, as the ,rophet, praise and peace be upon him, has forbidden that. *e used, on his return, to enter the %os!ue first and pray two units of prayer and then enter the house, and when he entered said: - e repent and return to our )ord. 4ur )ord no sin should take us suddenly./ Cha& e$ T-" C"n!e$nin' -ha he T$a%ele$ Sh"ul) Lea$n -ha is +e$missi.le Du$in' T$a%el/ he Di$e! i"n "# he 0i.lah an) he Time "# +$aye$ Know that the traveler needs at the outset his "ourney to provide for his worldly life and for his end. As to the provision for this worldly life: it is food and drink and what he will need for his e&penses. +ut if he leaves without provision, there is no blame on him in this, if his travel was in the company of others, or if his "ourney is through villages, which are at a near distance to each other. +ut if he travels through the desert alone or with others who have no food or drink, if he was one of those who can tolerate hunger a week or tens days, if he can manage to live by eating grass he may do that. +ut if he cannot bear hunger nor tolerate eating grass, his departure without food is a sin as he would be throwing himself into destruction. As to the provision of the *ereafter, it is the knowledge, which he needs in his purity, fasting, prayer, and worship, so he must e!uip himself with it. This would alleviate the burden of travel as he needs to know about shortening the prayer, gathering in prayer, and breaking the fast. To enable him to learn about matters he did not need to know about before traveling, such as the direction of the 5iblah and the time of prayers.