Rihla

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Rihla ( Arabic رحلة, DMG Riḥla ) describes both a trip and the corresponding travel report in Arabic literature . In Persian literature , the Safarnameh corresponds to the Rihla.

Origin and history

From the origin of the word, the root r - ḥ - l is originally associated with camel breeding : raḥl means camel saddle . As a literary genre , the Rihla initially described a pilgrimage to Mecca .

Among the most important representatives of Rihla literature are Abu Hamid al-Gharnati from Granada , whose work Tuhfat al-albab ("Gift of Hearts") describes his travels through Ifrīqiya , Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Khorezmia , Russia and Hungary; Ibn Jubair , who reports on his two-year pilgrimage to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, but above all Ibn Battuta . His Rihla, which he has under the full titleتحفة النظار في غرائب ​​الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار / Tuḥfat an-Nuẓẓār fī Gharāʾib al-Amṣār wa ʿAjāʾib al-Asfār  / 'Gift for those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the magic of travel' (freely translated) dictated by Ibn Juzaj , was published in 1355. The report on the journey of more than 120,000 km to China and Africa is considered a classic example of the genre. The Egyptian Nobel Prize for Literature Nagib Mahfuz asked Ibn Battutas Rihla for his 1983 story The Journey of Ibn Fattuma (رحلة ابن فطومه) to inspire.

In his Muhammadan Studies Ignaz Goldziher notes the following aspect of traveling as an active search for and research into the hadith : “And these men do not come around the world and gain experience, but only to find the keepers in all places to see and hear of traditions and to benefit from everyone, 'like the bird that does not perch on a tree without pecking at the leaves'. It was said of these people that they were famous for the talab, that is, for the active searching and research of the hadiths [...]. These trips also had an influential result for the practical development of the hadith system in Islam. ”An important example of such a description of a“ journey ”in search of traditional sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed is al-Rihla fi talab al-hadith of the Shafiite Scholar Al-Chatib al-Baghdadi (1002-1071).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German translation 2004, ISBN 3-293-00337-0
  2. ↑ Ignaz Goldziher: Muhammedanische Studien , Sixth Chapter.
  3. ↑ Monique Bernards: Ṭalab al-ʿIlm amongst the linguists of Arabic during the ʿAbbasid period. In: ʻAbbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of ʻAbbasid Studies, Cambridge, July 6-10, 2002. Peeters Publishers, 2004. Partial view in the Google book search