Travel is a journey; one takes for research purposes, gaining knowledge, studying, leisure, or doing business. If an individual decides to stay in another city/ country for more days or settles there, he is now a resident. The rules and conditions of travel are no longer applicable. Traveling is a unique experience as it’s the best way to unplug from the pushes and pulls of daily life. It helps us to forget about our problems, frustrations, and fears at home. During our journey, we experience life in different ways. We explore new places, cultures, cuisines, traditions, and ways of living. We could never experience these things at home. This is why travel is such a unique and invaluable life experience. Besides, there are many benefits of traveling, such as improved health and learning new skills. And as we learn and benefit from traveling, we feel more purpose in our lives. This article focuses on why traveling is important in building our life experiences.If you remain in your home town or country for your whole life, it is hard to fully comprehend the world. You will never get to experience other countries’ struggles, celebrations, and traditions. You can argue that the media does show you these things. However, the media often portrays the negatives of a country, while the positive stories go unreported. The media enables us to build walls and barriers to understanding. The only way to overcome this is to explore and see things for ourselves in the real world. Every country can be vastly different from another. The dialects, food, religion and traditions differ. Being exposed to these unique cultures allows us to become open-minded and understand that even though we appear to be different, we also have many similarities as humans. In spite of looking different, we share the same hopes and dreams. All cultures love their children, are proud of their culture, and work to improve living conditions for their families. These similarities are what bring us together. Traveling allows us to celebrate differences while encouraging ourselves to be more tolerant of each other. It is noticed that traveling challenges our beliefs and values in life. If your whole life is dedicated to staying at home in your familiar surroundings, your perspective on life will never be challenged. You will never be able to compare your experiences at home to those of others besides your narrow circle of friends and family. By traveling, we get to experience how people around the world live their lives. We learn where their priorities lie and how they view family, work, education, the environment, etc. This may question and influence our own ideas and beliefs on how to live life. Traveling will open our mind to a host of new possibilities. As such, traveling is a great learning experience. And it is up to you on how to apply that learning in your own life. Whether you a learning a new language, trying out new things, developing new passions, or simply becoming more confident as a person, the skills you gain while traveling will help you for the rest of your life. One of the most important benefits of traveling is the opportunity to build friendships and connections with people from all around the world. Sharing our travel experiences with others is what makes it an enriching life experience. We usually don’t meet many new people at home. We already have our close group of friends and family, so there is no real need to get out and meet new people. This means that we are typically less open to new relationships. Traveling makes meeting new people very easy. We are constantly surrounded by other people, whether we find ourselves in a hotel or on an excursion. We can easily connect over food, new places and culture. We also often have similar interests and values, making the conversation flow easier. Even if we met someone for just a few days, the connection and memories may last a lifetime. In our globalized world, these connections are more important than ever in life. They may open doors to new possibilities in our future life. Traveling often involves stepping out of our comfort zone and experiencing new things. These new experiences are different from our daily routine activities and help us grow on a personal level. Each travel journey brings unique situations and challenges to overcome. For example, when you are traveling solo you may be challenged to become more responsible and independent. By dealing with these situations, you will discover your own strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, etc. This self-awareness is important to your personal growth and discovering who you really are. In short, traveling is many experiences in one. The life experiences you gain from traveling cannot be compared to most things we experience while staying at home. Since there is a principle that the Islamic rules embody: it is, ”Difficulty begets ease,” which means that with each difficulty, there is ease. Therefore, when a person is in a state of travel, they are allowed to shorten their prayers, combine them, and break the fasts of Ramadan. According to this Hadith, as narrated by Ibn`Abbas: “The Prophet (PBUH) once stayed for nineteen days and prayed shortened prayers. So, when we travel led (and stayed) for nineteen days, we used to shorten the prayer, but if we traveled (and stayed) for a longer period, we used to offer the full prayer.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1080)This Hadith indicates that the shortening of prayer (qasr) is Sunnah and hence, preferable. And according to another narration by Ibn`Abbas: ”The Messenger of God (PBUH) used to combine the noon and the afternoon prayer while traveling, and also to combine the sunset and the evening prayer.” (Mishkat al-Masabih 1339)The concept of shortening the prayer (qasr) and combining them (jam) is crystal clear. Now, let us move forward with the most important thing to begin your journey with; a supplication.The dua for traveling in Quran is:Subhana-alladhisakh-khara la-nahadhawa ma kunna la-hu muqrinin. Wainnaila Rabbi-na la munqalibun. (Surah Az-Zukhruf 43:13-14)And another one is from Surah Al-Isra:Rabbi Adkhilnee Mudkhala S’idqiw Wa Akhrijnee Mukhraja S’diqiw Waj-a’l Lee Mil LadunkaaSult’aananNas’eeraa (Al-Isra: 17:80)Starting your journey with these supplications will ease your journey and protect you from any obstacles that come your way.It is very important that before embarking on a journey, one musthave the right intention. Muslims should make the intention to travel for a valid reason, such as seeking knowledge, performing Hajj or Umrah, visiting family or friends, or doing business. The intention should be sincere and for the sake of Allah (SWT). One must remember that Muslims are required to perform the five daily prayers at their designated times, no matter where they are. When traveling, it may be challenging to find a suitable place to pray, but Muslims should make an effort to find a quiet and clean place to perform their prayers. If it is not possible to perform the prayers at the designated time, they can be combined and performed later in the day.
“There are plenty of activities that Muslims can engage in that are fun, educational and healthy, without venturing into those that are specifically forbidden. However, travelling the world in the Islamic style is a good way to revive the important Sunnah of learning of other cultures, spreading a good image of Islam or simply enjoying the world from the lens of a Muslim.”
In Islam, there are four different kinds of voyages: (i) Traveling to perform Hajj or Umrah is known as Pilgrimage travel. And on the days of Hajj (including the day of Sacrifice and the days of at-Tashreeq), we have a concession of shortening prayers. (ii) To gain knowledge or study. A person who sets out on a journey to another country to study; is a traveler as long as he is a student there. (iii) Witnessing the beauty and ruins of this world strengthens our Imaan and faith in Allah. While glimpsing this glorious world also provides a feeling of relaxation necessary to lead a stress-free life.”Say, O Prophet, Travel throughout the land and see how He originated the creation, then Allah will bring it into being one more time. Surely Allah is Most Capable of everything.” (Al-‘Ankabut 29:20) (iv) Lastly, to call people to Allah and Islam. It is the most known kind of traveling. The Messenger, the Prophets, and their companions (May Allah be pleased with them) used to do this to spread the word of Islam.They traveled across the globe to teach people about goodness and warn them of evils. It is important for a Muslim to know about travels prohibited in Islam. Very few of us are familiar with the sorts of traveling; prohibited in Islam. Yes, not all types of traveling are permissible, and you cannot travel to do forbidden acts and shorten your prayers, viewing it as a charity from Allah.Muslim must avoid visiting those places which involve him haram activities like drinking alcohol, corruption, and other immoral acts of sins.If a person has no relevant reason, such as business or studying, and visits a non-Muslim land for fun, there could be a risk of harming their faith and Emaan.Therefore, one must avoidplaces that can harm his/her faith. One must know how to visit the places of those who wronged themselves and hence met with calamity. Talking about the people of Hijr (Thamud), ‘Abdullah bin Umar reported that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said:”Do not enter but weepingly (the habitations) of these people who had been punished by (Allah), and in case you do not feel inclined to weep, then do not enter (these habitations) that you may not meet the same calamity as had fallen to their lot.” (Sahih Muslim 2980a). In Islam it is permissible to travel for leisure purposes as long as the purpose of the journey is permissible in Islam, and it doesn’t involve any sinful activities. During travel, one can fast during travel, but it’s not obligatory. If fasting causes hardship or difficulty during travel, you can skip it and make up for it later. Further, Muslims are allowed to shorten and combine prayers during travel to make it easier. However, this is only applicable when you’re travelling for a distance of more than 55 miles or 88 km. Now a days, traveling can involve many sites where immoral acts are taking place. We, as Muslims, are aware of our culture and traditions, what is permissible and halal and haram. Therefore, we must stay true to our religion and avoid such acts that can harm our faith.It means to travel as long as it benefits you, in terms of knowledge or business or spreading the word of Islam. But return to your lands when your Imaan is at risk & you no longer have any reason to stay.And may Allah protect all of us from the haram and evil and keep us on the right path of our religion.It has been narrated that: “There are four types of people: one is a man whom the Almighty Allah has given knowledge and wealth. He acts with respect to his wealth based on his knowledge. Another person says that if Allah had given him similar to what He gave the first man, he would have acted in the same fashion. The reward for both of them will be the same. A third person is one, whom Allah gives wealth but He does not give knowledge. Therefore, he spends money according to his desire. Another man says that if Allah had given him what He had given that person, he would have acted in the same manner. These two will have the same burden upon them.” (Ibn Majah). In light of this, Muslims need to refrain from anything that could affect their faith (iman), like visiting night clubs, pubs, other places where consumption of alcohol is rampant, engaging in activities such as gambling and spending time in places where there is free intermingling of genders. These activities could very well affect the intention to serve Allah as a believing Muslim. There are plenty of activities that Muslims can engage in that are fun, educational and healthy, without venturing into those that are specifically forbidden. However, travelling the world in the Islamic style is a good way to revive the important Sunnah of learning of other cultures, spreading a good image of Islam or simply enjoying the world from the lens of a Muslim.
(The authors write regularly on “Islamic Topics” exclusively for the opinion pages of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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