The Travels in Search for Knowledge in the Medieval Islamic World
Nevzat KeleşIn the medieval Islamic world, the leading actors of the phenomenon of traveling in search for knowledge, were muhaddiths (traditionists) who sought to reach the hadiths of the Prophet. However, this tradition became a valid basis for both religious and rational sciences due to the conditions of the period and the scattered knowledge. Therefore, science enthusiasts (seekers) of knowledge had to go to distant lands in order to meet with information carriers (scholars) to learn information directly from them. It was also necessary to obtain a license from them in order to pass on the knowledge they had learned. For this, they were willing to leave their families, friends, their homeland, to be exposed to fatigue, hunger, thirst, various dangers, and even to sacrifice their property and wealth. This article will focus on the travels in search for knowledge, which is a tradition peculiar to the Medieval Islamic World, in the context of necessity of travel, promoting travel, difficulties of travel, age of travel, travels as a means of collecting information and travels as a means of circulating information.
Ortaçağ İslâm Dünyasında İlmî Seyahatler
Nevzat KeleşOrtaçağ İslâm dünyasında talebü’l-ilm (ilim öğrenmek veya ilim aramak) için seyahat olgusunun mimarları Hz. Peygamber’in hadislerine ulaşma arayışında olan muhaddisler olmuştur. Ancak bu gelenek, zamanla dönemin şartları ve bilginin dağınık oluşu nedeniyle hem dinî hem de aklî ilimler için geçerli bir kaide haline gelmiştir. Dolayısıyla ilim meraklıları (ilim peşinde koşanlar), bulundukları yerden başlamak üzere uzak diyarlara doğru bilgi taşıyıcıları (âlimlerle) görüşmek ve bilgiyi doğrudan onlardan öğrenmek gayesiyle yollara düşmek zorundaydılar. Bu aynı zamanda öğrendikleri bilgiyi aktarabilmek için onlardan bizzat icazet almak için de gerekliydi. Bunun için de ailelerini, dostlarını, vatanlarını terk etmeyi, yorgunluğa, açlığa, susuzluğa, türlü tehlikelere maruz kalmayı, hatta mallarını ve servetlerini feda etmeyi göze almaktaydılar. Bu çalışmamızın gayesi de Ortaçağ İslâm dünyasına has bir gelenek olan ilmî seyahatleri, seyahatin gerekliliği, seyahate teşvik, seyahatin zorlukları, seyahatin yaşı, bilgi toplama aracı olarak seyahatler ve bilginin dolaşımına vesile olarak seyahatler başlıkları altında ele alıp değerlendirmektir.
This article will focus on the travels in search for knowledge, which is a tradition peculiar to the Medieval Islamic World in the context of the necessity of travel, promoting travel, difficulties of travel, age of travel, travel as a means of collecting information and travel as a means of circulating information. The Holy Prophet says in one hadith that “scholars are heirs of the prophets”. İmam al-Haramayn al-Djuwaynī also states in his poem that it is ony possible to obtain knowledge by fulfilling six basic conditions and one of them is abroad (gurbet). In this context, it is seen that in the Medieval Islamic world, the tradition of traveling in search for knowledge is closely related to the attitude of Islam to the way of reaching knowledge and the viewpoints of Islamic scholars was formed within this framework.
In the Islamic world, the principle of travels in search for knowledge was initiated mainly by hadith collectors. For them, the terms talab al-hadith (search for hadith) or talab al-ilm (search for knowledge) were used to describe travels for the purpose of obtaining information about the hadith and to learn other sciences; these are described as al-rihla fi talab al-hadith or al-rihla fi taleb al-ilm. This travel phenomenon is mainly a result of the effort and sensitivity in the verification and compilation of the hadiths that were not written after the death of the Holy Prophet. Accordingly, by way of example, the muhaddith Djabir b. Abdallah travelled on a journey of one month to Damascus in order to listen to a single hadith from Abdallah b. Anas. People who wanted to earn good deeds by studying the hadith of the Holy Prophet, regardless of the distances and hardship of the long journeys, have undertaken long journeys. There are countless scholars in Islamic history and tabakat books who used the expression “gathered hadith” or “traveled to various places in order to learn the science of hadith” to describe themselves. This tradition became a valid basis for both religious and rational sciences because of the conditions of the period and the scattered knowledge. Therefore, science enthusiasts (seekers) of knowledge had to go to the distant lands in order to meet with the information carriers (scholars) to learn directly from them. Accordingly, Ibn Khaldun points out the necessity of traveling to learn knowledge by saying that “traveling to learn information and meeting with masters is useful and perfect in learning information from them directly”. However, during these travels, science enthusiasts could be exposed to many financial and moral difficulties. From their biographies, we learn that they left their homelands in order to gain knowledge (science), despite being separated from their families and friends; they endured fatigue, hunger, thirst, endangered their lives and goods or lost their health and spent all their time traveling around the countries. One example is Abu Muhammad Abdurrahman b. Yusuf b. Said b. Harras al-Marvazī who states that he was forced to drink his urine because he was very thirsty while travelling for science. Similarly, Abu Nasr Muhammad b. Ahmed al-Marvazī also endured the danger of drowning in the sea on a journey and survived by clinging to a piece of wood. However, the Islamic scholars and students of the period, above all, considered travel to be a test of their lives and the problems they suffered as tools that brought them to the level of scholarship.
On the other hand, the construction of educational institutions and sheltered places by the statesmen, providing the needs of the scholars and the seekers of knowledge, granting them and offering them security, somewhat compensated for the difficulties of travel. It also had a mission to increasing, encouraging and perpetuating scientific (scholarly) activities. For example, Nizam al-Mulk provided many endowments and rewards to scholars, zahids and sufis, and built madrasahs, masjids and ribats in many cities within the Seljuk domains. For this reason, Sıbt Ibn al-Jawzī notes that he revived not only science (scholarship) but also revived the science (scholarship) market. This had an important role in the development and continuity of sciences and intellectual life in the Islamic world.
In the medieval Islamic world, children were encouraged to start education when they reached a suitable age. In this respect, travel, which was accepted as an indispensable activity in education, represented a stage after primary education. Although it is difficult to specify a certain age for travel, it can be seen that it usually started from the age of 10 and was carried out intensively during adolescence and adulthood. The famous historian Muhammed b. Djarir at-Taberî made his first expedition to Rey at the age of 12. Abu Sad Ahmed b. Muhammad b. Ahmed al-İsfahani started traveling at the age of 16. The main purpose of knowledge enthusiasts, who were put into this difficult and adventurous life even before reaching the age of puberty was to collect and possess information (knowledge) that was scattered and distant from them, or to be part of it. Realization of this aim enabled many thinkers to grow in different branches of science such as Bukhari, Abu Hanifa ed-Dinavarī, Mes’udī, Yakut al-Hamevī, al-Birunī, Gazzalī, es-Sem’anī, İbn al-Athir, Mevlana. It has also enabled the emergence of a rich literature in the Islamic world in almost every field of science. In addition, scientific travels, by spreading the knowledge accumulated in certain centers to the whole of the Islamic geography, proved instrumental in the wide development thoughout the Islamic world of cultural and scientific terms. Because information (knowledge) enthusiasts returned to their hometowns and began treatment in these places after visiting the major civil centers of the period due to educational institutions and learning conditions, served the dissemination of knowledge or education and the creation of a scientific-cultural revival from the center to the periphery. In addition, these travels brought to life by scholars, students, and sheikhs served to transfer all kinds of elements, as well as knowledge, and enabled the formation of a common and shared system of thought and culture in the medieval Islamic world.