Islamic Tourism

The Dr. has taken a few weeks during the school holidays to make Ummrah. I can't go with her so I will take a little trip away somewhere else and reflect upon the creation of Allah. Firstly, I want to look at the concept of travel for touristic reasons with an Islamic agenda.

By Islamic tourism I don't mean a shopping trip to Malaysia!

Allah The Most Powerful challenges us in His Book to travel in the land and reflect upon how the former nations perished and to let it be a lesson for us of Allah's power and omnipotence over the creation and to see the destruction of those who go astray.

In four ayaat the challenge to travel and see is an order:

سِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ ثُمَّ انْظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ

"travel in the land then see how was the end of the liars (those who rejected truth) (al-Anaam:11)

قُلْ سِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَاْنظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الْمُجْرِمِي

"Say, travel in the land and see how was the end of the criminals" (An-Naml:69)

قُلْ سِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَانظُرُواْ كَيْفَ بَدَأَ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ اللَّهُ يُنشِىءُ النَّشْأَةَ الاٌّخِرَةَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

"Say, travel in the land and see how He originated the creation then Allah will bring forth the creation of the Hereafter. Verily, Allah is able to do all things." (Al-Ankaboot:20)

 قُلْ سِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَانْظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلُ كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُّشْرِكِينَ

"Say, travel in the land and see how was the end of those before you, most of them where musrikeen (polythiests)" (Ar-Rum:42)


These Ayaat all start with the command imperative form in the second person plural "seeroo". Also the word for see (nathara) is also used in the command form "unthuroo" with the letter 'fa' before it "fanthuroo" denotes and - the fa in this case means that the seeing happens very shortly after beginning the travel.

All the ayaat are similar and Allah used a lot of repetition in Qur'an to hammer home a point, so we will be reminded.


There are another seven ayaat which use the rhetorical style to get us to consider and think and reflect. In Arabic when we want to make a rhetorical question we may start the sentence with alam or afalam.

 ...أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَيَنظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ

"...Didn't they travel in the land and see how was the end of those before them?..." (Yusuf:109)

In this ayah the question is aimed at the people of firaun (Pharoah) where were so oppressive and the Pharoah himself proclaiming himself as a deity, the question is saying "are they so dumb as not to be able to see how people like them perished before?"

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ يَعْقِلُونَ بِهَآ أَوْ ءَاذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا فَإِنَّهَا لاَ تَعْمَى الاٌّبْصَـرُ وَلَـكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِى فِى الصُّدُورِ

"have they not traveled through the land, and have they hearts wherewith to understand and ears wherewith to hear Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind" (Al-Hajj:46

أَوَلَمْ يَسيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ فَيَنظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُواْ أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةًوَلَـكِن كَانُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ

"or haven't they traveled in the land and seen how was the end of those before them, they were greater than them in strength but they used to wrong themselves" (Ar-Rum:9)

This ayah extents us to consider how strong the former people where yet they were destroyed because of their oppression to themselves by not believing or accepting the truth.

Other Ayaat with similar or same messages are in surahs Fatir:9, Ghafir 21 and 82 and Muhammad:10

Have you ever seen the Roman ruins in Turkey and Europe or the Greek antiquities? You can make a visit to these ruins a worship of Allah by considering what is mentioned in the ayaat, Consider how powerful these societies were and triumphant in war and expanding their lands and now they are reduced to crumbling ruins and museums. What happened to these people? Why were they destroyed? And then apply this to today's superpowers. They seem so strong and invincible now and they reject the message of Islam and they are oppressive upon the people. Their end will come if they would only take heed.

Visiting these places, as well as other famous ruins and antiquities like the pyramids in Giza Egypt can help us reflect upon the shortness of this life and the ruin of disbelief in this life and the next. When we visit these places around the world we should feel humbled, not in awe of the people who built the monuments and the like, but in awe of ALlah's power over all, and we feel humbled and fear Allah.

There are also places mentioned in Quran that we can visit while in Saudi Arabia for Hajj or Ummrah - go to the sites of Badr and other famous battles, as for me, insha Allah I will take you for a trip to the land of the two gardens "Ardh al-Jannatayn" in Yemen. It is a story mentioned in Surat al-Qalam.