Journey Along the Silk Road

The Lesson: Faith and Geography

By Karima Diane Alavi  - June, 2003

Why Muslims?

There are many religious reasons for Muslim expertise in travel and geography. After reading the handout "The Five Pillars of Islam" see if your students can identify links between religious obligations and geography skills.

Possible Answers

No matter where they are on the globe, Muslims pray five times a day, facing in the direction of Mecca. This certainly helps Muslims to be aware of geography!

Muslims from the remotest lands made the journey to Mecca for the Hajj (pilgrimage). Even a 13th century Muslim living in a market town in China was expected to make the journey, and would have linked up with well-trodden trade routes toward Arabia by land or sea.

Guidelines for Islamic duties like prayers, fasting and celebrations require accurate time-keeping. Time was calculated by studying the positions of the stars, the sun and the moon. The skies became the calendar and "world map" for Muslim travelers who used these skills to traverse much of the eastern hemisphere. Without the knowledge of stars, desert journeys could become deadly.

The Qur'an and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) both encouraged the concept of "Rihla fi talab al-ilm" or Travel for the Sake of Knowledge. Muslims sought opportunities to literally sit at the feet of famous scholars and learn as much as possible before moving on to the next city in search of more lessons. Some traveled from as far as Baghdad to Granada to find teachers whom they admired.