Many people live their lives and die, without really accumulating any great experiences or acquiring wisdom. But there are remarkable men who have done in one lifetime what hundreds, even thousands, could not do in their lifetimes combined. Sometimes when walking in the streets, and this happens mostly at night time, I begin to think of all the people that I see, and all the houses and cars. I think of all these people out there living entire lifetimes that I know nothing about, having all sorts of experiences that I could not even imagine, and it really disappoints me. I wish I could see the lives of others and know them as well as I know mine- I don’t know whether it’s because I want to connect with them, or If i just want to experience what they experience, or learn more about life and the world- but this is sometimes I always think about.

That is why I think studying autobiographies and memoirs might be one of the best ways to enrich one’s life- you gain a condensed version of a person’s lifetime: their most important experiences and insights, without having to live their entire lives. You still miss out on a lot, like the simple pleasures in life, the simple human interactions, but you gain so much. Yet for some reason, I’ve never really been interested in reading someone’s memoirs or autobiography- no matter how great the person, I’ve never really been excited about reading what they wrote. I did buy the autobiography of Malcolm X and hopefully I’ll get to it one day.

Several years ago I read Amin Maalouf’s great novel, Leo the African (also translated as Leo Africanus). It is a fictionalized account of the life of an Andalusian Muslim whose family left when Grenada, the last city of the Muslims, fell to the Reconquista. He had a very interesting journey that led him deep into Africa, and then a capture by Pirates that led him to meeting Pope Leo X who gave him the name Leo Africanus. Amin Maalouf wrote a beautiful novel that incorporated what we know about Leo but also placed him in all of the important events of the time- thus creating a “historical novel” that gives an accurate picture of the world at the time, all the major historical events that happened, and how people lived back then.

This novel is what first got me interested in travel literature, or travelogues to be more precise, as a way to transport you suddenly into the midst of a different place, centuries ago, living life as they experienced it, seeing what they saw. But years passed without me really reading anything of the sort.

More recently, my interest in certain scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries led me to the Rihla (or Voyage) of al-Ayyashi. This was a great scholar from the Muslim maghreb who described his journey to the Muslim East. He interests me because he was one of the shaykhs of Imam al-Sanusi, as well as a disciple of some of the students of shaykh Safi al-Din al-Qushashi. He wrote much about al-Qushashi in his travelogue, but it is hard to find and even its modern editor couldn’t help me find a copy.

But now, I’m reading another rihla, that of Ibn Jubayr. And what can I say except that its every page is pure delight to the reader. Ibn Jubayr was an Andalusi scholar, who went to the Hajj by sea to Alexandria, then down to Upper Egypt and into south Africa, where he crossed the sea to the Hijaz. Horrified by what they saw in the African city from which he crossed, his group swore to take a different route home- which took them up to Iraq and Syria - where Saladin was busy fighting the Crusaders- and then to Sicily.

Ibn Jubayr ended up staying many months in Mecca waiting for the Hajj season, and his description of the Kaaba (back then it was covered in green silk with a red silk band of inscriptions- not black), and all the celebrations of the people of Mecca; the caravans that came from Yemen; and how the people worshiped, etc. It is absolutely fascinating. I cannot imagine reader another book with greater joy than this. Not only is Ibn Jubayr famous for his photographic memory, but he paints the most beautiful scenes, describes the most heart-melting events, that makes this book a true feast for the heart and soul. Trying to tell you more is tough, because where can I begin. All I can do is hope that you will be convinced by this to read it. I am reading it as it was written, in Arabic, but you can get a translation for less than 10 US dollars at islamicbookstore.com/b6396.html . Reading this is worth at least ten times as much, trust me!

After this insha’Allah I plan to re-read Leo Africanus, but this time in its Arabic translation (Amin Maalouf writes in French). I’ve always wanted to read it and this will fit in perfectly, as it is about another Andalusian traveler, at a later point when the Andalus was lost. It will also be a great way to end my current studies about Muslim Spain and North Africa.

Then: perhaps the infamous Ibn Battuta. And then there is al-Ayyashi, if I find it insha’Allah, and then Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, the great scholar of Ottoman times, who describes his visit to Palestine, and meets many members of my family. His voyage is probably the most mystical, since it contains his visions and experiences at the tombs of the Prophets and awliya in Palestine, but both al-Ayyashi and Ibn Jubayr have that to some extent.

So these are the rihla books I would very much like to read next, and maybe one day Allah (swt) will send me on an interesting journey to write my own Rihla.