التعدديّة الثقافيّة في أدب الرحلات: رحلة ابن جبير نموذجًا

Abstract

Due to the nature of their desert and town environment, the Arabs were engaged in two types of journeys: a constant search for water and pasture, on the one hand, and organized journeys to do business and commerce and communication with other nations, on the other. These represented the journeys of winter and summer.

After the appearance of Islam, the Muslim State extended from Andalusia in the West and China in the East. These countries included different ethnic and religious groups and diverse nations. These groups and nations lived in harmony to some extent. There were several factors that encouraged Muslims to travel in the Muslim world or countries and abroad then. Several documented their experiences in their travels and as a result a different genre called journey literature appeared. Among the famous travelers who documented their site-seeing and experiences was Ibn Jubair al-Andalusi. His travels provided a new perspective on the extent of multiculturalism that prevailed in the Islamic society.

This study presents the most significant aspects of multiculturalism revealed in Ibn Jubair’s journeys, tracing his talk on the countries he visited in the well-known travel called “Remembrance of the news about the contracts of travels”. The main significant finding is the flexible ability of the Muslim society to cope with diversity in all aspect of life and promoting co-existence or co-living.