ETIQUETTES OF JOURNEY

In fact, the etiquettes of travel are too many to be mentioned in these pages. Therefore, let us refer to a number of them only.

First: It is required not to forget mentioning Almighty Allah’s Name (i.e. Basmalah; Bismil-lahir-rahmanir-rahim: In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful) at the moment of riding (or getting in transportation means).

Second: It is required to save one’s money in a secured place. It is narrated that saving of one’s money in a safe place indicates the traveler’s discernment.

Third: It is recommended for a traveler to help his companions and not to refrain from providing any assistance possible. By doing so, Almighty Allah will relieve him from seventy-three misfortunes, save him from grief and anguish in the worldly life, and relieve him from the supreme horror on the Resurrection Day.

In this respect, It is narrated that Imam Zayn al-’Abidin (‘a) used to travel with people who had not met him before and thus they do not know him so that he could serve them. This is because if they knew him, they would not let him serve them.

It is also narrated that the Noble Prophet Muhammad (s) was with a group of his companions on a journey. As they decided to slaughter a sheep as their food, one of them offered to slaughter it, another one offered to skin it, and a third one offered to cook it. The Holy Prophet (s) offered to gather wood. “We can do this; therefore, you do not have to do it, Allah’s Messenger!” they said. But the Holy Prophet (s) answered, “I know that you can do it. But it is unpleasant for me that I be different from you! Verily, Almighty Allah does not like a servant of Him being different from the others.”

Be it known to you that the most loathsome thing to do in journeys is to be lazy to do a job you are able to do; rather, you wait until the companions will do it on behalf of you.

Fourth: It is recommended to accompany a person of similar expenditure.

Fifth: When you want to drink water from a house you meet on your way, you must first mix it with an amount of water taken from the previous house by which you passed. It is also required that a traveler takes with him some of the soil of his hometown; and whenever he passes by a house, he should put an amount of that soil in the water served in this house and wait until the water becomes pure and then drink it.

Sixth: It is recommended to be polite and self-possessed during journeys.

However, this point will be further discussed in the coming chapter dealing with the etiquettes of pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Imam al-Husayn (‘a).

Seventh: It is recommended to take along provisions, for it is honorable to take good provisions especially when one is on his way to Holy Makkah. However, it is discommended to take such good provisions like grilled meat and sweets, when one is on his way to visit the holy tomb of Imam al-Husayn (‘a).

Concerning this topic, Ibn al-A’sam, a poet, composed the following:

مِنْ شَرَفِ الْاِنْسَانِ فِي الْاَسْفَارِ تَطْيِيبُهُ الزَّادَ مَعَ الْاِكْثَارِ

وَ لْيُحْسِنِ الْاِنْسَانُ فِي حَالِ السَّفَرِ اَخْلاقَهُ زِيَادَةً عَلَى الْحَضَرِ

وَ لْيَدْعُ عِنْدَ الْوَضْعِ لِلْخِوَانِ مَنْ كَانَ حَاضِرا مِنَ الْاِخْوَانِ

وَ لْيُكْثِرِ الْمَزْحَ مَعَ الصَّحْبِ اِذَا لَمْ يُسْخِطِ اللّٰهَ وَ لَمْ يَجْلِبْ اَذَى

مَنْ جَاءَ بَلْدَةً فَذَا ضَيْفٌ عَلَى اِخْوَانِهِ فِيهَا اِلَى اَنْ يَرْحَلا

يُبَرُّ لَيْلَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لْيَأْكُلِ مِنْ اَكْلِ اَهْلِ الْبَيْتِ فِي الْمُسْتَقْبِلِ

Eighth: The most important thing in journeys is to keep up performing the obligatory devotional acts, especially the ritual prayers, and maintain their qualities and terms. Obligatory prayers must be performed in their determined times without any delay or any violation of their parts and manners. Unfortunately, some pilgrims violate these obligatory performances when they perform them in late times, while they are riding, with dry ablution (tayammum), or while they are not ceremonially clean. In fact, such acts arise from their underestimating these obligatory undertakings. Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) is reported to have said, “To perform one obligatory prayer is more preferable than undertaking twenty times of ritual hajj pilgrimage; and to undertake one hajj is more preferable than giving as alms a room full of gold.”

Finally, it is highly recommended not to neglect repeating the following doxology thirty times after each short-form (qasr) prayer:

سبحان اللّه و الحمد للّه و لا اله الاّ اللّه و اللّه اكبر