A Call To Travel

Photo by Leio McLaren @leiomclaren on Unsplash

“No rest in residence for the cultured and intellectual,
So travel and leave where you’re residing!
Travel! You will find replacement for what’s left
And strive! For the sweetness of life is in striving!
I’ve seen that water stagnates if still, becomes pure if it runs,
But not if it doesn’t flow,
If the lion leaves not his den he cannot hunt
And the arrow strikes not, without leaving its bow,
If the sun stood still in its heavenly course
Then people, Arab and ‘Ajam, would bore
Gold dust is as soil where commonly found,
And in its land, ‘Oud is but wood in store
If one travels, sought out is he,
If one travels, honored like gold is he.”**

-- Muhammad Bin Idris Ash-Shafi'ee

** Not a verbatim translation; Poetic license used

About the author

Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (767–820 CE, 150–204 AH) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and scholar, who was the first contributor of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-fiqh).

Often referred to as 'Shaykh al-Islām', al-Shāfi‘ī was one of the four great Imams, whose legacy on juridical matters and teaching eventually led to the Shafi'i school of fiqh (or Madh'hab).

He was the most prominent student of Imam Malik ibn Anas and he also served as the Governor of Najar.

Born in Gaza, he also lived in Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Egypt and Baghdad.

The translation of this poem is an excerpt from the Seeker's Regalia, a treatise on Metalearning and the etiquette of seeking knowledge.