The Holy Qura'n and Geography

The Holy Qur'an acquainted Muslims with the pristine beauty of the mountains, valleys, deserts, woods, oceans, streams, and a variety of winds. This was the reason why Muslim intellectuals were allured to the discipline of geography, as it was Qur'an's exhortations that drew them to Astronomy. Both these disciplines have played a pivotal role in the remarkable expansion of Islamic civilization. Travel, passion for which is an ingredient of Arab blood, is another major topic of discussion in the Holy Scriptures. As an essential driving force of humanity's existence, the urge for travel and migration has much to do with the genesis and expansion of geography.

The Holy Qura'n reflects on how winter and summer constitute the best of climes for a trip: "For the familiarity of the Quraish, their familiarity with the journeys by winter and summer, let them worship the Lord of this house who provides them with food against hunger and security against fear (of danger)" (chapter : 106).

Qura'n gave more incentive for traveling which was already an important part of Arab's life. "Say, travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who rejected truth" (6:11).

"Do they not travel through the land, so that their heart (and minds) may thus learn wisdom, and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not the eyes that are blind, but the hearts which are in their breasts" (22:46).

Thus journey for exploring new horizons of knowledge became a part of Muslim intellectual's life. This has opened up new vistas in geographical studies.

Long trips by Muslim scholars for propagating Islam were another aspect of Arab Muslim journey. This expedition which often encountered resistance culminating in Holy wars was the part and parcel of their life. To cap it all, Hajj was the great pilgrimage recurring every year. The holy Makkah became the destination of people, cutting across geographic, racial and gender divides. Describing the nature of this pilgrimage Qura'n says: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every camel, lean (on account of the journeys) through deep and distant mountain highways" (22.27)

All these trips were important geographical expeditions too. Since people in large numbers from Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Morocco, India, Italy, Spain, Mesopotamia, and Greece embraced Islam, it was very much convenient for Muslims to grasp and analyze the geographical features of the different places. Their trips throughout the expanded Islamic empire for administrative, military, missionary and trade-related purposes also boosted their geographical awareness.

Being the convergence of all diversities, Hajj offered plenty opportunities for sharing information belonging to different regions.

Arab scholars displayed extraordinary enthusiasm in inquiring geographical books and studies in various languages and translating them to Arabic. They made objective analysis of the rich intellectual legacy of Greece and India. Muslims learned about Ptolemy's geographical studies and research and they absorbed geographical observations in Aristotle's works and acquired command over Greek geometry and Persian descriptive geography. Ma'moon, Islamic Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, took special interest in geographical studies. He arranged 70 scholars for preparing an extended version of World map which was later (after him) named and became famous as Mamuni map. Muhammad Bin Moosa Al Qawarsmi, the distinguished author of the famous geographic work 'Description of inhabited countries' was one of them. He has not only improved Ptolemy's map and descriptions but also marked the geographical positions of the places he visited. Abul Hasan A masoodi who had a glimpse of this map described it as more accurate than Ptolemy's one.

AlKindi and Ahmed Zarkashi have authored some geographical works. Astronomical writings of Abu Abdillah Al Bakthani, Abul Abbas al Fargani, and Ibnu Yunus contained valuable geographical observations. Geographical studies assumed larger momentum during 4-6 centuries of Hijra. This awakening was facilitated by scholarly discoveries and researches, conducted on various part of the world, built on the studies of predecessors in the field. Muslim scientists were also able to widen the horizon of geographical inquiry which was followed by the voluminous contributions by Muslim geographers and travelers.