Spiritual Value of Journeying:
In Surah al-Ankabut (the spider) , it is revealed:
Say, Journey upon the earth and observe how He originated creation. Then God shall bring the next genesis into being. Truly God is Powerful over all things (ayah 20).
This ayah is part of a group of ayah's describing how previous prophets were sent with messages and yet there were people who didn't really believe. Allah questions , as if he often does in the Quran, whether or not people reflected upon his signs. The directive to reflect upon the creation through journeying is one of the things we can meditate on in order to see Allah's signs.
I find this very interesting in lieu of the push for our community (where they can) to travel, particularly from "North" to "South". My interpretation of this is this journey, among other benefits, would allow for those who are privileged to learn what is outside themselves so that they are not living in tunnel vision. In this way travel can be an exercise in breaking down privilege. On the other hand, travel in itself is a huge privilege. After the advent of colonialism, something doesn't sit right with me in encouraging the wealthy to gaze upon those "less fortunate". We might aim for knowledge exchange but because of the systems which function on separating and maintaining classes, how do can we do this in good consciousness.
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