Rihlat al-Siddiq ila al-Balad al-Atiq
- Author died
- 1307 AH
- Editions
- Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs
Rihlat al-Siddiq ila al-Balad al-Atiq (The Journey of al-Siddiq to the Ancient City, Arabic: رحلة الصديق إلى البلد العتيق) is a 19th-century travelogue and pilgrimage treatise composed by the Indian Islamic scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan (1248–1307 AH / 1832–1890 CE) . The work combines legal rulings on the rites of Hajj, Umrah, and visiting Medina with personal narrative accounts of the author's sea voyage from India to the Hejaz . It is also known and recorded in bibliographic sources under the variant title Rihlat al-Siddiq ila al-Bayt al-Atiq (The Journey of al-Siddiq to the Ancient House) .
Background and Composition
The author states in his introduction that prior to his pilgrimage, he experienced repeated dreams of crossing the open sea and arriving in the two holy cities, seeing the grand colonnades of al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the clay structures of Medina . In 1285 AH (1868–1869 CE), he undertook his pilgrimage journey, travelling by ship from India to Jeddah and then inland to Mecca . Noting that deviations and innovative practices had infiltrated pilgrimage rites, he composed this concise guide based on evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah, supporting its legal rulings with textual proofs and the opinions of prominent scholars .
Structure and Content
The author organized the work into five chapters (abwab) and a conclusion (khatimah) :
- Chapter One: Covers the virtues of Mecca and related subjects . It includes sections on the Quranic verses and prophetic traditions highlighting the city's sanctity and merits, an extensive list of its historical names citing works such as Ahmad al-Hadrawi's al-Iqd al-Thamin, and a section defining the territorial boundaries of the sanctuary (Haram) .
- Subsequent Chapters: Address the legal requirements and performance of the rites of Hajj and Umrah, the etiquette and rulings of visitation (ziyarah), and the virtues and legal statues governing Mecca and Medina, interspersed with personal observations and incidents from his travels .
Publication History
The work was printed in early editions under the title Rihlat al-Siddiq ila al-Bayt al-Atiq, including an edition produced at the al-Alawiyyah Press in Lucknow in 1289 AH (1872 CE) . A third edition featuring annotations by Abd al-Hakim Sharaf al-Din was published by Dar Ibn al-Qayyim in 1406 AH (1985–1986 CE) . An edition titled Rihlat al-Siddiq ila al-Balad al-Atiq was subsequently published in 1428 AH (2007 CE) by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Qatar, prepared by Dar al-Nawadir under Nur al-Din Talib as part of an initiative republishing works historically patronized by Shaykh Ali ibn Abd Allah Al Thani .
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