Islam and Human Rights — Page 112
Isl am and Hum an R ights 112 State or be yond its borders. Indeed the Quran accounts facilities for easy and secure travel as a bounty of Allah, neglect or non appreciation of which might attract its own penalty. Of the people of Saba it says: “We placed, between them and the towns that We had blessed, other towns that were pro minently visible, and We fixed easy stages between them: Travel between them night and day in security. But they said: Our Lord, make the stages of our journeys longer. Thus they wronged themselves” (34:19-20). One of the major obligations ordained by Islam, for those who can afford to discharge it is the Pilgrimage to Mecca, which was first instituted by Abraham. “We assigned to Abraham the site of the House, and said: Associate not anything with Me, and keep My House pure for those who perform the circuits and those who stand up and those who bow down and fall prostrate in Prayer, and proclaim unto mankind the Pilgrimage. They will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, travelling by every distant track·’ (22:27-28). This implies the right of free movement across continents and oceans. In the succeeding verses and else where in the Quran are spelt out the benefits, spiritual as well as material, that flow from the Pilgrimage. Travel sharpens understanding and promotes