Travelling has been part and parcel of a Muslims' life since the beginning of Islam. For the last 14 centuries, Muslims have been travelling from all parts of the world to perform Hajj. Without a doubt, Hajj has been one of the driving factors in making them leave their homes and possessions and embark on these most awe inspiring journeys. The requirement to travel for Hajj and other reasons such as finding the Qiblah direction, made the early Muslims the leaders in innovation in travel and navigation. It also led to a vast collection of travel writing!

These accounts of Hajj journeys undertaken by land, a few hundred years ago, give fascinating incites to how they travelled, glimpses of the life of the cities they passed, the dangers they had to encounter and most importantly the life changing inspiration they got when they reach Makkah! It is mentioned that the Chinese General, Zhen He, developed the passion for Travel after accompanying his grandfather (or his father) on a Hajj journey!

One Thousand Roads to Mecca is a great collection of such fascinating accounts of the journeys of 23 people going to Makkah. The Travellers come from different walks of life and start with the travels of Nasr-e-Khosraw of Persia in the year 1050. Some of the most interesting stories are of Malcom X, Ibn Batuta and Ibn Jubair's pilgrimage to Hajj. Some of the accounts covered are of non-Muslims, who somehow managed to get to Makkah and even write about their journey and how they managed to get through! Some stories give you glimpses of how Cairo and Damascus were during the height of their glory days.

The last chapter is the story iof the journey of Micheal Wolfe (an American convert) himself. This book contains an abridged account of his journey, which is a book by itself (The Hadj: An American's Pilgrimage to Mecca). These are good books to keep you occupied on a long plane ride on your next Holiday trip!

You could also share your Hajj and Umrah journeys with others. Write to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it