What I have spoken of in the previous chapters — the dignity of the environment, the responsibility of the traveller, good manners and consideration for others — are not new things. Mankind learned this wisdom centuries ago, from a higher source.
In all the great faiths, travel has held a particular place and manners have been thought out for it; but among them, the Islamic teachings have gathered these manners with a detail and a balance that has few equals: from intention and preparation before setting out, to conduct towards a fellow traveller, to the rights of the traveller upon society.
For this reason, in the ordering of the culture of travel upon this network, I take my inspiration from this heritage — with complete respect for all beliefs and religions, and in the conviction that whatever we learn from the wisdom of other faiths and from the common conscience of mankind adds to the richness of this culture.
Before setting out: intention, preparation, and the settling of accounts
The first lesson begins before you set foot outside your door.
The Islamic teachings weigh a journey by its intention: why are you going? Deeds take their worth from intentions, and a journey with a right and honourable purpose is itself an act of worship. Travel for the sake of learning, for the visiting of kinsfolk, for lawful sustenance, for worship, or for the taking of a lesson from the fate of those who went before — all are roads towards good. The Qur’an calls upon man again and again to travel through the earth and to look; as though travel itself were a school which God has opened for His servants.
The second lesson is foresight. In the Islamic tradition it is recommended that a traveller write his will before a journey and put his unfinished affairs in order. This counsel comes not from pessimism but from wisdom: a person does not know what tomorrow will bring, and one who has set his affairs in order sets out with an easier mind and lays no heavy burden upon those he leaves behind. The Qur’an too, in the Surah al-Baqarah, counts the writing of a will, when the signs of danger draw near, as a duty upon the believers.
And the third lesson is the discharging of the rights of others. Before going, a traveller should pay his debts or at least make their position clear, and return what has been entrusted to him to its owners. The Qur’an, in the famous verse of debt — its longest verse — insists upon the writing down of debts and the taking of witnesses, and even teaches a way for travel, where no scribe is at hand.
The message is plain: one who owes another his due will not walk lightly upon the road. A clean journey begins from a clean account.
Upon the road: soundness of body, soundness of food, soundness of soul
The religious teachings have not forgotten the traveller’s body either. It is advised not to travel except in salamah — and salamah is both the health of the body and the soundness of one’s way and manner. A sick traveller is himself in distress and may also bring distress to others; and today, when a disease can pass from one continent to another in a few days, this ancient wisdom has taken on a new and global meaning.
In the matter of food, too, the general principle is clear: eat what is clean and lawful. The Qur’an repeatedly calls upon man to eat what is lawful and wholesome, and forbids waste. For the traveller this counsel has a practical sense as well: wholesome and light food, which both gives the body strength upon the road and lays no heavy burden upon it.
And beside this, the principle of easing: the religion of Islam grants the traveller relief — it shortens the prayer and lifts the fast — so that the journey should not be hard upon him. This is itself a lesson: that upon a journey, undue severity towards oneself and towards others is far from wisdom.
Fellow travellers: gentleness, forbearance and service
But perhaps the most beautiful manners of travel concern the fellow traveller.
In the Islamic tradition, the best of fellow travellers is the one who serves the others and lightens their burden. It is advised that travellers choose one from among themselves to have charge of the caravan, so that matters remain in good order; that along the way they should suit their haste and their slowness to the weakest of the company; and that they should be gentle and forbearing with one another, because the weariness of the road narrows the temper, and it is just there that the true metal of a person shows itself. And here that ancient wisdom of our own people, which I mentioned at the beginning of this book, takes on its meaning again: if you wish to know someone, travel with him.
And kindness is not confined to human beings. The Islamic teachings enjoin that we should not load a mount — and, in the modern sense, anything that carries our burden — beyond its strength, and that we should not fall short in its care; and that we should work no corruption upon the earth nor do injury to nature. This is the very spirit that we today call environmental responsibility, and we have seen already how it runs through the design of this network. Praise be to God.
The rights of the traveller upon society
And now we come to a point which may be the most brilliant of these teachings.
In the Islamic view, the traveller does not have duties only; he has rights as well. The Qur’an names ibn al-sabil — the wayfarer, the traveller left without provision or companion — among those who have a share in the wealth of society, alongside the orphan and the needy. That is to say, the helping of a stranded traveller is not a favour or an alms, but a right owed by society.
See how closely this teaching accords with what I said in the previous chapter: there, where I spoke of passenger service offices and of the Guarantee Fund, so that a traveller who has lost his money or his documents should not be left alone. What we design today as a modern mechanism is in truth a fresh enactment of an ancient ruling sent down fourteen centuries ago.
And beside it, the tradition of hospitality — praised in Islam and in all the great faiths — is the very spirit I wish to breathe into the stations and the trains of this network: that every traveller, in every corner of the earth, should find himself an honoured guest and not an intruding stranger.
A common root in the conscience of mankind
And the wonder is that these teachings, though set out in Islam with fuller detail, find their echo in the other faiths as well.
In the Jewish and Christian tradition, the receiving of the stranger and the sheltering of the wayfarer are counted among the great virtues. In the Buddhist faith and in the traditions of the East, the emphasis falls upon harmlessness, simplicity of life, and respect for every living creature. And even one who holds to no religion knows in his own conscience that he should be kind to his fellow traveller, that a trust should be returned, and that the helpless should not be left alone.
This concord is no accident. These values are planted in the nature of man, and the prophets came to awaken them and to set them in order. And if today, in the building of something as great as the Global Rail Network, we take our inspiration from these springs, we are in truth bringing to life in a new body the best of what mankind has learned throughout its history. God willing.
And at the last: travel, an exercise in servanthood
In the religious view, travel is not merely the moving of the body; it is the recalling of a greater truth. Upon a journey a person learns that nothing belongs to him but what he has in his heart and in his deeds; that he has left behind his house and his possessions and his habits and now stands face to face with his true self alone. And perhaps it is this that turns travel into a mirror for the knowledge of oneself.
And is not the whole of life itself a journey? We are all travellers upon a road whose beginning we did not see and whose end we do not know; we take up provisions, we find fellow travellers, and one day we arrive.
The manners we learn for our small journeys — right intention, the settling of accounts with others, kindness to our companions, and help to the helpless — are the very manners of that greater journey upon which we shall go to another world.
So if the Global Rail Network can bring the peoples of the earth to practise these manners upon their small journeys, then perhaps upon their greater journey they will be better human beings too. And this, beyond doubt, is the greatest fruit that no rail and no bridge could bring forth by itself.
Sources and references: the Holy Qur’an — the verses on travelling through the earth (al-An’am, al-‘Ankabut, al-Rum), the will (al-Baqarah 180), the verse of debt (al-Baqarah 282), lawful and wholesome food (al-Baqarah 168, al-Ma’idah 88, al-A’raf 31), the right of ibn al-sabil (al-Baqarah 177, al-Anfal 41, al-Isra’ 26, al-Rum 38), the easing of obligations for the traveller (al-Nisa’ 101, al-Baqarah 184–185); the Prophetic teachings on the manners of travel, service to fellow travellers, and kindness to one’s mount; the tradition of hospitality in the Jewish and Christian faiths; the principles of harmlessness in the traditions of the East.