Rahhāl Narrators and Ibn al-Qaysarānī

Significant importance was attributed to hadith narration since Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) time as he encouraged those who heard his words to teach it to others and narrators considered this a religious obligation. Therefore, many narrators devoted their lives to the pursuit of hadith, personally engaging in hadith narrations and enduring certain difficulties for this cause when needed. They travelled long distances for months and days to hear even a single hadith due to narrators dispersing to different lands together with the hadiths in their possession, particularly following the Islamic conquests. Rihlas were undertaken to different regions and narrators known for frequent rihlas were denoted as "rahhāl" and "jawwāl", terms often used in adh-Dhahabi's works Siyar a'lam an-nubala', Tadhkiral al-huffaz, and Tarikh al-Islam al-Kabir. Rahhāl narrators were therefore determined based on these works. When examining the history of hadith, most rihlas were observed to be undertaken during the 3rd-6th centuries of the Hijri calendar. Based on this, our study identified the key rihla centers of the period by examining the rahhāl narrators, who lived during the mentioned era, and their rihlas. This study aimed to reveal the value placed on hadith pursuit and the hardships endured in this endeavor, through an examination of the rihlas of the rahhāl narrators. For this purpose, the rihla life of Ibn al-Qaysarānī (d. 507/1113), who traveled to the most regions in pursuit of hadith, became renowned for his rihlas, and was referred to as 'rahhāl' and 'jawwāl,' was examined. Through the examination of the rihla life of Ibn al-Qaysarānī, the study shed light on the rihla conditions, hardships endured, and the significance attributed to the pursuit of hadith during that period.