Concerning Ibn Jubayr's voyage to Mecca in 1183, one writer claimed that '.his two-year journey made a considerable impact on literary history. The travel narratives of Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta are perceived as 'archetypical exponents of the flowering of genre,' but should not be perceived as its founders.

These journey also coincided with the end of the Mongol invasions and a new opportunity for Islamic expansion. The performance of Rihla was considered in Moorish al-Andalus as a qualifier for teachers and political leaders. Events on these journeys would be the basis of the extant travel literature. Rihla sifariyya - journey to foreign lands including to embassies and missions in territories in Dar al-Harb.Rihla hijaziyya - journey to the Hejaz which would be transmitted via an oral or written report.Rihla - journey within Morocco, typically to meet with other pilgrims before traveling beyond the local area.The Rihla travel practice originated in Middle Ages Morocco and served to connect Muslims of Morocco to the collective consciousness of the ummah across the Islamic world, thereby generating a larger sense of community. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage for instance the 19th century riḥlas of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the riḥla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations. The classical riḥla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta (known commonly as The Rihla) and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the 'personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities' experienced by traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of 'travel in search of knowledge' (الرحلة في طلب العلم), the riḥla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature. Riḥla ( Arabic: رحلة) refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, or travelogue.

Historic copy of selected parts of The Rihla by Ibn Battuta, 1836 CE, Cairo

Book of travels wiki