The Indications of the Religious Factor and its Effects on the Voyage of the Russian Pilgrim Daniel the Priestto the Holy Land

Prof. Dr. Ihsan Deek, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Although there are many Arab and Muslim voyagers’ books and studies regarding them, our Arab libraries lack what the European voyagers and pilgrims wrote about our lands throughout the decades.  By contemplating the literature of such voyages, we can grasp the view of the West of us and what they knew about our lands.

The voyage of the Russian Pilgrim Daniel the Priestto the Holy Land lies within this framework; it happened before approximately 1,000 years, a few years after the Crusaders invaded out lands, and it came to Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.

The research studies this voyage in time and place and the importance of its religious factor, as the voyager was a pilgrim and loved the Christian-related religious sites. He accompanied with him an elderly who was knowledgeable about the holy books.

The researchers believes that the voyage, in all, was a religious one, and its characteristics are as follows: The religious color dominated it: the priest put little value to the other sides of the life… political, social, economic, and military. He depended greatly on the Holy Book and its myths, and mentioned many of them, mainly those thatwere tied to the old holy places.  These religious factors influenced the voyager’s view of the Muslim world, as he described it as infidel, and he stereotyped Muslims. All that might be the consequence of his religiousness and the Crusader’s dominance over the voyage’s sites.

Conference Title

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Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

March 19, 2016 - March 19, 2016

Conference Sponsor

مجمع اللغة العربية /أكاديمية القاسمي