I want to go on a Journey

"When we go out with our family, what are some of the places we visit? Come, let's go together on a journey."

That is how the book opens, and it is the right way in. A child hears the word journey and is already interested.

What It Covers

The manners of travel and the supplications attached to them — the dua on setting out, what to say on arriving somewhere, and the etiquette expected of a traveler and of the people he travels with.

And, unusually for a book this young, the fact that the prayer is shortened on a longer journey.

Why That Detail Matters Here

Because a child who has been taught that the prayer is fixed will find it strange when the family prays two rak'ah in an airport, and will draw his own conclusions about whether the rules are being bent.

Explaining it in advance — that Allah made travel easier deliberately, and that shortening is a concession He gave rather than a corner being cut — teaches something about the religion beyond the ruling itself.

Related Reading

• I Want to Eat My Food — the companion volume, on eating
• Day in the Life of a Muslim Child — the supplications of an ordinary day
• Methodology of Hajj & Umrah — the fiqh of travel for adults, pocket size