ABSTRACT
How, for instance, has travel and exploration by Muslims produced and transformed their own sense of Self and Other? What would it mean to invert the questions that reproduce the West as the epicentre of the world? This chapter presents such questions by analysing the landmark nineteenth-century rihla of Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, a member of the first student mission the Egyptian leader, Muhammad 'Ali, sent to Paris. The 'extraction of gold' in the Rihla not only refers to Tahtawi's sifting of French manners, customs, politics and ideas for valuable lessons, but also suggests how Takhlis must itself be read. The chapter suggests that determining Tahtawi's own political and intellectual commitments in the Rihla is greatly complicated by the adab style of the Takhlis. Tahtawi is careful to note the passion for knowledge and love of travel evident even among women—at one point admitting that there are some Frenchwomen of great virtue—yet concludes rather summarily that most are corrupt.
