Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism: A Path to Sufism

The paper attempts to shed some light on religious tourism as a broad term which lends itself to cover Muslim tourism, Christian tourism, or any other religion linked with the term ‘tourism’. The paper likens religious tourism to Sufi travel and wander. It inquires about the similarities between Sufi wander and religious tourism, and what they both have in common. Moreover, how far and true religious tourism embodies the essence of Sufism in its search for love, peace, and knowledge. Sufism embraces love as a means of transformation to better human beings; Where does religious tourism stand as far as transformation is concerned? Can the experience of exploring the place and interacting with the people render any new meanings of love for both the Sufi as a religious tourist and the religious tourist as a Sufi mystic? Pilgrims often regard the journey they take as a physical manifestation of an inner spiritual journey, with the path travelled being a framework for the travel within (Hall 2006). The role of tourism is to provide people with a chance to become familiar with the natural world, with animate and inanimate nature as God\u27s creation. They are thus able to use their free time for their own spiritual enrichment, even their moral renewal, by exploring the ultimate cause and meaning of their existence. Jafari (2000:497)