'Musafir': The Arabic word for traveller is both hopeful and sorrowful

It is often used in music and poetry, evoking a sense of longing and passion

Musafir, the Arabic word for traveller, is often used in music and poetry, evoking a sense of longing and passion. The National

Travellers flying with Etihad Airways might have noticed that the onboard safety video begins with an Islamic prayer. Translated into English, the prayer says “Glory be to the One who has given this to us, and we could not have done it on our own. And indeed, to our Lord we shall return.”

This prayer is called Doaa Al Safar, or the travel prayer. Many attribute it to the Prophet Mohammed who said it as he mounted a horse or camel to embark on a journey. For many Arabic-speaking travellers, a journey, whether it be by plane, road, train or ship, cannot begin without recitating Doaa Al Safar. It is a call to God so that he may protect them on their journey.

Musafir is the Arabic word for traveller. Musafir comes from safar, which means travel, and has other words that branch from it. An ambassador is safeer and safariyat is a travel agency. Used in different tenses, "travelled" becomes saafar, "travelling" is yusafir and "will be travelling" is sayusafir.

The word is also often used in poetry since travelling is usually an indicator of being away from family and loved ones, whether for work, immigration or in exile. Lebanese poet Khalil Jibran says in his poem Hum Fajr Al Hayat Biladbar: “Every time we meet, we embrace as if we are weary travellers returning from a long journey.” In this stanza, Gibran uses the word safar twice, first to mean travellers and second to mean the journey. Using it when describing a warm embrace evokes a sense of longing and passion.

The word is also often used in Arabic songs for similar reasons. The 1996 Rashed Al Majed song Al Musafir, written by the late Saudi prince and poet Badr Bin Abdul Mohsin, begins: “Don't wave to the traveller; the traveller is gone. Don't call out to the traveller; the traveller is gone.”

Here the word is used in sorrow from the point of view of the person being left as the traveller, the lover, is gone. The song continues to a stanza that says: “Come on, my heart, let's go; the world has become too tight for us,” showing how hard it is for the person left behind.

In its simplest form, musafir is a straightforward word that means traveller, but used in different contexts and with different emotions, the word hides feelings of hope, sadness, relaxation and loneliness.