Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of "travel in search of knowledge" (الرحلة في طلب العلم), the riḥla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route.

[1] The classical riḥla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta (known commonly as The Rihla) and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the "personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities" experienced by the traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world.

[2] However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance, the 19th–century riḥlas of Muhammad as-Saffar[3] and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi[4] both follow conventions of the riḥla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.

Concerning Ibn Jubayr's voyage to Mecca in 1183, one writer claimed that "...his two-year journey made a considerable impact on literary history.

His account of his travels and tribulations in the East served as the foundational work of a new genre of writing, the rihla, or the creative travelogue: a mix of personal narrative, description, opinion and anecdote.