Medieval Islamic society had unmatched voluntary personal mobility

Evidence

Medieval Islamic society enjoyed a far greater degree of voluntary, personal mobility than did any other known premodern society. Men, and sometimes women, traveled; they planned, organized, and con­ ducted long journeys. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1895

Categorization

• XREF: Corroborates and extends the Islam-West representation cluster by showing the region generated its own outward-looking travel gaze long before Western orientalist description.
• QUESTION: What material conditions enabled this exceptional mobility — roads, currency, legal protections for travelers?