الرّحّال
edital-raḥḥāl (in standard Arabic transcription) refers to the dedicated explorer or traveler.
The pre-modern pursuit of education often involved a great deal of traveling about, that one might sit at the feet of various renowned polymaths and specialists, absorbing the particular contributions of one before traveling on to another. In fact, this sort of education was most often referred to as “al-riḥla fī ṭalab al-ʿilm” (الرحلة في طلب العلم), that is, “the journey in quest for knowledge.”
Of course, one who embarked on such a quest was referred to as a “ṭālib” (طالب), that is, a “seeker”, or, more commonly, simply a “student.” But for what it may imply of a greater dedication, and a pursuit, perhaps, tending more towards the life-long, I have chosen the term al-raḥḥāl (الرّحّال) as defined above.
For it is by placing the raḥḥāl in the context of the “riḥla fī ṭalab al-ʿilm” that one might best approximate my current fashion of life-living:
that of the permanent student.