If he were to go to this land and return to his home land, he would be the man that people will go to for wisdom and this is exactly what Fattouma wants. He says that he wants to change his country and obtain knowledge, but there may be an underling meaning as to why he wants to go on this journey. Gebel is the ever-elusive Paradise or Nirvana that everyone, especially Ibn Fattouma, is searching for, "The journey dominated (his) senses," (Ibn Fattouma 16). Gebel is a symbol of what man wants to be: God like. Gebel is a symbol of perfection and therefore by symbolizing such a thing Gebel must be the land of God because only God can truly be perfect. Fattouma wants to be God like and he strives to be so by undertaking the long journey to Gebel.
Every place he goes he sees the madness of the world and the hypocrisy of the people. What they believe in and feel is true, whether it through war or their own practices, Fattouma finds him self realizing the madness and hypocrisy of it all. Fattouma starts off strong in his beliefs, he prays as required and refers to god and his prophet numerous times, but when he reaches Mashriq he is truly tested to follow his faith. "I found even greater difficulty in turning away my gaze from exciting spectacles of nudity which fired my blood" (Ibn Fattouma 23). He struggles hard to resist, but fails miserably. "What land is this that hurls a young man like me into the flames of temptation!" exclaims Fattouma as he realizes that the temptations in Mashriq are too great for a young man of his statute. (Ibn Fattouma 23) Also, his lost love reappears in the land of Mashriq in the form of a pagan woman, which he quickly gives in to. Mashriq is the land of temptation and lust. This land shows that by giving in to your own desires you become nothing more than an animal, controlled only by primitive desires, like the moon people.
The land of Gebel or the land of perfection is his final destination and since the land of god is perfect, it must be the final destination.