Islamic Urbanism

This chapter explores the entwined processes through which the city and religion are mutually produced by analysing the event of Eid Milad-ul-Nabi (annual celebration of Prophet Muhammad’s birth) in working-class neighbourhoods of Lahore. In these mohallas, teams of boys and young men decorate their streets and display fantastical models using funds they have collected from the neighbourhood. This resulting constructed world, which is viewed and experienced by large audiences from inside and outside the locality, is designed to not only express Islamic sensibilities but also to reimagine the space of the neighbourhood. We read these decorations as material embodiments of the creators’ interpretation of their own lives and the world around them as well as expressions of their desires and demands. The solidarities, rivalries and contestations that mark the process of making and displaying these decorations also render Milad a key site for the production and reproduction of the social relations that define these neighbourhoods.

The association of madrassas as " breeding grounds for terrorists " is problematic, exacerbated by a lack of understanding of how Islamic religious schools function and contribute to cities and urban social life. Our article provides an interpretative examination of the so-called madrassa question by explaining the urban-spatial embeddedness of madrassas and emphasizing the heightened sense and deployment of religious identities in the quotidian " worlding " of " lived religion " and " lived religious education " of research participants in two madrassa communities in Isla-mabad, Pakistan. Positioned within the growing research on urban sociology and geographies of the intersections of religion and education, this article examines lived religion and religious education within urban spaces. It discusses ethnographic findings on the performance and reproduction of spatially grounded extrareligious roles, identities, and practices in city-based madrassas. We emphasize the religious and nonreligious meanings people attach to these identities and practices, and how these are manifested, represented, and experienced in urban community spaces. We demonstrate madrassas’ connection to people’s place-making practices and
meaning-making as historical processes and purposeful action. Urban landscape, quotidian religious practices, and extra-local political economy are important to linking place, human aspirations, and lived religion in reframing the madrassa question in Pakistan.

On the question of an archetypal model of the Islamic city, several regional scholars and Orientalists have tried to give some answers, each focusing on a specific aspect to the originality of these cities. Some even expressed great skepticism toward the concept of “Islamic city” as an urban ideal of the Muslim world.
The medinas of the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), like most medieval Islamic cities, are characterized by the centralization of the main religious and economic institutions. They are also divided into specialized districts so that the compact districts of the residential areas are clearly distinguished from an economic district that is morphologically much less dense.

Defensive structures also hold a prominent place in the medieval Islamic conception of the city, expressed through ramparts, crooked streets, and vaulted passages. It should be added that medieval Islamic cities generally incorporated most characteristics of medieval European cities, including the concept of enclosure. However, in the case of the medinas in the Maghreb, this sense of enclosure is pushed to the extreme for climatic and military reasons, as well as the constant concern for the protection of privacy.

On the other hand, Islamic cities as human settlements suggest additive growth. This does not mean that cities developed haphazardly, but rather development proceeded according to a voluntaristic design, structured by non-geometric paths connecting various destinations, the most significant of which were the mosque, the souk, and residential quarters. We can note many similarities of the medinas throughout the Maghreb. This is especially true given that the early Islamic conquests favored the generalization of the same ideas. In less than a century after the emergence of Islam, several new cities sprang up following the model of Medina, the first city of Islam.

The purpose of this lecture is to confront various theoretical conceptions of this issue in order to trace morphological and landscape characteristics of Maghrebi medinas.

Abstract
Most important  aspect  of  Islamic civilization in Hafsid period is  Using Jurisprudence in urbanization, and production the Islamic law of urban. Islamic arts in Hafsid period Islamic arts is arts of local nations in the Islamic world that it was  developed and continued by flowers of new religion from south east of china to east of Spain in Valencia after birth of Mohammad prophet of Islam in Arabian peninsula in seven century A.D. Islamic art have very special characters and several style element and vast variety. The scholars of Islamic arts divided it to seven schools with special styles:     
1-school of Iranian art
2-school of Spain art
3-school of  Maghreb art
4-school of Egypt and Syria art
5- School of  Afrique  art
6- Ottoman school of art
7-school of Indian art.
One of the most important territories of Islamic arts is Afriqye (Tunisia, Algeria, morocco, Libya) in Hafsid dynasty (1229-1574). This land is between Atlas Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and it is place of confluence of multicultural waves and religion. the origins of Islamic arts in Hafsid period is art of Spain in med ivizl( Andalusia), art of Maghreb ,art of Iran and pre-Islamic routes. There is in Hafsid period, official style of art, special in architecture and calligraphy and in music and in urbanism appeared in Tunisia capital of Hafsid state .arts of Afrique is religious art used for development of Islamic culture and civilization. We find the symbol of Afrique arts in mosque of Zaytune in Tunisia.in music There is in  Hafisd period, evaluation of local Tunisian dome in very cities of Ifrique  is  symbol of Islamic architecture  and Islamic  Art  .  Final evaluation  of Tunisian dome and couple appeared by combining between art of Moresque of Islamic Spain (Andalusia) in medieval  and local Tunisian art and art of Maghreb

Book series co-edited by Mohammad Gharipour & Christiane Gruber


Critical Studies in Architecture of the Middle East is devoted to the most recent scholarship concerning historic and contemporary architecture, landscape, and urban design of the Middle East and of regions shaped by diasporic communities more globally. We invite interdisciplinary studies from diverse perspectives that address the visual characteristics of the built environment, ranging from architectural case studies to urban analysis. The series will illustrate a range of approaches to the commission, design, construction, use, and reception of buildings and landscapes throughout the region; concurrently, it will illuminate the region’s diverse architectural cultures and traditions. The series intends to present the history, theory, practice, and critical analyses of historical and contemporary architecture, landscape, and urban design, as well as the interpretation and conservation of the region’s existing cultural heritage. It will include surveys, monographs, and edited volumes. 

Series editors: Mohammad Gharipour (mohammad@gatech.edu) & Christiane Gruber (cjgruber@umich.edu)

Please submit your book proposals to the series editors.  The following is the link to the book proposal template: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/repository/index/

This paper is an excerpt of a PhD Thesis in “Architecture. Theories and project”, presented at DiAP – Department of Architecture and Project of Sapienza Università di Roma in April 2012. Thesis’ title: “Around the Sahara desert. Enduring Topographies between Architecture, Desert and City”: supervisors: professors Ludovico Micara and Raffaele Panella. In this short text we will examine scientific premises and limits concerning a broader field of study, the settlement mechanism around the Sahara desert, deepening the processus of landscape construction, to be intended as a complex relationship between religion, geography and human adapting ability.

This is the seventh issue of the serie "Rutas arqueológicas por Córdoba", published by the Sisifo Research Group (University of Córdoba) in the frame of the Scientific Project "Arqueología Somos Todos", for the dissemination of knowledge to all scopes of society.

Cairo encompasses a large number of historic urban quarters; the majority of which are functioning since the 10th century. These historic quarters are over layered historic buildings and generally experi-enced different ruling systems throughout time. In the 1980’s, historic Cairo was recognized as a World Heritage Site due to the inherited glorious built heritage. Since then, this massive urban quarter has en-countered several disorientated urban revitalization policies that followed a top-down approach resulting from a centralized regime. Nevertheless, due to the poor line ministry coordination the policies focused on fragmented developments rather than a sustainable approach, consequentially, avoided the rights and needs of local communities. Very recently and on 25 January 2011, the removal of the authoritarian re-gime by the millions of peaceful Egyptians took place. However, this leadership-less revolution led to produce an expected ruling system dilemma. This paper is an attempt to understand the future of historic Cairo through the current competing political spectrums in the arena, such as the Islamic societies, neo-liberal, and neo-socialists. This speculating study offers to future policy makers and scholars a new un-derstanding of urban revitalization through lessons of international examples and the opportunities of the future. It addresses the aspects of housing, community empowerment, adaptive re-use, and economic enhancements as criteria integral to revitalizing historic Cairo. The study reveals the advantages and disadvantages of each future regime and its impact on the built heritage and the importance of engaging local communities.

On the basis of a contrasting comparison of the mosque landscapes in two German cities, Berlin and Hamburg, this paper suggests an analysis of Islam as an urban phenomenon. Muslims, according to our hypothesis, live in different historically grown city spaces, which they reflect and shape, to which they adapt and react. Taking latest concepts in urban research for the study of the specificity of the city into consideration we plead for an understanding of Muslim's presence in European cities that is not exclusively the result of migration. Islamic life is a situative articulation that is product of negotiations about the legitimate translation of presence in society. We therefore suggest a typology of mosques that reflects the reach and complexity of negotiations connected to planning, realization and the everyday life of the communities: the neighborhood mosque, the district mosque and the city mosque. This way, „Islam“ in the city may be understood as both urban and specific.

İslam Medeniyeti'nin Oluşum Sürecinde Belli Başlı İslam Şehirleri

GİRİŞ VEYA ÖZET

Dört bir yanda devam eden İslam fetihleri sonucunda yeni bir medeniyet veya
uygarlığın temelleri atılmaya başlandı. Ortadoğu'nun sabık Sasani ve Bizans bölgesinin bir yönetim altında birleşmesiyle, ticaretin engelleri kalkmış, doğu ve batı arasında çok canlı bir ticari aktivite ortaya çıkmıştır. Böylece tarihte ilk kez Semerkant bölgesi Ortadoğu ile ortak bir potada buluşmuştur. Zamanla ticari yaklaşımlar Orta Asya ve Hindistan içlerine yayılmaya ve bu bölgelerde büyük şehirlerin kurulmasına ve gelişmesine neden olmuştur. Basra ve daha sonra Bağdat kısa sürede dünyanın en önemli ticaret merkezleri haline gelmişlerdir. Semerkant, Buhara ve Nişabur gibi Asya şehirleri de her geçen gün daha da zenginleşti.

Köylü veya konar göçer toplumların hayatlarını sürdürebilmek amacıyla; ihtiyaç fazlası el ürünü mallarını satmak veya değiştirme faaliyeti, belli noktalarda belli aralıklarla, pazarların kurulması gerektirmiştir. Memerr-i nas olan bu yerlerde zamanla mevsimlik veya yıllık panayırlar oluşmuş, bunların bazıları ise artan nüfusla birlikte yerleşim yerleri veya kasabalar haline gelmiştir. Bu aynı zamanda tarım ve hayvancılıkla geçimini sürdüren belli kesimin şehirleşmesi ve sanat veya zenaat erbabı haline gelmesinin de en önemli nedeni olmuştur. Bu küçük "Pazar kasabaları" nın dışında farklı türden bir çok tarım bölgesinin birleştiği ve ürün mübadelesinin daha
kapsamlı ve karmaşık olduğu şehirler de vardı.
Kuzey Suriye'deki Halep şehri bu türün en güzel örneklerinden biri kabül edilir.

Halep, Suriye'nin iç kısımlarındaki ovalardan elde edilen tahılların, meyvelerin, orman ürünlerinin, dağ yamaçlarında beslenen koyunların, çölde beslenen develerin alınıp satıldığı, bir buluşma yeri ve ticari kavşak noktasıydı. Bu şekilde oluşan kasaba veya şehirler deniz, nehir veya
ana yollara yakın bir bölgede ise kısa zamanda hızla gelişiyor ve deniz aşırı uzak bölgelere yapılan ticaret için bir merkez şehir haline geliyordu. İslam fetihleri sonucunda bu şehirlerin oluşumu için çok uygun bir zemin hazırlanmış, Hint Okyanus dünyasını Akdeniz dünyasına bağlayan bir İslam toplum ve medeniyetinin gelişme­si sonucunu doğurmuştur. Böylece doğudan batıya büyük şehirler zinciri ortaya çıkmıştır. Bunların en önemlileri: Endülüs'te Kurtuba, İşbiliyye ve Gırnata; Fas'ta Fez ve Marakeş; Tunus'ta Kayrevan ve Tunus; Mısır'da Fustat ve daha sonra Kahire, Suriye'de Şam ve Halep; Arabistan'da Mekke ve Medine; lrak'ta Bağdat, Musul ve Basra; İran, Semerkant bölgesi ve kuzey Hindistan şehirleri.
Bunlardan bazıları İslam'dan önce var olan, bazıları da daha sonra gelişen ve güçlenen hanedanlar tarafından kurulmuş şehirlerdir.
*****
***
Major Islamic Cities in the Formation Process of Islamic Civilization

INTRODUCTION OR SUMMARY
 
A new civilization as a result of the conquests of Islam going on all around or
The foundations of civilization began to be laid.  With the merging of the former Sassanid and Byzantine regions of the Middle East, trade barriers disappeared and a very lively commercial activity emerged between east and west.  Thus, for the first time in history, Samarkand region met with the Middle East in a common pot.  Over time, commercial approaches have led to the spread of Central Asia and India, and the establishment and development of large cities in these regions.  Basra and later Baghdad became the most important trade centers of the world in a short time.  Asian cities such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Nishapur are getting richer day by day.

In order to sustain the lives of peasant or nomadic societies;  The activity of selling or replacing surplus hand-made goods necessitated the establishment of markets at certain points at certain intervals.  In these memerr-like places, seasonal or annual fairs have occurred over time, some of which have become settlements or towns with increasing population.  This was also the most important reason for the urbanization of certain sections of agriculture and animal husbandry, and for the fact that they became art and craftsmen.  Apart from these small "market towns", many different types of agricultural regions are combined and the product exchange is more
There were also cities that were extensive and complex.
One of the best examples of this species is the city of Aleppo in northern Syria.

Aleppo was a meeting place and commercial crossroads where grains, fruits, forest products, sheep fed on mountain slopes, camels fed in the desert were bought and sold from the plains in the inner parts of Syria.  Towns or cities formed in this way.

In a region close to the main roads, it was developing rapidly in a short time and became a center city for the trade to the overseas regions.  As a result of the conquests of Islam, a very suitable ground was prepared for the formation of these cities, and it led to the development of an Islamic society and civilization that connected the Indian Ocean world with the Mediterranean world.  Thus, a chain of big cities emerged from east to west.  The most important of these are: Kurtuba, İşbiliyye and Gırnata in Andalusia;  Fez and Marrakech in Morocco;  Kayrevan and Tunisia in Tunisia;  Fustat in Egypt and later Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo in Syria;  Mecca and Medina in Arabia;  Baghdad, Mosul and Basra in Iraq;  Iran, Samarkand region and northern Indian cities.
Some of them are cities that existed before Islam, and some were established by dynasties that developed and developed later.
*****
***
*

Özet Bu makalede Hârûn Reşid " in eşi ve Abbâsîler devrinin en etkili kadınlarından biri olan Zübeyde binti Câfer " in, ilk dönem Abbâsî siyasî hayatındaki yeri ele alına-caktır. Hâşimoğullarının Abbâsî koluna mensup olup, halife doğuran tek kadın olan Zübeyde, diğer halife eşlerinden farklı olarak, Emîretü " l-Mü " minîn şeklinde anılmış, eşi Hârûn Reşîd ve Abbâsî devlet idaresi üzerinde büyük bir etkiye sahip olmuştur. Küçük yaştaki oğlu Muhammed el-Emîn " in veliaht tayin edilmesini sağ-lamış ve Hârûn Reşîd " e rağmen veliaht değişikliğine izin vermemiştir. Kudretli vezir ailesi Bermekîlerin azlinde önemli rol oynayan Zübeyde, Emîn-Me " mûn arasında cereyan eden iç savaştaki konumu ve Me " mûn döneminde halifeyle iliş-kileri bakımından Abbâsî siyasî hayatında önemli bir yere sahiptir. Abstract This article deals with Zubeyde bint Ja'far who was Harun al-Rashid " s wife and one of the most influential women of Abbasid era and her place in the early Ab-basid political life. Zubeyde was the only women who gave birth to a caliph from the Abbasid-Hashemite lineage. Unlike the wives of the other caliphs, she was called " amîra al-mü " minîn " and had an important effect on her husband, Harun al-Rashid and the Abbasid state administration. She had a significant place in the political life of the Abbasid with her insistence on her son Muhammad al-Amin's to be crown prince, her disapproval for the change of crown prince despite of Harun al-Rashid, her intervention in the internal war that took place between Amin and Me'mun, and her relation to the caliph Me'mun. Also Zubeyde has a significant role in the dismissing of noble family of Barmakids.

This article outlines approaches for interpreting the Islamic city of Sultan Kala (Merv), c. 8th-13th centuries AD, based upon aerial photographic and satellite imagery. Hierarchies of assumptions (identification of individual wall lines; which frame spaces, rooms and courtyards; which are grouped as parts of specific buildings; which are part of urban blocks) and ontologies (information about these assumptions and the variable confidence of interpretation, from the position of lines to spatial function) provide a dynamic structure for the presentation of data, interpretation and theory.

The article establishes procedures and protocols within two sample areas (selected to represent the diverse features of the urban and suburban landscapes) to:

    Explore the theory and methodology of documenting interpretation (and uncertainty) in the transcription of aerial photographic and satellite imagery
    Develop ontological approaches to structuring interpretations and assumptions, within a hermeneutic model.
    Provide a textual and graphic narrative of the development of the areas.
    Establish an online forum (weblog) to contribute to the long-term project.
    Explore the use of other forms of electronic archive material, in particular, how imagery and audio files can be used to develop the discussion of landscapes and buildings.

This article outlines approaches for interpreting the Islamic city of Sultan Kala (Merv), c. 8th-13th centuries AD, based upon aerial photographic and satellite imagery. Hierarchies of assumptions (identification of individual wall lines; which frame spaces, rooms and courtyards; which are grouped as parts of specific buildings; which are part of urban blocks) and ontologies (information about these assumptions and the variable confidence of interpretation, from the position of lines to spatial function) provide a dynamic structure for the presentation of data, interpretation and theory. The article establishes procedures and protocols within two sample areas (selected to represent the diverse features of the urban and suburban landscapes) to: Explore the theory and methodology of documenting interpretation (and uncertainty) in the transcription of aerial photographic and satellite imagery Develop ontological approaches to structuring interpretations and assumptions, within a hermeneutic model. Provide a textual and graphic narrative of the development of the areas. Establish an online forum (weblog) to contribute to the long-term project. Explore the use of other forms of electronic archive material, in particular, how imagery and audio files can be used to develop the discussion of landscapes and buildings.