What is an Islamic City and Where has the Idea Come From - Essay Example

What is an Islamic and where has the idea come from? Is it a useful concept for thinking about cities in the predominantly Muslim world? Why or why not? Introduction The organization of the Islamic social structure, political and social organizations of the mediaeval Muslim cities has remained an area of interest both for scholars in history and for the students of Islamic studies1.The ancient hieroglyphic writing simply represented ‘city’ as a cross, which means the place where different roads from different directions met. The application of the cross sign to represent the city indicates the city is a place where the roads eventually met bringing in men and redistributing merchandize and ideas2. The idea of Islamic City has emerged from this line of thought, indicating that the Islamic religion ideologies were first conceived and spread in the ancient cities, before it could be spread to the rest of the world through Islamic conquests3. However, while this idea of relating Islam with urbanization might seem farfetched, it in fact carries some merit with it. Therefore, this analysis seeks to argue that thinking about Islam as an urban religion is in fact merited. The idea of Islamic City simply originates from the works of the Western Orientalists, who purported to describe the essence of the Islamic cities that emerged on the eve of westernization to try and make sense of the ancient Arabic cities4. It is the work of these Western Orientalists that spread the idea of Islamic City as it is known today. The city has been associated with the convergence of people with different ideas, life perspectives and philosophies of life that results in the generation of different fundamental ideologies that shapes the world. Religion is one of the fundamental principles that shapes different world cultures, and for that reason, it is also associated with urbanization and the city5. Islam has been characterized as an urban religion since the days of Prophet Muhammad. This argument has been advanced by the western orientalists, who mainly for lack of full knowledge and understanding of the Islam and then whole Muslim culture made assertions that may not hold true in the true context of understanding the Muslim religion and culture. The western orientalists argued that Islam is an urban religion, due to the fact that the requirement that the solemnization of the Friday Islamic prayers be done at a congressional mosque made urbanization for the advent Muslim faithful a necessity6. The early mosques, just like the early churches and synagogues, were mainly built in the urban areas, effectively making Islam an urban religion7. The civilization of the classical antiquity was largely modern, and so were the early governments and the early social hierarchy systems. Therefore, the ancient political and social systems draws their relevance and ideology from the cities, before they could even spread and influence the empires and kingdoms that such political systems were associated with8. Similarly, the Islamic religion was mainly spread during the Islamic conquest, which saw the religion being spread from its core in the Arabic and the Persian gulfs, to other regions of the world such as North Africa, Europe and the whole of the Middle East9. The concept of thinking about cities in the predominantly Muslim world is not farfetched, and therefore it is useful. Urban and suburban living is not a modern concept, but also a characteristic of the ancient livelihoods, where markets and other essential social amenities were centralized in one region10. The standards of urban designs and towns development in the ancient history were almost congruent since the classical Greek onwards11. It is from this concept that people would then start converging and generating different ideologies, philosophical perspectives and political agendas that eventually gave rise to the pre-modern social and political systems. The ideologies would then be spread through the suburban areas and later, during the kingdoms and empire conquests, further into the interiors. The expansion and conquests therefore did not only spread the political, social and religious ideologies, but also the urban and town architectural designs. Consequently, most of the Islamic cities shared the same architectural designs in their buildings, especially in the construction of the mosques, which made all the Islamic cities traceable and identifiable by the architectural designs of their cities and mosques12. Consequently, the argument that Islam is an urban religion is not farfetched, considering the fact that the Islam religion was spread in a similar fashion especially from the Arabic and the Persian Gulf to the other regions during the Islamic conquest13. This eventually made all the regions that the religion was spread carry similar architectural designs, while also changing the lifestyle of the Muslim adherents to resemble a more urban lifestyle that would enable them to attend the Friday mosques religious solemnizations14. The overall impact was that Islam became an urban religion, with every region where it spread developing a mosque, and surrounding the mosques were urban architectural designs of buildings triggered by the Islamic academic interests, which have defined the modern Islamic societies such as present-day Iran15. Conclusion The concept of Islam City was developed by western scholars who were trying to understand the concept of pre-westernization Islamic cities and towns. Their understanding of the mosques and Islam faithful being centered on certain Arabic and Persian urban regions was that Islam is an urban religion. Despite the fact that the interpretation of these scholars may not be accurate, it has merit in it, since the pattern of spread of Islam during the Islamic conquest can be identified with congruent architectural designs. Bibliography 1. Lapidus, Ira M. MUSLIM URBAN SOCIETY INMAMLUK SYRIA. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer (Publishers) Ltd. P.195 2. Handlin Oscar and John Burchard. The Historian and the City. MIT Press, 1963. p.27 3. Wood Philip. History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East. Oxford University Press, 2013. P.169 4. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. The Islamic City--Historic Myth, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2 (May, 1987), p. 155 5. Serjeant, R. B. THE ISLAMIC CITY. New Era Publications Inc., 1976. pp.22. 6. Kennedy Hugh. From Polis to Madina: Urban Change in Late Antique and Early Islamic Syria. Past & Present, No. 106 (Feb., 1985), pp. 3 7. Bonine Michael E. The Morphogenesis of Iranian Cities. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Jun., 1979), pp.212. 8. VON GRUNEBAUM, G. E. ISLAM Essays: in the Nature and Growth of a Cultural Tradition. Barnes & Noble, Inc. NEW YORK, 1961. pp.147 Read More