scholarly journals PRELIMINARY NOTES ON ISLAMIC POLITICAL SPACE: MADINA IN QUR’ANIC DISCOURSE

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazem Ziada
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Political Relationships ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
Urban Settlements ◽  
The City

<p>Is there a particularly Islamic political space? This paper initiates this long-term research project of spatializing early Islamic history, drawing on the Qur’ān’s own spatial discourse. The project seeks to articulate the roles space plays in early Islam’s political project. Within this framework, this paper defends the assertion that early Islam presents socio-political relationships which suggest <em>al-madina </em>–a particular conception of the ‘city’ - as a pivotal locus in this formative political space. Arguments focus on the origins of such a conception in its Meccan Qur’ānic occurrences. Four  preliminary features emerge: the <em>madina’s </em>association with Qur’ānic journey- narratives and debates of legitimate authority; its environmental connection to a productive hinter-land; its association with a trans-tribal social structure; and its evocation of a public-sphere. Set against the historical background of late-antiquity in which the first Muslim <em>umma </em>appeared and where concurrently the city, as a social artifact, faced threats of dispersion and irrelevance, these features potentially constitute a program for the emergent <em>umma </em>to salvage urbanity itself. In a later paper, evidence from the Prophet’s acts in al-Madina (Yathrib) and his Companions’ developments of other urban settlements, especially al-Kufa, will be engaged to substantiate the relation between Qur’ānic text and human action.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>K</strong><strong>e</strong><strong>y</strong><strong>w</strong><strong>o</strong><strong>r</strong><strong>d</strong><strong>s</strong>:  Qur’anic verses, political space, Muslim <em>umma</em>, <em>madina</em></p>

Iranian Cities: Settlements and Water Management from Antiquity to the Islamic Period

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 39-76
Author(s):  
Rocco Rante
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Iranian Plateau ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Geomorphological Features

AbstractThis article attempts a long-term perspective on cities and water from Late Antiquity to the early Islamic centuries (until ca. 1000 CE). It focuses on the question of how cities and their agricultural hinterland were supplied with water. The topography of the site, its geomorphological features, are shown to influence both the setup and subsequent history of the cities. The article uses two sets of examples, one chosen from the Iranian plateau where qanāt irrigation predominates, and the other one from Persianate Central Asia (Transoxiana), where water is derived from larger and medium-sized rivers. The type of irrigation influences the ways in which the city grows, and more generally, the layout of the city is also determined by the water supply. Cities tend to grow towards the source of water, and it can also be observed that in many cases, the political and administrative centre is located where the best water is available. One of the major questions is whether imperial will was behind the construction of irrigation systems or whether local players such as landlords were the decisive factor.The article combines archaeological research and the study of textual sources but is mostly based on recent archaeological fieldwork.

FRED M. DONNER, Narratives of lslamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing, Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 14 (Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press, 1998). Pp. 373.

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-391
Author(s):  
RICHARD C. MARTIN
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Writing Studies ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Early Islamic

The origins and early development of Islam as determined from its most important and foundational texts is the project this book undertakes. As such, it stands in a tradition of Orientalist scholarship on early Muslim historiography that reaches back to the 19th century and that continues to generate debates among historians. Narratives of Islamic Origins is important for many reasons, not least because it clarifies the history of the issues that have divided historians, offering pointed critiques of major, particularly recent, works in the debate, while at the same time marking out a position that the author consistently defends in the Introduction and twelve chapters and appendixes. The use of the term “Orientalist” here is not meant to evoke, but rather to recognize—as Donner states at the outset—that European scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries took Arabic sources seriously and made them available to succeeding generations. Donner's purpose is not to question their motives for doing this; rather, it is to analyze the textual evidence, arguments, and conclusions they adduced. The author has also written numerous articles and chapters on early Islamic history as well as the acclaimed and not uncontroversial book The Early Muslim Conquests (1981).

Impact of the urban construction solutions on the safety population

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
R. D. Oktyabrskiy
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Residential Development ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Urban Construction ◽  
Safety Population ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
The City

The article is devoted to the justification of the need to reduce the population density in the residential development of cities. The analysis of vulnerability of the urban population from threats of emergency situations of peace and war time, and also an assessment of provision of the city by a road network is given. Proposals have been formulated to reduce the vulnerability of the urban population in the long term and to eliminate traffic congestion and congestion — jams.

Turkish Muslims in a German city: Entrepreneurial and residential self-determination

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Sarah Hackett
Keyword(s):  
Residential Patterns ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
German City ◽  
Post War ◽  
Oral History Interviews ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Term Objective

Drawing upon a collection of oral history interviews, this paper offers an insight into entrepreneurial and residential patterns and behaviour amongst Turkish Muslims in the German city of Bremen. The academic literature has traditionally argued that Turkish migrants in Germany have been pushed into self-employment, low-quality housing and segregated neighbourhoods as a result of discrimination, and poor employment and housing opportunities. Yet the interviews reveal the extent to which Bremen’s Turkish Muslims’ performances and experiences have overwhelmingly been the consequences of personal choices and ambitions. For many of the city’s Turkish Muslim entrepreneurs, self-employment had been a long-term objective, and they have succeeded in establishing and running their businesses in the manner they choose with regards to location and clientele, for example. Similarly, interviewees stressed the way in which they were able to shape their housing experiences by opting which districts of the city to live in and by purchasing property. On the whole, they perceive their entrepreneurial and residential practices as both consequences and mediums of success, integration and a loyalty to the city of Bremen. The findings are contextualised within the wider debate regarding the long-term legacy of Germany’s post-war guest-worker system and its position as a “country of immigration”.

Reconstruction Of Urban Parks Of Culture And Rest Of The Soviet Period

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-65
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Senior Citizens ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Limited Mobility ◽  
Functional Zoning ◽  
Functional Areas ◽  
The City

This article analyzes the main problems of urban public spaces, because today public spaces can determine the future of cities. It is noted that parks are multifunctional public spaces in the urban environment, as they are an important element of the citywide system of landscaping and recreation, perform health, cultural, educational, aesthetic and environmental functions. The article notes that the need for easily accessible and well-maintained urban parks remains, however, the state of parks in many cities of Russia remains unsatisfactory, requiring reconstruction. A brief historical background of the Park of Culture and Rest of the Soviet period in Omsk is expounded, the analysis of the existing territory of the Park is presented. It is revealed that the Park, being the largest public space in Omsk, does not meet the requirements of modern urbanism, although it represents a great potential for designing the space for the purpose of recreation of citizens. Performed functional zoning scheme of the territory of the Park in question, where its division into functional areas destined for active recreational users of the Park is presented, considered the interests of senior citizens, people with limited mobility, etc. Reconstruction of Parks of the Soviet period can provide the city with additional recreational opportunities, as well as increase its tourist attractiveness.

Afterword II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamran Asdar Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Working Women ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Labor Activists ◽  
Cultural Healing ◽  
The City ◽  
Everyday Living

The second afterword to the book by Kamran Asdar Ali returns us to the city, and to the lives of Karachi’s working women and working classes. He draws on women’s poems, diaries, and memoirs to capture some more ephemeral qualities of everyday living and dying. These contrast with the violent suppression of an underclass of trade unionists and labor activists by a coalition of the state, military courts and industrialists, since the fifties. Given the long, progressive erosion of peace in Karachi how, he asks, might we imagine a therapeutic process of social, economic and cultural healing? Through an image of citizens “at work” creating citywide networks and connections, we are offered finally some possibilities of dreaming. Namely, through increased understandings, not of conflict, but also of each other’s intimate everyday lives, the dream emerges of a new political space or public where even intractable disagreements can be managed through gestures of kindness, compromise, and fresh vocabularies of how to carry on and get by.

Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Machado
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

This book analyses the physical, social, and cultural history of Rome in late antiquity. Between AD 270 and 535, the former capital of the Roman empire experienced a series of dramatic transformations in its size, appearance, political standing, and identity, as emperors moved to other cities and the Christian church slowly became its dominating institution. Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome provides a new picture of these developments, focusing on the extraordinary role played by members of the traditional elite, the senatorial aristocracy, in the redefinition of the city, its institutions, and spaces. During this period, Roman senators and their families became increasingly involved in the management of the city and its population, in building works, and in the performance of secular and religious ceremonies and rituals. As this study shows, for approximately three hundred years the houses of the Roman elite competed with imperial palaces and churches in shaping the political map and the social life of the city. Making use of modern theories of urban space, the book considers a vast array of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic documents to show how the former centre of the Mediterranean world was progressively redefined and controlled by its own elite.

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