Revision:Muslim Settlements

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The Community Environment

• Rarpoport “houses, settlements, and landscapes are products of the same cultural system and world view, and are therefore parts of the single system”.
• Factors affect settlement are environmental, economic etc but also social – but not culturally deterministic
• Need to study physical space and as Rywert says “psychological space the cultural, the juridical and the religious”.

Muslim Cities and Settlement

• One debate whether Islam only truly at home in the city – requirement for prayers with more than 40 – disputed hotly
• Common threads to Muslim city – mix and match between revisionist and classical view of homogenous structures
• Topography, climate, economy all important – religious requirements play a large part – domestic environment structured to religious and resultant social requirements – why not larger city?
• Gilsenan “space is crucial in thinking about culture and ideology because it is where ideology and culture take on physical existence and representations”.
• The form of Islamic cities in some ways pre-Islamic; concepts of walled citadel from Byzatnine and Sasanian, central cluster of religious and admin buildings pre dates Islam

Archaeological Recognition of Muslim cities and settlements

• Muslim city hard to pin down, but some common factors across broad geography if Islam that show common traits. Possible keys to identification include: narrow streets, suqs, medina, mosque, burials, courtyards with blank facaes

Social Dimension of the Muslim Settlement

• Settlement acts as a mirror and sustainer of social codes.
• Authority at a central core – Caliph Al – Mansur’s city in Baghdad – mosque near palace of power “intimate relationship between religion and state”
• Circular design acts as a focus of authority – fusion state and religion – secular and temporal power – unifying disparate ethnic groups. Other examples of circular or hexagonal designs.
• Bacharach – changes in authority and even nature of society can be manifest in settlement form. Changes in loci of power.
  1. Mosques and admin leaders near population and near to each other – important factor of inter related importance of governor and religious leader
  2. Urban mosques ore responsible for social and educational requirements – authority now some way from population.
  3. 11th and 12th centuries citadel – height and distance important – relecting alien ethnic status of rulers – rulers above the ruled – see the Alhambra in Granada.

Class, Society and Ethnicity

• “settlement as a metaphor for society” – however the ideal is often different from the reality – umma whole Muslim community devoid of class or racial distinction – even in first conquest tribal differences Quraysh and Ansar – evident in tented cities which became permanent.
• Kubiak Umayyad rulers “conscious policy to level tribal differences” – example, promotion of a multi tribal centre
• Natural for people to live with co-religionists, same social status, tribe – townscape mirror of social order and ummah and townscape differ.
• Yemen – Gerholm – topography and elevation used to express authority and social distinction.
• Archaeology ideally suited to showing whether umma ideal actual reality in residential patterning.

Spatial Domains

• Public / private spatial divide evident private places – why not public places? Spatial coding does exist Muslim cities.
• Gerholm – Yemen public space mainly male – suq, mosque, football field – status considerations important – less you do in the market the more important you are – can’t jut use archaeology.
• Gates especially good as demarcating spatial zones.
• Juxtapose Muslim settlement with Christian settlement Qsar es-Seghir in Morocco. Portugese 25 % more public space, house fronts were decorated.

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