Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

Those who fled Makkah with the Prophet, Muhajireen, to join the Muslim community
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were granted non-arable lands donated by the Ansar and clustered in groups or around the
Mosque. The Prophet divided the land surrounding his mosque to dour (lots) and riba
(quarters). The fiefs, khittah, were distributed to both individuals and tribes alike, though
size corresponded to need, all for the owners' heirs. The internal distribution and
organization of these khitat was left to the owners. In some of these khitat, residents set
aside land in which they buried their deceased and built neighborhood mosques. During
the Prophet's life, the city grew enormously, while retaining its primeval tribal character.
Madinah housed four markets before the Prophet's arrival. Upon his arrival to
Madinah, he pitched a tent which he designated as a market next to the Mosque. He said
"this is our suq, it is not to be built or acquired (la-tatahajjaru), and no tax is to be levied on
it." 23 Following the Prophet's order, the suq was left as open space with no permanent
structures during the reign of the four Caliphs who followed the Prophet in ruling the
nascent Empire. It was not until Muawyyah bin Abi Sufyan (41/661-60/680) that the suq
was constructed. Until this day, the suq complex still occupies the same place and is
known with its historical name, al Manakhah (the place where camels are unloaded).
Commenting on Madinah's spatial organization and its morphology during the Prophet's
time and thirty years following his death, Al-Hathloul wrote
Information on the pattern of the city streets- their form and size and how
they were laid out- is lacking. To use information from later times, there
was during Muawiyah's reign what is known al-balat which according to al-
Samhadi's description covers most of the city's three major thoroughfares.
At some point at the end of this balat near al-musalla, its width during the
time of Ibn Shabbah (262H/876) was ten cubits while at its beginning near
the gate of Mercy, in the Prophet's Mosque, its width was six cubits. As to
Madinah's suq, it seems to have continued in its original site though other
specialized suqs evidently appeared in the area between the original one and
the Prophet's mosque. Within this area, Ibn Sabbah refers to several which
existed during his lifetime. Among those were the suq of date sellers, fruit
sellers, bakers, dyers, tailors, leather merchants, sellers of copper utensils,
and smiths. 24
The system of allotting khitat was copied by the four Muslim Caliphs, who were
elected by the sahaba community, in starting the new settlements. During the reign of the
second Caliph, Omar bin Al Khatab (13/634-23/644), the expansion of the Muslim territory
went apace. It included Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. In order to help administer the vast
territory, six amsar were designated to house the vanguards on the frontier. They served