Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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left unbuilt for the use of various functions as well as a cemetery. The khitat also included
their own neighborhood mosques for the daily prayers.
From the previous discussion it appears that the building process of new towns,
especially in the arnsar model (originated from military camps), conformed to the Prophet's
tradition of the Madinah example. It was a "system of planning" based on, first, the
significance of the mosque in umma (nation) of Islam, shown in the centrality of its
location as a place for worship and community gathering, and abutted by the governor's
residence. Second, the platting of the new town followed a pre-conceived system of open
spaces, the suq, and circulation, road networks with various widths, however were not
precisely defined or marked. Finally, there was the repetitive application of the khitat as a
unit of land distribution to the various tribes as residential quarters. The system was based
on the tribe as the dominant social institution. As tribes' members increased, hence town
population, demand for built land increased causing khitat to close in on each other, thus
consuming the available open space and systematically encroaching on the street network
which resulted in the meandering street system of the traditional Islamic town.
II. TRADITIONAL MUSLIM URBAN FORM
In light of prevailing technology, the pre-industrial city everywhere else in the world,
kept its size to the limits of the major mode of transportation within the city, that is the
"walking city." The limitation of technological know how was both a characteristic of the
pre-industrial town and a hindrance to its growth. Relying on technology as the
determining factor, Sjoberg (1960) argued that the pre-industrial cities of the world are
more similar than different; a characteristic that led Sjoberg to concentrate on the similarities
among the pre-industrial cities rather than the differences. 25 For example, he points out
common structural traits such as their small size, dominated by elites, and spatially
organized into the administrative, religious, a market at the hub of the town, and residential
quarters of household units dominated by adult males. A1 Hathloul stresses that, in
addition to Islamic influence on the Middle Eastern cities, climate and "the absence of the
wheel" were major factors that fostered the organic, compact organization of the Muslim
city. 26 The appreciation of technological and environmental conditions by the inhabitants
and the supremacy of the dictates of Islamic Shariy'ah led to the striking similarities of the
Muslim cities. Von Grounbaum noted this similarity alluding to the (1) individually walled
quarters, (2) the system of gates on each quarter, (3) the lack of open space in the city, (4)