Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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What the mandarin bureaucracy was for classical China and the caste system
for classical India- the part most evocative of the whole- the bazaar was for
the more pragmatic societies of the classical Middle East. 49
Kenneth Brown (1986), adds citing from Greetz work,
The elements of this system are coherent and imply one another: a sharp
division of labour and localization of markets, a lack of standardization in
products, intensive bargaining over prices, extreme fractionalization in
transactions, stability of clientship ties between buyer and seller, itinerant
trading, occupation by ascription, the personal nature of reputation and the
preference for partnerships over relations of employer-employee. 50
The CENTRAL/CONGREGATIONAL MOSQUE {JAMI). At the hub of the town
was the religious element, which included the Friday (major) mosque surrounded by a
school, a library, bookstores, and perfume sellers. Surrounding the above "public and
noisy" functions were patches of residential quarters. They comprised a compact mass of
open courtyard, introverted housing resembling a "cellular urban texture." The house was
a private enclave that, to guard for more privacy, had L-shaped entrances. Walls were
solid, while the house life was internalized. Individuals' quarters were likely to be defined
by different religious groups or tribes. Quarters were also likely to have gates of their
own, where the quarter could be locked after dark. Other features of the traditional
(Muslim) city included a city wall, a citadel, inns and small markets in the individual
quarters. 51
The RESIDENTIAL QUARTER. Another element that has been typically associated
with the Islamic city is the "quarter," a neighborhood community that has been nurtured
under the Islamic influence, especially those in the Middle East and North Africa. Its
physical distinction as a "unit" of multiple residential "cells", has been the product of
political, religious, social and security considerations. Abu-Lughod attributes the
distinctiveness of the quarter as being due to political and administrative factors. By
shunning day-to-day matters of maintenance, the state under Islamic legislation, has
encouraged sub-state functional units of which the residential quarter is one. The quarter
was given a large measure of autonomy which largely operated on an ad hoc basis. 52
The quarter was largely inhabited by a homogeneous population who shared religious
association, place of origin, similar occupation or income. In the quarter, the residents