Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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checkered early history of eclectic growth, with the passage of time, Islamic Shariy'ah
codes began to leave their impression on the built forms. A new complex, differentiated
society emerged, replacing the old simpler culture divided according to tribal association.
"It was Islamic because religious communities evolved based upon schools of Islamic law,
creating a new context for organizing Muslim social and religious life." 55 Bonine (1983),
points that such change was attained when most of the regions' inhabitants, who came
under Muslim control, espoused the Muslim faith by the eleventh and twelfth centuries and
only then "we can speak of a truly Islamic urban society." 56
Due to the strong influence of Islamic law, Muslim towns transformed showing
distinguished characteristics, commonly referred to under the "Islamic City" model. This
rubric has evoked numerous writings that have either questioned its applicability or have
assented its plausibility. This has amounted to an unresolved debate stemming mainly from
its applicability to unspecified geographic and temporal limits in the vast regions inhabited
by Muslims, prior to the emergence of the nation-states of the twentieth century in the
various parts of the Muslim world following their emancipation from colonialism.
In this model, orientalists (historians studying Muslim culture) have emphasized
Islam's great influence on the towns inhabitants, the urbanization phenomenon, and the
internal structuring of towns that are dominated by a Muslim majority and/or under a
Muslim state. Developed by French orientalists studying North African towns during the
1920s, the Islamic City model postulates a community of believers living under the
jurisdiction of a Muslim state in which Islamic teachings override all aspects of its
practicing Muslims' life. 57 The combined adherence to Islamic teachings by the
inhabitants, under the auspices of the Muslim state, renders a spatial organization
conditioned by such teachings, given the environmental context. Cities are seen as
manifestations of Islamic religious ideals, and so the structure and the morphology of the
Muslim town reflects these ideals. However, variations abound in the Muslim world
largely due to environmental factors and the urban heritage which predated Muslim
influence.
The term, Islamic City, once used to designate the pre-industrial cities lying within
the confines of Islam, proves superior over other terms, for the Middle Eastern city. The
Middle Eastern prefix merely refers to a region defined by geographic boundaries; thus it is