Qualitative criteria and urban hierarchy in the Quran

Subject Areas : architecture

Mohammad Hassan  Ebrahimi ¹ (Senior Research Associate and Visiting Professor at Planning Research Institute, London)

Accepted : 2022-01-29 Published : 2007-12-22

Keywords:

Abstract :

Classical urban studies of Islam have paid little attention to the issue of urban hierarchy in primary Islamic religious sources, and to the way in which this has affected Muslim geographers for centuries to come. Among these primary sources, the holy book of the Quran is particularly important as it has suggested, through a number of narratives regarding cities and urban life, a number of qualitative and quantitative criteria that are often not recognised or lost in translation.             This article deals with the question of urban hierarchy in the Reverent Quran by firstly identifying and categorising the major types of urban settlement as noted in this book. It will demonstrate that there are many references to the built environment, cities and civil life in the Quran that can, in physical terms, be divided into three different types of urban agglomerations; "size" and "population" being the basis of these distinctions. Secondly, it tries to show the language and logic behind this hierarchy. The quality of urban life and the possibility of progressive growth will also be the criteria in which urban settlements are classified and distinguished.             Attention to these details will hopefully pave the way for a student of urban studies to look at this holy text with a professional eye and to appreciate the significance of its suggested criteria for the categorisation of various urban settlements, both in their qualitative and quantitative characteristics. In addition to this, a short reference will be made to a number of important Islamic cities, as defined by the Reverent Quran, and will note the socio-urban elements that sets them apart from other conventional types of urban settlements.  

References:

 

1-Benet, F.) 1964 ), "The Ideology of Islamic Urbanisation, in Urbanism and Urnanisation", ed.N.Anderson

2-  " فرهنگ دهخدا"، لوح فشرده، انتشارات دانشگاه تهران

3- "قرآن مجید"، (1384)، ترجمه محمد مهدی فولادوند، دفتر تبلیغات اسلامی