The Islamic city and spiritual indebtedness

Furthermore, of the meanings of the Arabic verb dana – one of the derivations of the word Madinah (the City) – is ‘to be indebted to someone’. Having named the first capital of the Islamic state ‘Madinah’, the Prophet (pbuh) indicated that by ceaselessly worshipping God — generating in the process civilizational components from which not only the followers of Islam but also the whole of mankind shall benefit — the people in fact embarked on returning the debt of creation and existence to their Creator and Sustainer. While the feat of returning and settling the debt to God had commenced for many individuals long ago while in Makkah, neither the full realization of the same by the Muslims as an organic, autonomous and self-directed entity, nor the sanctioned methods of the successful dept repayment, could materialize until the epic migration (Hijrah) to Madinah came to pass.

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From Yathrib to Madinah

Prior to the Hijrah (migration) of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from Makkah to Madinah, the latter was called Yathrib consisting of several loosely interrelated settlements. Its population was made up mainly of Arabs and Jews, the former being divided into the Aws and Khazraj tribes and the latter into Banu Qaynuqa’, Banu al-Nadir and Banu Qurayzah tribes. Because of this earliest delicate and incoherent social geography of the place, it may be that the name Yathrib was not originally applied to the entire Madinah oasis, but rather only to a section thereof and to some of its settlements.

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In Islam, people are not allowed to overtax their bodies. Since bodily energy has a limit, it cannot withstand long excessive pressure. Even excessive ‘ibadah (worship) has been shunned for the same reasons. Whenever a person gets exhausted because of his work, study, or any other occupation which is aimed at fulfilling his needs and the needs of his family as well as the community (Ummah), he is to take a break and relax. The Prophet (pbuh) has said: “…Your body too has its rights on you; your eyes too have their rights on you.”[1]

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In the broad urbanization scheme of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), roads played a very important role. They linked up different city points, thus facilitating communication, access and unhindered movement of people and goods. The Prophet (pbuh) was very much concerned about the rights of the road and its users, as well as about the roads’ width and cleanliness, the smooth flow of the traffic, etc. The lesson bequeathed by the Prophet (pbuh) in this regard is that roads are to be planned, constructed and maintained in such a way that no harm or inconvenience is caused to anyone.

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
International Islamic University Malaysia
Email: spahico@yahoo.com

The first urban element introduced by the Prophet (pbuh) to the city of Madinah was the mosque institution which functioned as a community development center. While in Makkah, the Prophet (pbuh) and his followers were denied the existence and free utilization of their mosques, although they were in dire need of them. As a result, they were denied a free and proper practice of their new Islamic faith. They were thus denied some of their basic human rights. They were denied the freedom of thought, expression and practice of their beliefs. However, in order to offset partially this deficiency in Makkah, the first Muslims were utilizing some Muslim houses, or some quiet, secret and safe spots mainly on the outskirts of Makkah, to serve the purpose on an interim basis. They even got accustomed to going and visiting the Ka’bah or the al-Masjid al-Haram, albeit without openly and freely performing their religious rituals there. The al-Masjid al-Haram was then controlled by polytheists and polytheistic ideas and customs, both from inside the city of Makkah and from abroad. This way, only as much as symbolically could the al-Masjid al-Haram function as the mosque, as well as the nucleus, in the lives of the early believing Muslim community. Such a state of affairs continued for about 13 years following which Allah brought about a change and granted the Muslims and their Prophet (pbuh) that which they had been yearning for. They managed to migrate to Madinah where all the necessary conditions for establishing a well-structured, thriving, free and autonomous state existed.

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Introduction

The existence of Kampung Laut’s Old Mosque as the oldest mosque in Malaysia becomes the evidence that Islam comes to the Malay Archipelagos from east in contrast to most written history text books in Malaysia which note Islam comes to this region from west. The spread of Islam in this region occurred through sea route’s trading activities. The primary trades were along port cities in Sumatra, Java, Malacca, Kelantan, and Pattani. Location of Champa port cities (Indo China) was at the middle route before reaching port cities in China. There were many Islamic Empires established in Indo China, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, and Sumatra.

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Dr. Spahic Omer

Introduction

In this paper, I shall deal with some of the themes relating to the gradual evolution of the conspicuous identity of Islamic architecture from the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) till approximately the end of the first period of the Abbasid state (861 AC/247 H). It was during this period that Islamic architecture really matured. It reached its pinnacle in both technical and conceptual terms. It finally attained such qualities as artistic comprehensive excellence, universality, internationalism and profundity of styles and meanings that oozed unparalleled genius, innovation and creativity. The end of the first period of the Abbasid state has been pinpointed as the final phase in the evolution of the total identity of Islamic architecture as we know it today for several reasons. The following two reasons perhaps are most significant.