Town & City

Cities

	Seville
	By: Quoted from T. Glick, Sat 20 July, 2002
	Spanish city located on a meander of the Guadalquivir River, ninety-seven kilometers from the Atlantic coast at Cadiz. Known as Ishbilya in Arabic, Seville was second to Cordoba in size and importance throughout most of the Islamic period.
	Palermo
	By: Quoted from Stanley Ferber, Sat 20 July, 2002
	A merchant from Baghdad, described the quarters of the city, their palaces and above all their hundreds of mosques: "The mosques of the city and of the quarters round it outside the walls exceed the number of three hundred."
	Samarkand
	By: Quoted from Ralph Hattox, Sat 20 July, 2002
	Conquered by the Arabs in the early eighth century, Samarkand became one of the easternmost outposts of Islam and, along with Bukhara, one of the foremost cities of Mawara' al-Nahr.
	Al-Zahra - City of Andalus
	By: FSTC Limited, Sun 13 January, 2002
	Al-Zahra became renowned for its high advanced civilisation, style and protocol in addition to the extensively decorated walls, floors and ceilings of its buildings. Venue for the legendary reception of King Ordono IV of Leon, held in 962.
	Introduction to the Islamic City
	By: Dr. Rabah Saoud, BA, M’Phil, PhD, Sun 14 October, 2001
	Dr. Rabah Saoud Islam is seen by many scholars as an urban religion, which favours communal practice on individual worship. Although, piety is the only source of appraisal, it is widely accepted that most of Islam's teaching is best practised in an urban setting. It is not surprising that Islam made particular emphasis on the form and design of the city enabling it a greater functionality and responsiveness to meet the socio-economic and cultural needs of the community. This article presents an analysis of the spatial and functional arrangements of the Islamic city and assesses their socio-cultural meanings.