JAMEL AKBAR

KHATTA AND THE TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF EARL Y MUSLIM TOWNS

The term kha.t.ta, literally, "marked out," was com­ a guide when they entered another."2 These remarks monly used by Arab historians in the early Muslim reflect the scholars' tendency to judge Muslim towns in period in descriptions of the laying out of towns. Its terms of Roman or Hellenistic ones which they regard meaning in current scholarship has, however, often as highly ordered. In exploring the structure of Muslim been misunderstood, and that in turn has led to towns, for example, von Grunebaum notes their lack of misconceptions about how towns were planned. Conse­ gymnasiums and theaters. 3 When referring to early quently clarifying its meaning will clarify how those Muslim towns, Lammens states that "the variety of early towns were structured. terms employed by historians - b.ira, fustät, Islamic towns varied in their formation all the way Kairouan - suggest the picturesque disorder of a from decentralized development through small-scale growing city."4 Finally, J. Lassner, when he compares building by the inhabitants to very organized forma­ garrison towns with , says that "the early pat­ tions planned by a central authority. G. E. von tern of growth which was characteristic of such military Grunebaum has suggested that they should conse­ colonies as al-Basra and al-Kufa was rapid and without quently be divided into two classes, which he labeled real awareness of the formal elements of city "spontaneous" and "created." Examples of spon­ planning. "5 taneous towns, i.e., towns developed independent of Scholars have also agreed that all garrison towns fol­ any government planning, are Karbala and Mashhad. lowed the same process in their creation. A. R. Guest, The "created" type are subdivided into several groups. for example, says of the original layout of Basra, Kufa, First of all are the princely towns that were founded and Fustat that "with some differences, the three towns when a ruler decided to move his residence from an old were much alike in their general character; and wh at is capital to a nearby new one. Examples are al­ wanting in the description of one may be filled up from MuCtasim's founding of Samarra about seventy miles the accounts of the others with some confidence. "6 The north of Baghdad, and the Aghlabids' building of Raq­ question then becomes, if they were not planned, why qada six miles from Qairawan. Second are the fortress do they so resemble each other? The answer is that the towns or ribats such as Rabat in Morocco. Third are resemblance comes from the application in all of them the capitals or other politically inspired towns such as of the same set of specific principles. Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasids, and Fez, whose The mechanisms for establishing ownership in the founding marked the rise of the Idrisids. Finally, there early Muslim period were first by occupying it, wh ich are the military garrison towns (am~iir) such as Kufa is the ultimate source of any land ownership; second, and Basra in Iraq, Fustat in , and Qairawan in by selling or giving it away; and third by inheritance. 7 . The discussion he re will center on this last Simple occupation was common, since in the early type. 1 Islamic period in these expanding towns vacant, Accounts describing town foundations have also unclaimed land was plentiful. As a result, claiming land often been misconstrued because of the preconceptions in this fashion received extensive discussion by Muslim of some scholars. Creswell, for example, understood jurists, who recognized unclaimed and unused land as the verb ikhtat.ta to mean simply "marked out," and "dead" (mawiit) land,8 and followed certain principles concluded from that that Basra, Kufa, and Fustat must in dealing with it. Land is considered dead (i.e., fallow have been "chaotic labyrinths oflanes and blind alleys, or unoccupied) ifthere is no trace ofbuilding or cultiva­ of tents and huts alternating with waste ground," and tion on it or if it is not being used by the locality for that "at Kufa the inhabitants of one quarter required common pasture, burial ground, or as a source ofwood THE STRUCTURE OF EARLY MUSLIM TOWNS 23 or of fodder for cattle. 9 When it abuts towns or cities, meanings changed over time. If scholars depend solely all but a few jurists of the Hanafi rite also consider it on the original root to determine the meaning of the dead. 10 derived word confusion can easily result. According to custom, dead lands can be revived and Such a confusion has surrounded the word kha,tf. J the revivers become its owners. Ibyä , which literally Literally it means "line, " but the sources reveal other means "life giving," signifies in the context of land meanings as weil. The historian (d. 1312) ownership the rights to the land that accrue to the defines the noun al-kha,t,tu as the "rectangular shape of reviver. There is ample evidence in the Prophet's tradi­ a thing," for example, a rectangular plot of land. He tions to support the principle that ownership of dead says that it also means a road. Takh,ti.t is the act ofiaying land can be assumed by cultivating it or building on out straight lines (tas.tzT). He adds that people usually it. ll The Prophet said, "The people are God's people, say a person "is marking" (yakhu,t,tu, the present con­ the land is God's land; he who revives a piece of dead tinuous tense) on the land, if he is thinking about a land will own it, and the unjust root has no right." 12 decision. As a noun, al-khi.t,tu or al-khi,t,tatu means the The acts of rulers also support it. A man who had settling of land that has not been settled before. 17 The revived dead land came to cAli, the fourth caliph, and confusion is compounded because there is no exact said, "I came across aland that was ruined or its equivalent of the verb kha,t,ta in English. inhabitants had left it, and I dug irrigation ditches and Ibn Manzur goes on to say that: cultivated it." cAli responded, "Eat pleasurably; you are righteous not impious, areviver not a destroyer." khat.taha li-najsihi kha//an ("he marked it out for himself') Jurists also supported the right to re vive dead land. Ibn or ikhta.t/aha ("he already marked it out for himseIr') Qudama relates that "reviving dead lands is the means that [the land] was marked by a kha// [i.e., not necessarily by lines] so it would be known that he custom in all regions, even if there are differences claimed it (aMiizaha) to build a dwelling on. From this the among jurists regarding its regulation." 13 khitat [plural of khl!ta] of Kufa and Basra [can be under­ C Bestowing land by allotment (iq,tä ) is similar to stood]. And [ifit said that aperson] akhtatta [simple past] claiming it by revival, but it refers to land bestowed by a khl!.ta [noun], then this means that he has demarcated a place and outlined (khatta) it with a wall. Its plural is the ruler to individuals. These allotments can carry al-khi/a/u. And everything you possess [hatartahu; pro­ 18 either outright ownership or simply the right to use the hibited others from possessing ] means that you have land. 14 In either case, the land can be "dead" or it can marked it out (khatatta, past perfeet). Khi//atu means the be land owned by the state. Iq.tä C was most commonly land. And a man [usually] marks out a house (wa al-diiru yakhta//uha al-rajulu) on land that is not owned in order to used in new towns. In Futiib al-Buldän, al-Baladhuri prevent others [yata~ajjaruhii, from building, for exam­ refers to it more than ninety times. In one of those cita­ pIe] and builds on it, if the ruler allowed a group of tions he reports that when Caliph Jacfar resided in Muslims to mark out dwellings (yakhatattu al-dür) on a Haruni in 847, he "built many buildings and allotted specific site to make their residence (wa yattakhidhu C masiikina lahum), as they did in Kufa, Basra, and land (iq.tä ) to people in the outskirts of Baghdad. 19 SurrahmanraJa .... Then he established the town that he called al-Mutwakkiliyya."15 Demarcation (ibtijäT) was an aspect of both revival The explanations in this passage indicate that two basic and allotment. It referred to the marking out of a piece terms were derived from the word kha,t, one is the verb of land - whether claimed by the individuals or allot­ kha,t,ta and its derivatives of past and present, etc., such ted as a land grant by the ruler - with stones or the as yakhu,t,tu, khattahu, ikhtat,tahä. The other is the noun like. When done in this way, the right to the land was khit,ta and its derivatives such as al-khi.ttu, al-khittatu, limited to three years16 and did not involve ownership. etc., on which the action is taking place. The verb can Arabic terms usually had many meanings and con­ refer to straight lines, rectangular things, a well­ notations; in addition, from a single word, many other thought-out action, and outlining or marking with lines verbs and nouns were derived with meanings totally or walls. The word ba;:ara ("preventing others") was different from the original root. All those meanings used by Ibn Manzur to explain kha,t,ta which also adds were readily understood by everyone; as a result, the an element of contro!. The noun ba;:zra refers to spaces texts do not bother to define their terms. Today, how­ that are controlled. 20 Ibn Manzur's use of the word ever, they have to be determined from the context in ba;:ara suggests control of the acting party. The ruler's which they are found. In some cases, in addition, those permission is also needed. The verb kha,t,ta therefore