KHATTA AND THE TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF EARLY MUSLIM TOWNS

Abstract

The term kha.tta, literally, marked out, was commonly used by Arab historians in the early Muslim period in descriptions of the laying out of towns. Its meaning in current scholarship has, however, often been misunderstood, and that in turn has led to misconceptions about how towns were planned. Consequently clarifying its meaning will clarify how those early towns were structured. Islamic towns varied in their formation all the way from decentralized development through small-scale building by the inhabitants to very organized formations planned by a central authority. G. E. von Grunebaum has suggested that they should consequently be divided into two classes, which he labeled and created. Examples of spontaneous towns, i.e., towns developed independent of any government planning, are Karbala and Mashhad. The created type are subdivided into several groups. First of all are the princely towns that were founded when a ruler decided to move his residence from an old