The Role of the Street in Generating the Collective Identity of the Authentic Islamic City (A Reflection on the Formation of Medina and Kufa in Early Islam)

Atashinbar, Mohammad

doi:10.22034/jaco.2025.557448.1503

The Role of the Street in Generating the Collective Identity of the Authentic Islamic City (A Reflection on the Formation of Medina and Kufa in Early Islam)

https://doi.org/10.22034/jaco.2025.557448.1503

Volume 13, Issue 50
Winter 2026

Pages 44-51

Journal of Art and Civilization of the Orient

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Mohammad Atashinbar

Department of Horticultural Science and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Studies concerning the Islamic City typically represent the concept of the street as a secondary component alongside other urban elements. Yet it is, in fact, a defining feature of the Islamic urban landscape, structuring an active network of collective life, economic practices, and social interactions. Through a conceptual and historical–morphological analysis, this article reexamines the position of the street within the urban organization of Medina at the time of the Hijra and early Kufa. It demonstrates that the street, on par with the mosque, plays a decisive role in articulating collective identity and shaping social order. The research shows that in the authentic Islamic city, the street not only enables accessibility but also provides a setting for social interactions, economic activities, and religious practices. Juridical and social traditions further reinforce the legitimacy and importance of the street, emphasizing cleanliness, illumination of pathways, and support for the free interactions of people in public spaces. The findings indicate that the street, as an autonomous organizing element, forms a living and coherent network that transforms the notion of the ummah1 from an abstract concept into the actualized reality of a community. By linking neighborhoods, markets, and religious nuclei, this network guides and regulates urban life, displaying human, cultural, and economic interactions within an integrated structure whose analysis offers a renewed understanding of the dynamism of the Islamic City and the relations among space, culture, and society.

Keywords

Street

Authentic Islamic City

Community

Medina

Kufa

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