%0 Journal Article
%T PRELIMINARY NOTES ON ISLAMIC POLITICAL SPACE: MADINA IN QUR¡¯ANIC DISCOURSE
%A Hazem Ziada
%J -
%D 2011
%R http://dx.doi.org/10.18860/jia.v1i4.1777
%X Is there a particularly Islamic political space? This paper initiates this long-term research project of spatializing early Islamic history, drawing on the Qur¡¯¨¡n¡¯s own spatial discourse. The project seeks to articulate the roles space plays in early Islam¡¯s political project. Within this framework, this paper defends the assertion that early Islam presents socio-political relationships which suggest al-madina ¨Ca particular conception of the ¡®city¡¯ - as a pivotal locus in this formative political space. Arguments focus on the origins of such a conception in its Meccan Qur¡¯¨¡nic occurrences. Four preliminary features emerge: the madina¡¯s association with Qur¡¯¨¡nic journey- narratives and debates of legitimate authority; its environmental connection to a productive hinter-land; its association with a trans-tribal social structure; and its evocation of a public-sphere. Set against the historical background of late-antiquity in which the first Muslim umma appeared and where concurrently the city, as a social artifact, faced threats of dispersion and irrelevance, these features potentially constitute a program for the emergent umma to salvage urbanity itself. In a later paper, evidence from the Prophet¡¯s acts in al-Madina (Yathrib) and his Companions¡¯ developments of other urban settlements, especially al-Kufa, will be engaged to substantiate the relation between Qur¡¯¨¡nic text and human action. Keywords: Qur¡¯anic verses, political space, Muslim umma, madin
%K Qur¡¯anic verses
%K political space
%K Muslim umma
%K madina
%U http://ejournal.uin-malang.ac.id/index.php/JIA/article/view/1777