ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cities of Mashriq, the central Islamic lands extending from Egypt in the west to the borders of Turkey and Iran in the east. Within Islamic urban studies, these cities, as represented by Mecca, Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus, are considered the prototypes of the "Islamic city" for two reasons. The first is historical, in that the Islamization which proceeded alongside Arabization developed from a city base: Islam had come into being among the mercantile cities of the Arabian Peninsula, and the Arab-Islamic armies, conquering Iraq, Syria and Egypt, set up garrison towns (am ār), such as Basra, Kufa and Fustat, from which Islamization subsequently advanced. Umayyad Damascus, 'Abbasid Baghdad, and Fatimid and Mamluk Cairo were political and cultural centres for the whole Islamic world and the gathering places for a wide variety of people artisans and merchants, the ulama and pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
