the dynastic caliphates: the umayyads and the reforms 135more able than others to realise the value of the new money in
relation to the existing currency,
d. the emergence of a form of banking operations, and
e. the spread of financial instruments such as the “ruq"a”, an order
of payment, the “sakk”, drawn on the banker with whom the
drawer had an account; hence the word cheque in the European
language, and the “œawàlah”, a form of a bill-of-exchange by which
the debtor would transfer the debt to his own debtor, or to another
person able to pay the debt to the original creditor, (Goitein,
1967), as discussed below.
Islamic UrbanisationThe first feature of the Islamic urbanisation could be said to have
started with the building of the mosque in al-Medìnah after the emi-
gration of the Prophet. The mosque was not only a place of wor-
ship but also a centre of learning and a gathering place where
Muslims discussed their affairs in war and peace. The mosque in
Islam also developed a further function by using it as a depot of
spoils of war until distribution. The differentiation between the mosque
in Islam, and the temple and church in Judaism and Christianity is
based on the same differentiation between Islam on the one hand
and Judaism and Christianity on the other: while Islam is a religious
and a political community, Judaism and Christianity are religious
communities. The mosque, therefore, represented the nucleus part
of the Muslim city upon which, with the market and, later on, the
government office, “Dar- al-Khilafah”, the city was established. Islamic
conquests introduced an early need to establish new cities, the first
of which were founded in the reign of the second Caliph Umar.
With a view to keeping the army apart from the inhabitants of the
conquered land and causing the least possible disruption to the inhab-
itants, Caliph Umar ordered the building of special cities to accom-
modate the soldiers and their families (Al- ̨abarì). The most important
of these cities were al-Kufa, which was built on the Euphrates River
near al-Hira, al-Basra, which was strategically founded on the head
of the Persian Gulf for easy communication with the central gov-
ernment in al-Medìnah, and al-Fustat, which was established below
the delta of the Nile in Egypt. Umar’s initiative was followed by
Caliphs after him and during the Umayyad reign al-Mosul and