[One Sip of a Book] Beyond the Islamic Religion: The City

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The Middle East and Islam have often been depicted in a frame of conflict and confrontation, standing in opposition to Western civilization and the Western world. However, when viewed through the development of civilization and urban culture, Islamic cities have faithfully served as important mediators that created new cultures and ideas through the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures. The author, a PhD in Middle Eastern studies who lectures on Middle Eastern and Islamic strategies and regional studies, addresses this context. Focusing on two axes?the religious space of Islam and the cities created by Islam?the book explores the historical background of the formation of Islamic cities, the civilizations these cities achieved, and how they opened new civilizations.

The origin of the name Damascus, Dimashqa, first appears on Assyrian clay tablets around 3000 BCE, followed by records on Ebla tablets and Mari tablets around 2500 BCE. On a hieroglyphic tablet of Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt, dated around 1480 BCE, Tamashiko and Damascus are mentioned as cities conquered by Egypt.

Later, the Hittites called it Apum, the Arameans called it Upi, and subsequently, the city was known by various names such as Aram, Dimashqa, or Darmaisak, meaning "land with water." Ptolemies and Hellenes called it Arsinoe, the Greeks called it Demetrias, and the Romans called it Damascus.

Religiously, as Islam demanded a strong ritualistic lifestyle, official state institutions became relatively unnecessary, and open spaces like agoras that stimulated social dynamics gradually disappeared. Unlike the Roman Empire, which preferred wheeled vehicles and carriages and built wide roads, Islamic culture, favoring animals that travel in herds such as camels, sheep, and donkeys, no longer required wide roads in city centers. Gradually, the wide Roman-style roads that crossed cities in grids disappeared, replaced by winding and narrow Islamic-style streets within the old city.

Today, world history still flows centered on the West. The East has long been overshadowed by the West, and most of the technology and ideas we enjoy have been introduced from the West. However, in human history, the West did not become the center of world history until relatively recently. Before Portugal opened the new sea route to India in the 15th century, the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Asia had already established independent cultures and were enjoying their golden ages. At the center of this was Baghdad, the current capital of Iraq.

Beyond Religion, the City | Written by Kim Suwan | Sultans Book | 496 pages | 32,000 KRW