The Bazaar in the Islamic City: Design, Culture, and History

By Mohammad Gharipour

The Middle Eastern bazaar is much more than a context for commerce: the studies in this book illustrate that markets, regardless of their location, scale, and permanency, have also played important cultural roles within their societies, reflecting historical evolution, industrial development, social and political conditions, urban morphology, and architectural functions. This interdisciplinary volume explores the dynamics of the bazaar with a number of case studies from Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Nablus, Bursa, Istanbul, Sana'a, Kabul, Tehran, and Yazd. Although they share some contextual and functional characteristics, each bazaar has its own unique and fascinating history, traditions, cultural practices, and structure. One of the most intriguing aspects revealed in this volume is the thread of continuity from past to present exhibited by the bazaar as a forum where a society meets and intermingles in the practice of goods exchange-a social and cultural ritual that is as old as human history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781617973468

Book preview

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Mohammad Gharipour

Contemporary debates on Islamic cities emerged from the classic nineteenth-century orientalist model. The Islamic City, praised as an ideal and undiscovered realm by orientalists such as Albert Hourani and Gustave von Grunebaum in the 1960s, served as the subject of paintings, literature, and even music in Europe. The Europeans’ view of the orient was based on an exotic interest in the ‘other,’ the unknown world described in the story of One Thousand and One Nights, in the portrayal of Timur’s court by Ruy Gunzales Clavijo, in Johann Strauss II’s Egyptian March, and in David Roberts’ sketches of Jordan and the Holy Land. This view either rejected categorizing the construct as a city because it did not follow western models of ‘organized’ cities where the local government or municipality ruled, or considered the Islamic city as a construct, or as a structure including elements that differentiated it from European medieval cities, such as mosques and bazaars. Later, the involvement of revisionist scholars and researchers brought an insider’s view, emphasizing process over form, and context over content. These scholars tried to explain the reasons behind what orientalists described as chaos or disorder in Islamic cities, by emphasizing the sociopolitical factors behind urban development. Arguing that westerners’ ignorance originated in a Eurocentric approach, they clarified that the ‘chaotic’ or ‘disorganized’ form of cities was not the consequence of lack of governance. The form of these cities was the reflection of the functionality of the concept of umma and Muslim community on macro and micro levels. As AlSayyad claimed,¹ the medievalizing Islamic city would reveal different layers of change, each of which illustrates vibrant complexes of politics, economy, and culture. This view not only analyzed and appreciated the pre-Islamic roots of Islamic cities, but also attempted an answer to the question Is there such a thing as an Islamic city? in the sense of a city shaped by Muslims, a city that protects its own ethnic or religious minorities, that may be the reflection of heaven on earth, or—as the Muslim philosopher al-Ghazali claims—a place where all the sins of the world run riot!

These diverse definitions all consider the bazaar as a unique element or quality of the Islamic city. For orientalists, the bazaar was the main distinguishing feature between cities in the Islamic and European worlds, while in recent theoretical frameworks the bazaar is considered as part of the development process, a quality rather than a physical realm. The bazaar has the potential to narrate the history of development, change, and even revolution within society. The latest instance is that of Tarek al-Tayyib Muhammad Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire in a makeshift market in Sidi Bouzid, a small town in Tunisia, on December 17, 2010, after being harassed by a municipal official. This event ignited local uprisings in Tunisia that later spread to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and other Arab countries, and are currently reshaping the politics of the whole region.

For centuries, people around the world have gathered to trade, buy, and sell goods in their communal and commercial centers. These marketplaces often served as an integral part of the community and were called by many names, with meanings specific to their respective cultures. Bazaar means a marketplace or assemblage of shops where miscellaneous goods and services are bought and sold. The word bazaar has roots in Middle Persian (wazar) and Armenian (vačar). In the course of economic interactions, the word spread to Arab countries, Ottoman Turkey, Europe, India, and even China. ‘Bazaar’ has acquired three different meanings: the market as a whole, a market day, and the marketplace.² It could also refer to one part of the bazaar, such as a street belonging to a specific guild. Borrowing from the Aramaic word shuka, bazaar equates with the Arabic word ‘suq,’ which denotes the commercial exchange of goods or services as well as the place in which this exchange is normally conducted.³ While bazaar and suq are used in most Islamic countries, other relevant terms (such as khan, badistan,⁴ qaysariya, and sarai) may be misleading because they have diverse regional denotations, or focus on various structures within the commercial complex of the bazaar. Even a single term can refer to several different structures with various functions.⁵

The bazaar has played a key role in the economic, cultural, and even political transformation of cities throughout the Islamic world. Such a central role has made it an integral part of the city, often the generator of urban form and the definer of urban elements. The synergistic interaction between the bazaar and the city can be seen in different growth patterns of the bazaar (planned or organic); it has also had the capacity to reinforce or restrict urban growth. Decline or enhancement of the economic and political function of the bazaar, as well as its integration in the local, national, and global economies, can affect the development of a city. Moreover, the flexibility of the bazaar as a temporary or permanent setting for social and political assemblies or religious ceremonies has made it the core of most cities in the Islamic world. Its spatial and symbolic connection to major components of the city such as religious, residential, or administrative quarters has brought the bazaar to prominence, not only in the built city, but also in the political realm. By controlling economy and commerce the bazaar is able to establish a strong relationship, sometimes an alliance, with the forces of power. Moreover, the dynamics of the bazaar in terms of order and control represent and reflect the power of government. The historical role of bazaars in international trade had a major effect on the international role of cities in the entire Islamic world. Because of the bazaar’s key role in Near Eastern cities, its study is of interest to scholars in a variety of fields; and yet, despite its significance in the study of urbanism and architecture, the concept of the bazaar in the Islamic world has not yet received a comprehensive analysis.⁶

Origins and Development

Population growth in early human settlements in the Near East led to increased production, advancement of trade, and accumulation of wealth, which necessitated the creation of trade centers.⁷ Trade was the main connecting factor between separate civilizations, but it also fostered the division of labor and encouraged the diffusion of technological innovations, writing and other methods of intercultural communication, and political and economic management, as well as techniques of farming and industrial production.⁸ As Will Durant says, Trade was the great distributor of the primitive world.⁹ Primitive forms of shops and trade centers existed in early civilizations such as Sialk Hills in Kashan (6000 BCE), Catal Huyuk (7500 BCE–5700 BCE), Jericho (2600 BCE), and Susa (from 4000 BCE).¹⁰Evidence proves that between the sixth and second millennia BCE, pottery was exported from Tepe Yahya, an early civilization in southwestern Iran, to remote villages in Mesopotamia, and scattered sites in Syria, the Indus Valley, and modern-day Uzbekistan. Similarly, pearls from Bahrain, jasper from Armenia, beryl from India, and perfume from Egypt were found in distant villages. Their dispersal proves the evolution of a commercial trade network among these early civilizations.¹¹

Starting in the fourth millennium BCE, the population grew and villages gradually joined together to shape new cities, resulting in trade, even with remote areas. The site plans of the Burnt City (3000 BCE) in southeastern Iran show it divided into a number of zones, one of which was intended for commercial exchange). Around the same age, Egyptian civilization developed a 880-kilometer commercial thoroughfare along the Nile River in order to facilitate the export of grain to the Mediterranean and the importing of gold, ebony, and spices.¹² Such international trade could not have been possible without trade centers, even if we have no archaeological evidence for them. In the case of Mesopotamian civilizations, archaeological remains prove the existence of mixed-purpose houses and warehouses in residential districts. Elizabeth Stone, the excavator of a Babylonian city called Mashkan-shapir, found that residences, workshops, and commercial areas were intermixed. While excavations of Mesopotamian cities do not reveal shopping streets, they suggest the integration of compatible crafts in certain areas, for instance carpenters living next to coppersmiths. Stone also found that shops in Mashkan-shapir were not located on specific streets but concentrated at crossroads.¹³ This is implicit evidence that Mesopotamian cities included commercial areas, which were not restricted to one district. The mass of Elamite cuneiform evidence points to undoubted mercantile seafaring and overland trade, especially in the period ca. 2400–1750 BCE, for both precious goods (such as tin, carnelian, lapis lazuli, silver, and gold) and products (notably textiles). The written evidence is also unequivocal for trade between Sumer and South Asia via Elam (Iran) and by sea, intermediated by Persian Gulf entrepôts; and for an extremely sophisticated overland caravan trade between Assyria and Anatolia, especially in the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE. There is nothing primitive about these contacts: they had insurance, contracts, credit markets (there were even people buying debts), shippers, manifests, comparative pricing indexes, profit motives, even marketplaces themselves, normally called the karum, which literally meant ‘harbor.’¹⁴

The information regarding early Near Eastern and even Greek markets is quite inadequate because of the dearth of archaeological evidence; but Achaemenid documents (550–330 BCE) indicate that the crafts were categorized in areas close to Persepolis.¹⁵ Around the same era, Greeks organized trade in special districts, called stoa, in the centers of their cities. A stoa was a freestanding colonnade, covered walkway, or long open building with its roof supported by one or more rows of columns parallel to its rear wall.¹⁶ Stoas formed both public promenades and places of business in Greek society. The Greek city plan was used as a model for cities in Asia that were developed following the invasions of Alexander the Great in the Seleucid Age. The economy of this large but unstable Seleucid empire was based on agriculture and trade, and the development of the latter required the construction of caravanserais as well as commercial roads in order to expedite and facilitate business exchanges from China to Rome, a route later called the Silk Road. The site plans of Parthian cities (for example, Dora in central Asia) prove the existence of trade centers in central areas of the city.¹⁷ The same trade continued in the Sassanid Age (224–640 CE) especially when many villages developed into cities. Regrettably, studies on pre-Islamic cities in the Near East and North Africa have not been able to establish a clear picture of the bazaar and its forms during these civilizations.

The Islamic civilization was founded on the traces of pre-Islamic empires whose economies depended entirely on trade and agriculture. The Arab conquest of these territories prompted the expansion of irrigation techniques (such as qanat, the underground water channel system) and agricultural methods. The invasion of South Asia after the eleventh century led to the introduction of new crops such as rice, sorghum, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, lemons, and limes. The development of agriculture increased food production and gradually gave rise to a food industry that could process crops and refine agricultural goods by such techniques as drying, cooking, pickling, and milling. With the growth of population, along with urbanization and industrialization, the size of towns increased. This led people to cultivate new lands, resulting in the creation of further villages and cities.¹⁸ Gradually, the cities became marketplaces where people from rural areas came to trade fruits and crops for processed goods.¹⁹ The development of agriculture as the substance of local and long-distance trade also led to the growth of guilds and the birth of a new class of urban intermediaries, such as merchants, transporters, financiers, and warehouse owners.

Bazaars in pre-Islamic Arabia existed in two forms: permanent urban markets and seasonal or temporary markets. Although information regarding urban markets is scarce,²⁰ temporary markets are widely mentioned in literature. Pre-Islamic Arabs had several temporary markets that were held in specific areas at certain times of the year. Following these markets, Arabs were motivated to travel from one area to the other. They also went beyond Arabia to bazaars in Iraq, Syria, and Ethiopia. In an unsecured society riddled with tribal wars, the bazaars were considered safe places where no one could enter with weapons. Each bazaar had its guards to deal with people who did not respect the regulations. Bazaars were perfect places for nomads to sell their products, purchase food, and socialize with urban residents. It is said that there were famous markets held in a different region each month; for instance, Suq Hijr in Bahrain during the month of Rabi‘ al-Akhar, Suq Oman in Bahrain during the month of Jamadi al-Awwal, Suq Sohar in Oman in the early days of the month of Rajab, Suq ‘Adan along the Gulf of Aden during the month of Rajab, and Suq Hazarmun in South Arabia during the month of Dhu al-Qi‘da. Each of these markets specialized in certain products: Suq Hijr was famed for its dates and Suq ‘Adan for its perfumes and spices.²¹

Figure 1.1: The grand bazaar in Tabriz, Iran (photograph by Leila Pashaie, 2011).

Among these bazaars, Okaz was the most prominent due to its role in political, cultural, and social affairs, and its influence on Arabic poetry. Okaz was located near a temple, in a big field southeast of Mecca.²² Its proximity to Mecca made this suq an important gathering and shopping place, especially for Hajj pilgrims. After the advent of Islam and the rising power of the Muslims, new urban centers such as Basra, Kufa, Baghdad, and Qayrawan were created. The suq was designed as a permanent part of a city—no longer the seasonal or temporary market that was typical in Arabia.²³

Although the bazaar existed as a concept in Roman and Parthian cities, it was further developed by Muslims to accommodate trade in secured Islamic lands, which within a few centuries of the death of the Prophet Muhammad extended from China to Spain. The rise of bazaars in different territories right after the Muslim invasion is a witness to this claim.²⁴ During the Umayyad Age, several urban markets were built, from Qayrawan, in modern-day Tunisia, to Kufa, in modern Iraq, to produce governmental revenue. The income they generated later helped alleviate the fiscal crisis that occurred during this period. The expansion of cities, fueled by immigration from villages, necessitated the establishment and growth of bazaars. An example of this occurred in the city of Basra.²⁵ A bazaar was constructed during the Umayyad period in Merbad, about three kilometers from Basra. It later became a scientific, literary, and cultural center and even played a significant role in establishing and developing the grammar of Arabic literature.²⁶

Figure 1.2: Bazaar in Bushehr, Iran (photograph by Nader Afzalan).

During the Fatimid period in another North African city, Qayrawan, commercial activities were transferred to Sabra Mansuriya, a sector of bazaars that was the principal thoroughfare; it traversed the entire city from gate to gate, skirting the Great Mosque, and was flanked by rows of shops.²⁷ In the Mamluk Age, the market quarters in Cairo experienced an expansion, where some forty-eight markets and forty-four caravanserais were concentrated in an area of about forty hectares to accommodate commercial activities. Other specialized markets were located along several major roads leading toward the suburbs, while local markets (suwayqa) tended to be non-specialized and to supply products required for daily consumption.²⁸ The Ottomans established bazaars in their first capital, Bursa, as well as in large cities like Istanbul to import silk and export woolen products.²⁹

Figure 1.3: Street market street in Agra, India (photograph by Manu Sobti).

In the late Ottoman period, bazaars became part of the urban design. Caravanserais served as hostels and were incorporated into the urban environment, where they were then converted into commercial depots often used as wholesale centers selling particular goods.³⁰ Safavid kings, as rivals of the Ottoman rulers, tried to enhance the role of Persia in the Silk Road trade by constructing caravanserais in remote areas and establishing bazaars in major cities like Tabriz, Isfahan, and Kerman. At the same time, their ports in the Persian Gulf, such as Bandar ‘Abbas, became dynamic centers for international import and export.

On the Indian subcontinent, the arrival of Islam in the tenth century radically changed the character of urban centers and the public spaces within them, especially bazaars. The so-called caravanserai, funduqs, and suq structures first began to appear in the urban space lying immediately outside the city citadels. In effect, trade was seemingly transacted in a ‘no-man’s land’ just outside the city gates. The arrival of the Moguls by the early sixteenth century changed this trend in central Asia and India: the new cities now embraced the bazaar as an integral element within their structures. Covered bazaars were included in the master plan of the four Mogul capitals: Agra, Shahjahanabad, Fatehpur Sikri, and Burhanpur. The development of bazaars was also enhanced by growing maritime trade from ports on the coast of the Indian Ocean, such as Mumbai in India, Muscat in modern Oman, Aden in modern Yemen, and Siraf in modern Iran. Starting in the sixteenth century, with increased maritime trade in Persian Gulf ports such as Bandar ‘Abbas and Bushehr, bazaars developed into major regional markets for commodities imported from India, Iraq, and Europe, and also for goods produced for the shipping industries. The importance of these ports goes beyond the borders of the Islamic lands.

Figure 1.4: Vendor selling metal vessels and assorted items in the market in Kashgar, China (photograph by Abbey Newman, 2009).

Internal Organization

The interrelationship of government, bazaaris (local merchants) , and the complexity of businesses in bazaars necessitated some type of organization. All the retailers in the bazaar were grouped in separate quarters of the market according to their wares. The guild had different denotations in different countries. Guilds (in plural) were called asnaf in Persia, asnaf, naqabat, or tawa’if in Arab countries, and loncalar in Turkey.³¹ Each guild consisted of people involved in the same kind of business or craft (for example coppersmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and dyers).³² The guilds were also Islamic associations and trade unions. Usually each guild or group of traders had its own place in the market, a practice that also made it easier for customers to locate the highest-quality and best-priced products and services. Organizing by guilds provided a kind of support for customers and guild members alike. It also enabled merchants to negotiate with the government, on occasion.³³ In some cases, the members collected money to lend to a new member of the senf (singular of asnaf) to support his business. While members of a guild had to follow certain basic rules, the regulations were broad enough to support competition within each guild.

Figure 1.5: Flags of Turkey in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, Turkey (photograph by Mohammad Gharipour, 2011).

Local authorities usually organized markets by regulating trade to control prices. Bazaars throughout the Islamic region relied on their own local products or handcrafts, while the import of fabrics and silk from China remained the main motivation for many European merchants to travel to the east. At the same time, pilgrimages to Mecca and other Muslim holy sites enhanced trade in some cities, such as Ottoman Damascus, which became a node for travelers on the Hajj route.³⁴ While bazaars in desert areas like Yazd or Tabriz actively served as junctions on the Silk Road, ports such as Delhi, Istanbul, and Bushehr enriched river and sea trade. Even though urban bazaars accommodated trade in a variety of products, each had a reputation for a specific merchandise or craft. For instance, the Ottoman bazaar at Bursa was renowned for woolen products. Bazaars were the heart of the urban economy. In some areas like Morocco, merchants were even banned from trading outside the bazaar.³⁵ The level of trade also depended on the scale of trade.³⁶ Shopkeepers mostly did business in the bazaar, while wholesale merchants took the risk of long-distance trade.³⁷

One of the main differences between smaller and larger economies was the way cash and credit were used and how trade was structured.³⁸ The number of guilds reflected both the specificity and volume of trade. For instance, Nassir Khosrow, a famous poet and traveler, refers to more than fifty caravanserais and two hundred bankers in one neighborhood of the bazaar in eleventh-century Isfahan, named Koutaraz.³⁹ The Muslim researcher Ibn Ikhvah, who visited Isfahan in the tenth century, mentioned that there were seventy-seven guilds in the bazaar.⁴⁰ These accounts show the vastness of the market and the developed nature of trade in medieval Isfahan.⁴¹ We also know that sixty guilds existed in Ottoman Damascus. (Guilds gradually declined in the late nineteenth century due to their rigid structure as well as the extensive import of European finished products into the markets, which resulted in the diminution of local industries.)

The establishment of guilds had several other aims. Anyone who wanted to join a guild had to qualify by passing a craft examination. Guild agents were also responsible for checking the quality of products. This created a type of support for customers who were dissatisfied or had complaints regarding the pricing or quality. These agents were also responsible for maintaining order and good organization, even sanitation, in different parts of the bazaar by employing crews or making sure that the shopkeepers undertook it themselves.⁴² Guilds were also mechanisms for collecting taxes. For instance, in Egypt, the shaykh or head of the guild was held accountable for the actions of guild members and their tax payments. The guild usually provided waqf money to support local mosques, not only out of piety but also to gain the support of the religious authorities. However, religion was not usually a condition for membership, as merchants and craftsmen of different religions worked in the same guild.⁴³

In markets, the relationship between customer and vendor played an important role, especially considering that both parties usually knew each other. Just as shops were owned by consecutive generations of a family, so customers typically purchased from the same store for generations. Such loyalty, however, did not deny consumers the right to go to other shops that offered cheaper or better quality products. Being a member of a senf imposed a series of responsibilities and commitments. The guild chairmen could not make highly controversial decisions because the guild could lose credibility, or the support of the public and the authorities. An example of this can be seen in the nineteenth century, when the governor of Tehran, ‘Ayn al-Dawla, physically punished two shopkeepers in the bazaar for overcharging and hoarding sugar. This event gradually led to rebellions in the bazaar of Tehran and resulted in the Constitution Revolution.⁴⁴ Similarly, Umayyad documents refer to strict regulations in the bazaar in Cordoba (Guichard, Suk in the Muslim West, 790).

Figure 1.6: The bazaar in Bandar Lengeh on the Persian Gulf, Iran (photograph by Nader Afzalan).

The hierarchy of members in a guild was usually based on their experience. In the bazaar of Isfahan, the chief of each guild, called kedkhoda, was elected by the members. In Mesopotamian markets the market police, called muhtasibs, were responsible for keeping order in the bazaar.⁴⁵ In addition to muhtasibs, the bazaar in North Africa was governed by high-ranking officials called qadis and hakims. The same structure was also found in Delhi, where the head of the market was called amir-i bazariyan.⁴⁶ In the bazaar in Istanbul, the access to different sections of the marketplace was controlled by the kedkhoda, who was also in charge of official pricing and quality regulations.⁴⁷ Muhtasibs roamed the bazaar to remind sellers to be honest and fair and also to investigate clients’ complaints about cheating and the quality of products. The muhtasib also controlled cleanliness, noise, crowding, and even the circulation of animals in the bazaar.

Figure 1.7: Kadiköy fish market in Istanbul, Turkey (photograph by Ezgi Tuncer, 2008).

Several factors influenced the distribution of guilds in bazaars, foremost among them the attraction of products. For example, in Isfahan, artists’ shops were located in Naghsh-e Jahan Square because of the high number of tourists who preferred to buy there. Security, too, was a significant concern. That is why the goldsmiths’ areas were strategically located close to the Friday Mosque (Masjid-e Jame‘) in the central areas of the city, to provide the best security. Grocers, on the other hand, were located in less central areas, closer to residential neighborhoods. The same trend could be seen in Damascus, where luxury products were sold near the Friday mosque while noisy stores were located in suqs outside the city walls.⁴⁸ The compatibility of businesses was another influential factor. While some crafts like cereal and spice shops were located close together, less compatible guilds were placed in separate areas (for example blacksmiths and druggists).⁴⁹ Most guilds were concentrated in their special area of the marketplace but some, like butchers and bakers, were spread through or outside the city, forming neighborhood markets, which, being accessible to the residential quarters, were used for daily shopping only, while more specialized products were located at the bazaar. In some cases, fruit and vegetable markets and manufacturing districts were located outside the cities, as seen in the bazaars in Afghanistan and Damascus, respectively.⁵⁰

The guilds in bazaars formed neighborhoods based on common interests, benefits, and subcultures. Some of these guilds (for example the goldsmiths in Iranian bazaars) gradually developed secret jargons to hide their conversations and tricks from customers. Each guild acted like a big family, organizing wedding celebrations for young members and mourning ceremonies for those recently deceased. Such pockets of vibrant culture kept the entire bazaar an active part of the city and a potential field for cultural, social, and political events. Through waqf, the commercial groups supporting religious institutions—such as local mosques in markets—united economic and spiritual welfare. During religious ceremonies, or the funerals of religious clerics or political figures, the bazaar was closed.⁵¹ In Iran, bazaars functioned as spaces for parades, marches, and religious rituals like taziya, when the open areas would be temporarily enclosed and roofed to protect the participants from sun or rain. Not only was the bazaar considered spatially and functionally flexible, its cells (shops and workshops) usually had the ability to change over time. For instance, when the owner of a store died, the whole shop could be divided into two areas for the two main inheritors. Under special circumstances, the owners could buy the neighboring properties to expand the size of their shop and their trade.

Context

The formal evolution of markets over the ages has been the outcome of a complex of cultural, economic, and legal factors. The history of each component in markets reveals the rise or fall of these components over time and its impact on spatial development in the macro scale. This phenomenon somehow explains the unorganized (seemingly chaotic) expansion of markets at different periods, which is perceived as a characteristic of most medieval Islamic cities. In this sense, tracing markets and their components may reveal various layers of history, each with its own complexities and intricacies. This section briefly discusses the religious, economic, political, and social context of bazaars as the main elements determining changes in the physical structure of the bazaar and affecting the occurrence of economic changes and marketplace developments over time.⁵²

Religious Context: Islam and Trade

Markets have a long history in ancient Arabia. From the third century ce, the cities of Mecca and Medina were considered significant hubs where merchants from other areas of the Arabian Peninsula sold and traded their products. The economy was highly dependent on these markets. The Prophet Muhammad was a merchant himself. His invitation to Medina was, to a large extent, a consequence of the investment of his first wife, Khadija, who had a reputation as a very successful merchant in Mecca. The trade in the pre-Islamic age, however, was based on the enrichment of a wealthy class that oppressed the poor. It was because of this that Prophet Muhammad divided markets into the spiritual and material,⁵³ calling them places for evil [and deception] mainly because they lacked the strict regulation that should govern the morality and ethics of trade.⁵⁴

Figure 1.8: Street market in Sukadana, Indonesia (photograph by Arief Setiawan, 2008).

The bazaar is a recognized field of tension between individual rights and communal benefits. Al-Ghazali noted that the bazaar is an arena of jihad, a holy war in which the individual struggles to maintain one’s morality where there is temptation to take unfair advantage.⁵⁵ That is why, after the establishment of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad introduced regulations based on an honest trade system, to revive trade and close the distance between the classes. Islam drew a dividing line between what was lawful and beneficial to the public, and what was unlawful.⁵⁶ These guidelines condemned materialism and the indefinite accumulation of wealth by emphasizing the individual’s obligation to God and Islamic society (umma).⁵⁷ At the same time, free trade was encouraged to improve the economic conditions of the society. For instance, the obligation for fixed-interest loans demonstrates free trade while conforming with the moral requirement of fair dealing. The Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad’s instructions were applied as detailed regulations on trade in Islamic society to encourage justice and fairness.⁵⁸ In addition, bylaws on trade and commerce such as waqf,⁵⁹ nadr,⁶⁰ kaffara,⁶¹ zakat,⁶² and sadaqa⁶³ were intended to remedy the imbalance of wealth within the society. This trend, however, gradually changed with the Umayyad Age when caliphs began to adopt extravagant lifestyles.

Figure 1.9: The market street leading to the city mosque in Laar, Iran (photograph by Nader Afzalan).

Although Islam did not dictate any limitations for non-Muslims in Islamic bazaars, religious minorities such as Christians and Jews selected their jobs based on the guilds they wished to join. In some cases they emigrated to other regions with more business opportunities, such as the Jewish merchants of the Cairo Geniza, some of whom traveled from Tunis to India in the Middle Ages. Jewish merchants emigrated from Baghdad to India during the Ottoman age.⁶⁴ At the same time the multicultural environment of bazaars in the Islamic world reflected the umma, a recognizably Muslim community.⁶⁵ In the suqs of Basra, the city of commerce in the ninth century, different groups such as Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Jews were involved in trade.⁶⁶ The same characteristics could be seen in North African bazaars. For instance, the bazaars of Fez al-Jadid, founded under the Marinid Dynasty (1248–1549), were characterized as cosmopolitan spaces in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. There, a population of varied social classes, religions, and ethnicities existed. Any product, local or imported, that people wished to buy was sold in shops or carts lining the main roads, including lamps, jewelry, clothing, and photographic equipment.⁶⁷ Indians played a prominent role in bazaars on the Arabian Peninsula, especially ports in Yemen. The shipowning Gujaratis, Hindu brokers, and moneychangers used their linguistic skills to serve as middlemen for their clients.⁶⁸

Ethnic manifestations of occupational groups were prevalent in these preindustrial cities, such as on the goldsmiths street in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.⁶⁹ On the other side of the Islamic world, ports on the Java Sea (such as Srivijaya or Jakarta) shaped an international commercial culture. For instance, during the reign of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, trade with India was the most profitable.⁷⁰ The growth and proliferation of the intensely urbane port bazaars in Southeast Asia took place after the sixteenth century. The Muslim quarters (kauman) in Indonesian cities were crowded with Persians, Turks, Indians, Malays, and Javanese.⁷¹ These bazaars became popular places for many groups, including the Portuguese and Dutch, who peddled cloth, spices, jewelry, slaves, cosmetics, and food products in a decentralized environment that could expand over time. It is documented that the Medici family had an agent (Maringhi) in Koza Khan at the bazaar in Bursa to facilitate their trade in the region.⁷² The bazaars remained cosmopolitan environments until the nineteenth century, when trade became more localized. This trend, however, changed after the globalization process in the late twentieth century.

The Economic Context: Marketing systems

The globalization of trade and increasing urbanism of the last thirty years have largely changed the nature of trade in cities, towns, and villages. However, some ancient regulations and manners in trade are not outdated