A Review of the Stages of the Prophet's Urban Life

Madīna-tu an-Nabī (the City of the Prophet) comprised the materialistic and spiritual elements and components of an Islamic city; however it was not similar to the developed and established cities in the Islamic civilization era. It was a city which experienced and revealed the processes of evolution and transformation of a village into a city during the urban life of the Prophet. Although the accomplishment of the urban design of Madīna-tu an-Nabī was terminated after the demise of the Prophet, it could be reconstructed and embodied with the help of the science of history. The urban life of the Prophet went through five distinct stages. Mecca drove him and settled his Meccan urban life. Yathrib invited him by providing circumstances that led to his acceptance and his urban life was shaped in Dar Al-Hijrah (the Land of Migration). The other stages of the urban life of the Prophet included Tayyibah (the Good-Wholesome Life), Madīna-tu al-Rasûl (the City of the Prophet) and Madīna-tu an-Nabī. This article tries to explain the characteristics of each of these mentioned stages and their transformation processes to reveal what steps were taken to achieve the realization of the Islamic civilization during the urban life of the Prophet. It also investigates how the design of the utopian cosmopolis was accomplished in the five mentioned areas resulting in the establishment and development of hundreds of cities during the four centuries after the death of the Prophet. This design remained pending for full implementation throughout the history.