The Urban Space of the Town of Al-Zubayr in the Diwan of Ibn Laboun

(A Study in Spatial Content Analysis)

Abstract

This study analyzes the spatial vocabulary found in the poetry of Muhammad Ibn Laboon and explores its geographical significance in relation to the environment of Al-Zubair and its surrounding region. The research applies a spatial content analysis approach to extract spatial terms from the poetic texts, followed by quantitative and qualitative analyses to classify these terms into several geographical categories including urban space, desert landscape, water resources, and routes of movement. The study relies on the critical edition of Ibn Laboon’s Diwan edited by Abu Aqil Al-Dhahiri and published by the Al-Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry.

The analysis identified 31 spatial terms appearing a total of 125 times in the poems. Quantitative results reveal a strong dominance of vocabulary related to the urban environment of Al-Zubair such as houses, neighborhoods, streets, and social spaces, compared with terms referring to the surrounding desert landscape such as rawḍ (meadow) and qā‘ (plain). References to routes of movement such as darb (path) and ṭarīq (road) also appear frequently, connecting the urban center with the surrounding desert spaces.

Spatial analysis further indicates a hierarchical geographical structure within the poems centered on the town of Al-Zubair as the primary urban space. From this center extend the elements of the town’s urban fabric, followed by routes of movement leading toward desert landscapes and water locations. These findings suggest that Ibn Laboon’s poetry reflects a spatial experience closely connected to the urban environment of Al-Zubair while maintaining links with its surrounding regional landscape.

The study concludes that poetic texts can serve as valuable sources for understanding the cultural and historical geography of a region when analyzed through interdisciplinary approaches combining literary analysis and geographical perspective.