This article covers the word as used in Islamic urban planning. "Haram" is also common spelling of "haraam," which means something which is forbidden by Islam. (e.g. eating pork is "haraam"). Haraam is an Arabic word, used in Islam to refer to anything that is prohibited by the faith. ... Haraam is an Arabic word, used in Islam to refer to anything that is prohibited by the faith. ...

Haram means (is Arabic for) "inviolate zones", an important aspect of urban planning in Muslim civilization.They were sanctuaries, or places where contending parties could settle disputes peacefully. Towns were usually built near a river which provided drinking and domestic water (upstream) and carried away waste and sewage (downstream, usually underground, unlike most cities in Europe in medieval times). Muslims claim to have introduced the idea of carrying capacity, and clearly did limit the number of families in any given town. The haram were typically positioned to ensure access to parkland and nature (which were given another name, hima), to restrict urban sprawl, protect water-courses and watersheds and oases. In this respect the rules strongly resembled modern zoning laws, with the same purposes. Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Urban, city, or town planning, deals with design of the built environment from the municipal and metropolitan perspective. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... A civilization or civilisation has a variety of meanings related to human society. ... In ecology, the carrying capacity of an environment for a particular species is a measure of the steady-state density that the species can have for a particular habitat to support sustainably. ... Hima means (is Arabic for) inviolate zones solely for the conservation of natural capital, typically fields, wildlife and forests (contrast haram to protect areas for more immediate human purposes). ... Urban sprawl (also called suburban sprawl and occasionally Los Angelization) describes the growth of a metropolitan area, traditionally suburbs but, increasingly, exurbs, over a large area. ... A watershed or catchment basin is the region of land whose water drains into a specified body of water, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean. ... Oasis in the Libyan part of the Sahara In geography, an oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. ... In general, zoning is the division of an area into sub-areas, called zones. ...

The distinction between haram and hima is thought by some modern scholars to have been necessary due to a different means of deciding which regions were to have restrictions - the selection of haram was considered to be more up to the community while the selection of hima had more to do with natural characteristics of the region, which were considered to be best respected by jurists. This idea probably arises from two different obligations of the Muslim to respect ijma (consensus of neighbors within Islam) and practice khalifa (stewardship of nature under Allah). It may or may not reflect actual means of decision making historically. Hima means (is Arabic for) inviolate zones solely for the conservation of natural capital, typically fields, wildlife and forests (contrast haram to protect areas for more immediate human purposes). ... A jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. ... Ijmāʿ (Arabic, إجماع) refers to the consensus of the ummah, the community of Muslims, those practicing Islam, or of the ulema, those learned in the relevant topic. ... In common use, Khalifa is the Arabic word translated into English as Caliph. ...

See also: hima, carrying capacity, watershed, bioregional planning Hima means (is Arabic for) inviolate zones solely for the conservation of natural capital, typically fields, wildlife and forests (contrast haram to protect areas for more immediate human purposes). ... In ecology, the carrying capacity of an environment for a particular species is a measure of the steady-state density that the species can have for a particular habitat to support sustainably. ... A watershed or catchment basin is the region of land whose water drains into a specified body of water, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean. ...