A souk (also sook, souq, or suq) is a highly fashioned commercial quarter in an Arab city. The term is often used to designate the market in any Arabized city. It may also refer to the weekly market in some smaller towns where neutrality from tribal conflicts would be declared to permit the exchange of surplus goods. In Modern Standard Arabic the term refers to markets in both the physical and abstract economic sense (e.g., an Arab would speak of the souq in the old city as well as the souq for oil, and would call the concept of the free market al-souq al-horr).

Types

Historically, souqs were held outside of cities in the location where a caravan loaded with goods would stop and merchants would display their goods for sale. The souq were held when there is a caravan or more available. At that time, souqs were more than just a market to buy and sell goods; it was a major festival and many cultural and social activates took place in it.

Later, due to the importance of market and the growth of cities, the locations of souqs became within the cities. Types of souqs that originated from this are:

Seasonal Souqs

Are souqs that are held in set times. It can be yearly such, monthly or weekly. The oldest type is the yearly one which usually included many more activities than others and was held outside cities. Souq Ukadh as an example used to be held in pre-Islamic times in an area between Mecca and Taif during the month of Dhu al-Qi'dah every year. Although many products were sold there but it was much more famous for the poetry competitions held in it. Some of the most prominent poets were judges such as Al Khansaa and Al-Nabigha. An example of Islamic annual souqs is Al Mirbid just outside Basra, also famed for its poetry competitions in addition to its storytelling activities.

Due to the change of political, economic and social styles throughout the centuries; the only ones remaining are small seasonal souqs outside villages and small towns, selling livestock and agricultural products.

Weekly markets continued to function throughout the Arab world, most of them named by the day of the week when they are held. Although no permanent buildings are constructed for them, they usually have dedicated open spaces specifically for them inside cities. Examples of surviving markets are the Wednesday Market in Amman that specializes in the sale of used products, the Ghazl market held every Friday in Baghdad and specializes in pets; and the Fina’ Market in Marakesh that provides in addition to the sales items a free display of performance arts such as singing, music, acrobats and circus activities.

Permanent Souqs

These are far more common but much less famous as they focus on the commercial activity and do not have much interest in entertainment. Until the Umayyad era, those markets were only an open space where the merchants would bring in their movable stands during the day and remove them during the night; no one had a specific right to a spot in the market and it was usually first-come first-serve. During the Umayyad era the governments started leasing the land to the merchants and then selling them. The merchants then began to build shops on those small lots to store their goods during the night. That is when the Arab traditional experience of a souq evolved.

The souqs are traditionally specialized due to planning constraints at the beginning. The souq is divided into small souqs, each usually housed in a few narrow streets and named after the product it specialized in such as the gold souq, the fabric souq, the spice souq, the leather souq, the copy souq (for books)..etc. At the same time their were all collectively called a souq and assigned it’s individual name.

Some of the prominent examples are Bizouriyya Souq in Damascus, Saray Souq in Baghdad, and Zanqat al-Niswaan in Alexandria.

Traditional System

Though each neighbourhood within the city would have a local souk selling food and other essentials, the main souk was one of the central structures of a large city. A central marketplace, it was where textiles, jewellery, spices, wooden sculptures and other valuable goods as well as the money changers were arranged in a line.

A quadrilateral of stone-vaulted streets parallel to or crossing each other or a tight mass of buildings too packed together for roads to intersect them. The workshops were further away from this centre of exchange as were the main residential quarters – though the wealthier merchants or scholars might live within the centre of the city.

The souk was a level of municipal administration. The Muhtasib was responsible for supervising business practices and collecting taxes for a given suq while the Arif are the overseers for a specific trade.

In a souk, the final price of an item is reached by bargaining with the shopkeeper. Traders of a given commodity would all sell in the same souk, thus ensuring a competitive market. In some African countries the souk was a place where people could come and talk, or sit down to tell stories.