AL Hakimah is a city in the Central Province on the Southern Island of Civilitas. The Al-Hakimah metropolitan area is the largest in the Central Province, and the city is the financial, educational, and cultural center of the Central Province and indeed much of the Southern Island. People from Al-Hakimah are called
Hakimans or
Hakimis.
History
The city was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Bengali Muslim indentured servants who had been brought to Civilitas by British colonists. For several decades, small numbers of Bengalis had gathered together in the area north of the British settlement of New Birmingham upon the termination of their indenture contracts; after the abolition of indentured servitude in 1890, thousands of Bengalis from across the islands came to the settlement, where they could preserve their freedom, their Bengali language, and their Islamic religion.
The settlement was originally to be named New Dhaka, but a small number of Arab traders and clerics convinced the citizens to rename the city after its inhabitants gave them exceptionally good advice (on what is not generally remembered and the story may be apocryphal).
Later, large numbers of Arab immigrants came to Civilitas fleeing various upheavals, notably after the 1967 (and to a lesser extent, 1948) wars in Palestine, and the Lebanese Civil War in the late 1970s and early 1980s; a vast number of people arrived in this time relative to the size of the city, and combined with a small trickle of peacetime immigration and natural population growth, Arabs became the second-largest ethnic group in Civilitas.
The city also attracted Russians; the Russian neighborhood of Novoe Vladivistok was created gradually and only became known by its current name in the early 1910s. Italians and Japanese from Garit, Al-Hakimah's port, settled across the city in the middle of the 20th century.
By 1930, Al-Hakimah was so large that it had completely surrounded New Birmingham; the former British settlement was annexed in 1942.
Districts
The city of Al-Hakimah is divided into five districts:
Al-Hakimah Center: The beating cultural and political heart of the city of Al-Hakimah, it contains both the Old City and the second-largest accumulation of large buildings (if not skyscrapers than skyscraperesque) in the city (the largest being in the Financial District). Ethnically, it contains mostly Indians, but the majority-Arab neighborhood of Madinat al-Ashgar (the City of the Trees), from which Lockesdonkey hails, is in there as well. The University of Al-Hakimah is at the west end of the Old City (right at the border with Novoe Vladivostok); City Hall, the Great Mosque, and the Library of Al-Hakimah are also in the Old City. The Old City is noted for the many artists and intellectuals residing in it, somewhat bemused with the politicians who come into the Old City from across town to meet in City Hall and the various government buildings scattered across it.
Al-Hakimah Souq: While named after the old
souq (or open market) that developed when the City Council banished it from the Old City (it brought crime and nasty smells too close to the halls of government for the Mayor's taste), the market has mostly been overtaken by the Financial District to its north. The largest concentration of Japanese is in this northeastern section of the city, mostly working in the energetic financial sector.
Al-Hakimah West—Novoe Vladivostok: As its name implies, most of Al-Hakimah's Russian population lives here. It is the industrial center of the town, with a large number of factories and many of its citizens being industrial workers. It is one of the most recent CSP pickups in the city, having been a Socialist seat for most of the colonial era. However, Vladimir Dmitriov, the previous representative, was involved in a scandal, and combined with a recent small but significant influx of CSP-loyalist Bengalis resulted in the election of The Yankee by a respectable margin.
Al-Hakimah South: Al-Hakimah South was also an industrial sector, and historically shunted between the PLP and the Socialists, with CSP candidates occasionally taking second place. However, the region experienced a degree of gentrification when high-tech industry came to it, and in the penultimate elections to the Colonial Parliament, downtown took the seat for the CSP in one of the largest election upsets in recent memory. The district is predominantly Indian, but the British neighborhood of New Birmingham has a substantial influence on the general attitude of the district.
Al-Hakimah—New City: New City is a heavily-planned ring around the city as it stood until about 1988. It contains most of the Italian population of the city. Not much can be said about it at this time, however, on account of its youth. At one point, the only Christian Democratic Party member of the Civilitas Parliament was from Al-Hakimah—New City, and the area still has strong Christian Democratic leanings. However, the last parliamentary elections (which were a sweep for the CSP, as indicated), meant that the old representative, Gabriele Pavone of the CDP, lost by a .2% margin.
Economy
The economy of the city of Al-Hakimah is centered on finance and industry; in general, the eastern section of the city (the Financial District) holds the Al-Hakimah Stock Exchange and the headquarters of several banks, while the west and south are the main loci of industry.
Education and Culture
The Bengalis, used to diversity, attracted educated persons at first from across the Muslim world, then from elsewhere. The first institution of higher education in the city was the School of the Great Mosque of Al-Hakimah, founded by Hanafi and Shafi`i Islamic scholars from India and the Middle East almost as soon as the Mosque was built in 1877. Members of the Russian Social Democratic and other radical parties arrived in Al-Hakimah in the late nineteenth century, founding the University of Al-Hakimah, the city's first secular institution of higher learning, on Russian lines in 1892.
Approximately 60% of the city of Al-Hakimah's population is Muslim; most of the remainder is Christian, with the exception of the Japanese neighborhoods of Little Osaka and Kimizu (sorry...I'm no good with Japanese. Characters are 木水, "Treewater"). Some districts, such as Novoe Vladivostok, are actually majority-Christian.
The Great Mosque of Al-Hakimah, in the Old City, is a more modern edifice than most other religious buildings in the city. The original mosque was built in stages in the Indian style, the first stage (a relatively small building just large enough to warrant a school annex) being completed in 1877; the most recent stage had been completed in 1940. The old mosque was damaged during riots in 1969: Russians and Italians, enraged by some uncharacteristically racist statements made by Mayor Ali Chowdhury, attacked the mosque when their attempt to torch City Hall was thwarted; rather than rebuild the damaged edifice, the city seized the opportunity to build a new mosque.
The second-largest religious building is the Eastern Orthodox Cathedral of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, whom it is said visited Civilitas late in life and vowed to spread the faith if he lived. The church was originally simply the Church of St. John, of ambiguous patronage (it was something of an official secret, for unknown reasons), but when John of Shanghai and San Francisco was canonized in 1994, the Cathedral immediately changed its name. The Cathedral, which by special agreement services both Russian and Arab Eastern Orthodox Christians, is in Novoe Vladivostok.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Thomas is in the Old City; it is frequented mostly by Italians. There have been rumors that it will be abandoned or repurposed with the movement of many Italians to New City.
The Eastern Catholic Cathedral is also important. It is situated in the Old City.
Politics and government
Al-Hakimah is governed by a parliamentary-style system. The Mayor and the City Commission (similar to a cabinet) are elected from a 25-member City Council, elected by closed party-list proportional representation every four years barring premature dissolution.
Al-Hakimah City Council election, 2006
- Common Sense Party: 32.4%-8 seats Leader: Anthony "Tony" Black
Conservative Party: 17.6%-5 seats Leader: Adam Ali
- Justice and Development Party: 12.1%-3 seats Leader: Mahmoud ibn Abdallah Naguib
- Progressive Libertarian Party: 12.0%-3 seats Leader: Farhan Ahmed
- Socialist Party: 8.0%-2 seats Leader: Boris Ivanovich Rudenko
- Christian Democratic Party: 7.9%-2 seats Leader: Alessandro Gerardopiero Adorno (no relation to Theodor)
- Libertarian Republican Party: 10.0%-2 seats Leader: Muhammad Rabindranath Ahmad
The city is a major stronghold of the Common Sense Party, with the diversity of the city encouraging the secular center (though the local moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party is popular among some Muslim businesspeople). The city also plays host to a strong Christian Democratic Party (typically in alliance with the Conservatives) and for most of history the Central Province's Party of the Democratic Left (PDL, democratic socialist) had seats on the Council; its absence from the current Council is likely because of its association with the same scandal that brought down Socialist leader Vladimir Dmitriov in 2004.
The City Commission
Mayor: Anthony "Tony" Black, Common Sense Party. The first person of British descent to hold this prestigious post.
Vice-Mayor and
City Commissioner for Finance: Mahmoud ibn Abdallah Naguib, Justice and Development Party
City Commissioner for Works: Farhan Ahmed, Progressive Libertarian Party
City Commissioner for Public Safety: Farroukh Chowdhury, Common Sense Party
City Commissioner for Health and Education: Tommaso Milanese, Common Sense Party
City Commissioner for Transport: Omar ibn Ra'ouf Khalifah, Common Sense Party