University of Kashan Journal of Iranian Architecture Studies 2252-0635 14 27 2025 09 21 Water as an Actor in the Life-World of Khurāsānīs in the Early Islamic Centuries Water as an Actor in the Life-World of Khurāsānīs in the Early Islamic Centuries 5 24 114953 10.22052/jias.2025.257135.1412 FA Mehrdad Qayyoomi Bidhendi Researcher on Architectural HTC and Co-Founder, Nowruzgan Laboratory Roya Tajbakhsh Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, Ha.C. Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Journal Article 2025 05 31 The lifeworld of Khurāsānīs in the early Islamic centuries was deeply dependent on water at every level and in every aspect of life. Just as rivers and streams had physical and material sources—emerging from one place, flowing through another, spreading across the land, and bringing about prosperity—they also had mental and spiritual sources, slopes, basins, and destinations. What gave coherence and integrity to this world was the interweaving of these material and immaterial dimensions. Some aspects of this lifeworld are revealed in texts composed by the Khurāsānīs of that time. The central question of this study is: Based on what these texts reveal, what role did water play—as a material, mental, and cultural actor—in the world of Khurāsānīs during the early Islamic centuries?<br />Drawing on Actor–Network Theory and concepts from cultural environmental history and human–environmental studies, this article explores the role of water in this historical lifeworld. Rather than viewing water as merely a natural element, we approach it as a material, spatial, and cultural actor that contributed to the organization of collective life, spatial order, power relations, and human mentalities. Through close readings of Persian prose and verse texts from early Islamic Khurāsān, we examine the complex network of interactions between water and other human and nonhuman actors. In this network, water operates as a mediator of meaning-making, social order, and lived experience—simultaneously present in the visible and invisible realms—and plays a structuring, mediating, and multidimensional role. The lifeworld of Khurāsānīs in the early Islamic centuries was deeply dependent on water at every level and in every aspect of life. Just as rivers and streams had physical and material sources—emerging from one place, flowing through another, spreading across the land, and bringing about prosperity—they also had mental and spiritual sources, slopes, basins, and destinations. What gave coherence and integrity to this world was the interweaving of these material and immaterial dimensions. Some aspects of this lifeworld are revealed in texts composed by the Khurāsānīs of that time. The central question of this study is: Based on what these texts reveal, what role did water play—as a material, mental, and cultural actor—in the world of Khurāsānīs during the early Islamic centuries?<br />Drawing on Actor–Network Theory and concepts from cultural environmental history and human–environmental studies, this article explores the role of water in this historical lifeworld. Rather than viewing water as merely a natural element, we approach it as a material, spatial, and cultural actor that contributed to the organization of collective life, spatial order, power relations, and human mentalities. Through close readings of Persian prose and verse texts from early Islamic Khurāsān, we examine the complex network of interactions between water and other human and nonhuman actors. In this network, water operates as a mediator of meaning-making, social order, and lived experience—simultaneously present in the visible and invisible realms—and plays a structuring, mediating, and multidimensional role. https://jias.kashanu.ac.ir/article_114953_4ab16eb1b26a4c08af6d153bbe4b520d.pdf