Sousse و في أهلها دهقنة

I just like reading Ibn Hawqal (writing in the 2nd half of the 10th century); it's like reading a 19th century anthropolgue. Here is for instance how he describes the 'people of Sousse' (a Tunisian coastal city), which he visited sometime around 950:

و في أهلها دهقنة و الغالب عليهم السلامة

I like especially the use of the word 'dahqana', which is rarely used in Islamic sources. It's originally persan (comes from 'Dahaqina' plural for 'Dihhqan': a social class in Fars composed of villages' bosses) but when it was arabized it got a new meaning (as Ibn Manzur mentions) in the sense of 'takayyus' or 'kiyasa' meaning something like smartness and delicacy at the same time: attributes strongly linked in the mind of the early Muslim authors with urbanity...

The second part (والغالب عليهم السلامة) goes in the same sense; urbanity necessitates longing for peacefulness...

Other authors might use stronger and bolder words... but Ibn Hawqal is usually far more delicate...