Qasaba

The word qasaba (or kasbah, gasaba, quasabeh) comes from the Arabic القصبة, meaning "central part of a town or citadel". In the Zahrani dialect, and for purposes of this article, "qasaba" refers to a single stone tower or tower house found frequently in the Asir and al-Bahah provinces of Saudi Arabia and in Yemen.

The purposes of the qasaba (plural forms are: "qasabi" or "qasabe" in Arabic; "kasabalar" in Turkish; "qasabas" in English) are varied, and they often functioned as an isolated watch tower or blockhouse. However, in Morocco and in Iberia, the Arabic word form of "kasbah" frequently refers to multiple buildings in a keep, a citadel or several structures behind a defensive wall. The Spanish word "alcazaba" is a cognate from the Arabic word. In Portuguese, it derived into the word alcáçova. In Turkish and Urdu the word kasaba refers to a settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city; in short, a town. The Cyrillic spelling is каса̀ба.

The Encyclopædia Britannica defines it as: "Ancient qasaba (“towers”) found in the province were used as lookouts or granaries."

Another book describes these towers as follows: "Apparently unique to Asir architecture are the qasaba towers. Controversy surrounds their function - some argue that they were built as lookouts, and others that they were keeps, or even granaries. Perhaps it is a combination, although the right position of a watchtower, on a hill top, is the wrong place for a keep or granary."

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