Dictionary of islamic architecture

khanqah
A monastery or hostel for sufis or dervishes.
Kharana
Early Islamic or Sassanian building in the Jordanian desert
60 km east of Amman.
Kharana is a remarkably preserved square two-
storey structure with solid semi-circular and
circular buttress towers. The building is made out
of roughly hewn stone blocks laid in courses
covered with successive layers of plaster. There are
three rows of vertical slits in the walls which have
been interpreted as arrow slits, although their
height above the inside floor level makes this
unlikely. The gateway is set between two quarter-
round towers which lead into an entrance passage
flanked with two long vaulted rooms that
functioned as stables. Inside the building is a square
courtyard with a series of undecorated rooms (for
storage?) whilst on the upper floor the rooms are
decorated with plaster/stucco designs similar to
those at Ukhaidhir in Iraq. These include engaged
pilasters, blind niches and decorative bosses. Two
of the upper rooms have semi-domes resting on
wide squinches at the end.
Although it was built before 710 (according to an
inscription) and is Sassanian in style, the building is
now generally believed to be early Islamic.
Further reading:
S.Urice, 
Qasr Kharana in the Transjordan,
Durham, NC:
AASDR , 1987.
khatta
An Arabic term meaning marked out (from khatt a
line). This term was used by historians of the early
Islamic period to describe the process of marking out
new settlements or camps (amsar) such as Basra, Kufa
and Fustat. The word also conveys a sense of claiming
possession of a piece of land by marking out.
Further reading:
J.Akbar, ‘Khatta and the territorial structure of early
Muslim towns’, 
Muqarnas
6: 22–32, 1989.