THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM THREE THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM

THREE

Edited by Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson

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Roger ALLEN, Edith AMBROS, Thomas BAUER, Johann BÜSSOW, Ruth DAVIS, Eve FEUILLEBOIS-PIERUNEK, Maribel FIERRO, Najam HAIDER, Konrad HIRSCHLER, Nico KAPTEIN, Hani KHAFIPOUR, Alexander KNYSH, Corinne LEFÈVRE, Roman LOIMEIER, D. Fairchild RUGGLES, Emilie SAVAGE-SMITH, Ayman SHIHADEH, and Susan SPECTORSKY

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This book is printed on acid-free paper. list of abbreviations

a. Periodicals AI = Annales Islamologiques AIUON = Annali dell’ Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli AKM = Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgen landes AMEL = and Middle Eastern Literatures AO = Acta Orientalia AO Hung. = Acta Orientalia (Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae) ArO = Archiv Orientální AS = Asiatische Studien ASJ = Arab Studies Journal ASP = Arabic Sciences and Philosophy ASQ = Arab Studies Quarterly BASOR = Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BEA = Bulletin des Études Arabes BEFEO = Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient BEO = Bulletin d’Études Orientales de l’Institut Français de Damas BIE = Bulletin de l’Institut d’Égypte BIFAO = Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire BKI = Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde BMGS = Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies BO = Bibliotheca Orientalis BrisMES = British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies BSOAS = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies BZ = Byzantinische Zeitschrift CAJ = Central Asiatic Journal DOP = Dumbarton Oaks Papers EW = East and West IBLA = Revue de l’Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes, Tunis IC = Islamic Culture IHQ = Indian Historical Quarterly IJAHS = International Journal of African Historical Studies IJMES = International Journal of Middle East Studies ILS = Islamic Law and Society IOS = Israel Oriental Studies IQ = The Islamic Quarterly vi list of abbreviations

JA = Journal Asiatique JAIS = Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies JAL = Journal of Arabic Literature JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society JARCE = Journal of the American Research Center in JAS = Journal of Asian Studies JESHO = Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient JIS = Journal of Islamic Studies JMBRAS = Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society JNES = Journal of Near Eastern Studies JOS = Journal of Ottoman Studies JQR = Jewish Quarterly Review JRAS = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society JSAI = Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam JSEAH = Journal of Southeast Asian History JSS = Journal of Semitic Studies MEA = Middle Eastern Affairs MEJ = Middle East Journal MEL = Middle Eastern Literatures MES = Middle East Studies MFOB = Mélanges de la Faculté Orientale de l’Université St. Joseph de Beyrouth MIDEO = Mélanges de l’Institut Dominicain d’Études Orientales du Caire MME = Manuscripts of the Middle East MMIA = Majallat al-Majma al-Ilmi al-Arabi, Damascus MO = Le Monde Oriental MOG = Mitteilungen zur Osmanischen Geschichte MSR = Mamluk Studies Review MW = The Muslim World OC = Oriens Christianus OLZ = Orientalistische Literaturzeitung OM = Oriente Moderno QSA = Quaderni di Studi Arabi REI = Revue des Études Islamiques REJ = Revue des Études Juives REMMM = Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée RHR = Revue de l’Histoire des Religions RIMA = Revue de l’Institut des Manuscrits Arabes RMM = Revue du Monde Musulman RO = Rocznik Orientalistyczny ROC = Revue de l’Orient Chrétien RSO = Rivista degli Studi Orientali SI = Studia Islamica (France) SIk = Studia Islamika (Indonesia) SIr = Studia Iranica TBG = Tijdschrift van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen VKI = Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land en Volkenkunde WI = Die Welt des Islams WO = Welt des Orients WZKM = Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes ZAL = Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft list of abbreviations vii

ZGAIW = Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften ZS = Zeitschrift für Semitistik b. Other ANRW = Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt BGA = Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum BNF = Bibliothèque nationale de France CERMOC = Centre d’Études et de Recherches sur le Moyen-Orient Contemporain CHAL = Cambridge History of Arabic Literature CHE = Cambridge History of Egypt CHIn = Cambridge History of India CHIr = Cambridge History of Iran Dozy = R. Dozy, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, Leiden 1881 (repr. Leiden and Paris 1927) EAL= Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature EI1 = Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st ed., Leiden 1913–38 EI2 = Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., Leiden 1954–2004 EI3 = Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, Leiden 2007– EIr = Encyclopaedia Iranica EJ1= Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1st ed., Jerusalem [New York 1971–92] EQ = Encyclopaedia of the Qurn ERE = Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics GAL = C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, 2nd ed., Leiden 1943–49 GALS = C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, Supplementbände I–III, Leiden 1937–42 GAP = Grundriss der Arabischen Philologie, Wies baden 1982– GAS = F. Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, Leiden 1967– GMS = Gibb Memorial Series GOW = F. Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke, Leipzig 1927 HO = Handbuch der Orientalistik IA = Islâm Ansiklopedisi IFAO = Institut Français d’Archeologie Orientale JE = Jewish Encyclopaedia Lane = E. W. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon RCEA = Répertoire Chronologique d’Épigraphie Arabe TAVO = Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients TDVIA=Türkiye Diyanet Vakf Islâm Ansiklopedisi UEAI = Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants van Ess, TG = J. van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft WKAS = Wörterbuch der Klassischen Arabischen Sprache, Wiesbaden 1957– E

Education, general (up to 1500) “to raise,” and “to educate”) is the word used to mean “ education.” In its general sense, the word “edu- The contents, objectives, and specif- cation” denotes the act, process, and ics of classical Islamic education are the result of imparting and acquiring knowl- subject of numerous proverbs, aphorisms, edge, values, and skills. This expression and wise sayings that are to be found in applies to both early childhood instruc- the numerous and varied forms of litera- tion and basic and higher learning that ture produced in Islamic lands from the has the goal of providing individuals or second/eighth to the ninth/ffteenth cen- groups of people with the intellectual, turies. Mediaeval Islamic scholarly discus- physical, moral, and spiritual qualities sions on learning and teaching are found that will help them to grow, develop, and most often in Arabic and Persian writings become useful members of the commu- on philosophy and theology, as well as nity and society. It also has applications in many belle-lettres, historical, and mysti- in more purely spiritual or religious, and cal texts. A central characteristic of these particularly eschatological, areas. In pre- mediaeval Muslim deliberations on edu- modern times the concept of education cation are is that they are often clearly, was expressed by a variety of terms, and even if not explicitly, derived from prin- most of these appear to have been used ciples stated in the Qurn and prophetic in this sense as early as in the Qurn. tradition (adth); at the same time, how- The most important of these are talm ever, classical Islamic educational thought and taallum (“teaching” and “learning”), was also deeply infuenced by the para- tadrs (“[more advanced] instruction”), and digms of the ancient Greek paideia (“rear- tadb (“tutoring,” “educating”), the latter ing,” “education”), which was creatively of which leads to adab (“cultural and intel- adapted and further developed by Muslim lectual refnement through education”) scholars, especially during the third/ninth (Attas, Concept, 28–32; Günther, Teach- and fourth/tenth centuries, despite the ing, 200–5). In the contemporary Arab almost exclusively philosophical nature of world, tarbiya (from rabb, “to let grow,” educational thought in antiquity. 30 education, general (up to 1500)

1. From the “age of (Q 96:4–5). With these words, often under- ignorance” to Islam stood in Muslim tradition to have been The history and characteristics of the very frst of the Qurnic revelations, Islamic education must be viewed against Muammad appears to have received the the background of pre-Islamic Arabia. divine command to “read” or “recite/ For the ancient Arabs, poetry was the proclaim” the Word of God in the name “record of knowledge” (dwn al-) of his Lord, and to teach humanity about and “the highest expression of wisdom” God’s message (Q 96:1–5). Many other (muntah l-ikma), as Ibn Sallm al-Juma, Qurnic passages also contain instruc- a traditionist and philologist from Basra tions on matters of faith and religious (d. ca. 232/847), put it. A poet (shir) was practice. For example, strong emphasis is valued for his skills, as these enabled him placed on the idea that only those who to clothe the values and customs of his have attained a certain level of education tribe in beautiful raiment. Moreover, he can properly understand the message of was highly respected as someone who had the Qurn, its teachings, and warnings. special knowledge, which, in turn, was Such is the backdrop to the rhetorical believed to have been inspired in him by question: “Say, ‘How can those who know higher powers. Yet despite the high esteem be equal to those who do not know?’,” to in which ancient Arabic poetry continued which the immediate answer is: “Only to be held in Arab culture even after the those who have understanding will take emergence of Islam and indeed to this heed” (Q 39:9). Similarly, it is stated in day, Muslims refer to the era before the the Qurn that the ideal religious and advent of Islam as the “age of ignorance” political leaders are those to whom God (jhiliyya). In Islamic retrospect, life in “has given great knowledge and stature” ancient Arabia was marked by paganism, (Q 2:247). Al-Zamakhshar (d. 538/1144), polytheism, and a strong desire for indi- the famous rationalist Qurn exegete and vidual fulflment within the tribal alliance. philologist, illustrated its importance for Muslims of later times equated this period Islamic education when he said that the and culture with anarchy, crudeness, and Qurn is a book that “speaks through barbarism, the antitheses of order, cul- evidence and argumentation . . . a book ture, and civilisation: for them, Islam was that—unlike all other books—can be read a new way of life, the natural and perfect [and understood] by every person, and in representation of the virtues of education, any place” (al-Zamakhshar, al-Kashshf, which was synonymous with enlighten- 95–6). ment, humanity, and cultural progress. The adth literature, that extensive body of collections of sayings and actions 2. Divine teaching and ascribed to the prophet Muammad, prophetic wisdom contains numerous instructions specif- In the Qurn, statements regard- cally related to teaching and learning. ing education are extremely important. Oft-quoted statements attributed to the First, there is the assertion that God is Prophet, such as “search for knowledge, the initial and supreme teacher of man- even unto China!,” and “seeking knowl- kind “who taught by [means of] the pen, edge is a duty for men and women who taught man what he did not know” alike,” emphasise the idea that knowledge education, general (up to 1500) 31 acquisition and learning has neither geo- (sing. alqa). These were held in mosques, graphical nor cultural boundaries, nor is or sometimes in scholars’ private homes. it (male) gender-specifc. On the contrary, Oral instruction was the predominant the education of girls was said to have form of teaching, and students travelled special merit, because “a father who has far and wide in “the quest for knowledge” a daughter and teaches her good man- (alab al-ilm). While the study circles were ners, educates her in the best possible generally a small group of students listen- way, and spends on her from the blessing ing to their teacher, sessions were often that God has bestowed on him . . . will be mass lectures that attracted thousands of safeguarded from hell” (lah sitr min al-nr; people, becoming an important event in cf. Ibn ajar 22:210, no. 5995). Again, town life. Al-Bukhr’s (d. 256/870) public the purported instruction of the Prophet lecture in Baghdad, for example, is said to that the “person with the soundest under- have attracted 20,000 students, while the standing of the Book of God and the most lectures of other scholars are reported to experience in the interpretation [of Scrip- have had even larger audiences. Although ture] shall lead the people [. . . in prayer]” these fgures may be exaggerated, they still underlines the ideal that religious and give an impression of the scale of this form social leaders should have a high level of of public education (Weisweiler, Offce, 11). education. The fact that this educational Those devoted to mysticism received spir- ideal includes both religious and secular itual training in more secluded places such knowledge is clearly expressed in other as the rib (lit. “a thing which with one prophetic traditions as well. A promi- ties, binds, or makes fast”; a dwelling for nent example is the account in which the mystics; but see also Q 8:60), zwiya (lit.: prophet Muammad, after the Muslims “corner” or “cell”; prayer room or small had won the battle of Badr in 2/624, mosque), and khnqh (“convent” or hostel). reportedly released seventy Meccan pris- The personal relationship between the oners, who were literate, on the condition teacher (muallim, mudarris, shaykh) or, for that each of them teach ten Muslim chil- mystics, the spiritual leader (murshid) and dren from Medina how to read and write his pupil or student (tilmdh, mutaallim, lib) (see, for example, Ibn anbal, Musnad or disciple (murd) was considered a guar- iv, 92 (no. 2216); Ibn Sad, abaqt ii, 20). antee of the authenticity of the transmitted knowledge. The concept of close, personal 3. Informal and contact between teacher and student as a institutionalised way of safeguarding the transmission of higher learning religious knowledge is, to this day, a basic In the frst three centuries of Islam, the principle of teaching in the religious disci- transfer of the knowledge needed in the plines in Islam. Yet as early as the frst/ religiously defned disciplines (such as seventh century, teachers and students the study of prophetic traditions, Qurnic were regularly using written notes and exegesis, Islamic history, Islamic law, Ara- collected materials as aide-memoires. From bic language, etc.) primarily took place in the third/ninth century onward, with the assemblies or “sessions” (sing. majlis) and advent of readily available and relatively in classes with a restricted number of inexpensive paper, books and other written students, also known as “study circles” documents became a particularly effective 32 education, general (up to 1500) and regularly-employed medium for the works at his court (Biesterfeldt, Hellenist- preservation and transfer of knowledge in ische Wissenschaften, 9–37; Gutas, Greek Islam (Schoeler, Genesis, 111–26; see also thought; Mavroudi, Greek language, 322). Rosenthal, Knowledge, 76, 93, 240). Important centres of teaching and study arose in Damascus and in 4. The reception of the Syria; in Basra, illa, Karbal, Kufa, Greek, Iranian, and Indian and Najaf in Iraq; in Qum, Mashhad, heritage and Isfahan in Iran; and in Farghna in The period from the third/ninth to what today is Uzbekistan. Important cen- the seventh/thirteenth century was an tres were also established in al-Qayrawn extremely fruitful time for Muslim schol- and Tunis in what today is Tunisia; in Fès ars in both the humanities and natural sci- (Morocco); and in Córdoba and Toledo in ences. Islamic civilisation, which extended al-Andalus, that part of the Iberian Pen- from the Iberian Peninsula to China, was insula under Muslim rule between 92/711 becoming a knowledge society, one char- and 897/1492. acterised by intellectual dynamism and a Richly endowed libraries and special relatively high degree of religious toler- research institutions, famous far beyond ance and academic freedom. One stimulus local boundaries, were established in to Islamic learning in the third/ninth and large numbers. The Bayt al-ikma (“House fourth/tenth centuries whose importance of wisdom”) in Baghdad was the caliphal cannot be overstated was the translation library of the early Abbsids. Originally into Arabic of philosophical and scien- named Khiznat al-ikma (“Treasury of tifc works. These translations included wisdom”) when it was founded by Hrn books of ancient learning, particularly in al-Rashd, it continued to develop and its Greek and Hellenistic forms, as well as prosper under al-Mamn. Storing, pre- works of Persian, Indian, and Babylonian serving, and transmitting knowledge, it origin, and, using these as a base, Mus- provided scholars with a space for sci- lim scholars were able to make signifcant entifc refection and research (Gutas advances in a wide range of felds. Indeed, and Bladel, Bayt al-ikma, 133–6; Janos, these translation activities, mostly carried al-Mamn’s patronage, 441–2, which out by Arabic-speaking Syriac-Christian reconsiders some of Gutas’ fndings). and Iranian scholars, resulted in what can Similarly, the Fimid caliph al-kim be called the Hellenisation of mediaeval (r. 386–411/996–1021) established a Dr Islam. While the Abbsid caliph Hrn al-ilm (“House of knowledge”) in in al-Rashd (r. 170–93/786–809) advanced 395/1005, which was primarily dedicated and made the translation work that had to non-religious sciences (Halm, Fatimids, been started in Umayyad times routine, 71–8). it is primarily the caliph al-Mamn (r. 198–218/813–33) who has been cred- 5. Literary salons ited with sending out emissaries far and Social gatherings, literary discussions, wide in search of ancient scientifc and lit- and scholarly debates were frequent erary texts, which he then had translated events at the Abbsid court and the into Arabic. He sometimes even attended houses of the rich. At the time of the in person the scholarly discussions of these caliph al-Mamn, there were large num- education, general (up to 1500) 33 bers of literary salons where scholars and vate tutors (muaddibn) and their charges littérateurs would assemble to discuss reli- at the court and in the homes of nobility gion, philosophy, literature, and music. and the wealthy,” as Abbott has shown These salons, which hosted ritualised from her studies of Arabic literary papyri meetings for socialising and intellectual from the late third/early tenth century exchange, continued to fourish in Bagh- (Abbott, 6–7, 25–31). Furthermore, schol- dad until the destruction of the city by ars increasingly combined teaching and the Mongols, apart from two brief inter- research, as they initially presented their mezzos during the periods of the caliphs material in their lectures and seminars al-Mutawakkil (r. 232–47/847–61) and before subsequently publishing them. A al-Mutaid (r. 279–89/892–902), who notable example in this regard is the pro- apparently attempted to suppress this lifc exegete and historian Muammad b. kind of unrestricted learning and literary Jarr al-abar (224–310/839–923), who exchange, to some extent at least (, reportedly included in his still authorita- Arabic literary salons; Behzadi, Muslimische tive compilations on Qurnic exegesis Intellektuelle, 291–320). and Islamic history material that he frst presented in lectures before then publish- 6. Religious learning. ing (abar, History, 1:80). Approaches and locations As early as the second/eighth century 6.1. The mosque Muslim scholars were employing a vari- Another development in Islamic reli- ety of approaches and locations for the gious learning relates to the fact that, religious instruction of pupils and stu- alongside the conventional informal dents. A novel approach in schooling is instruction in assemblies and study cir- evident, for example, in the increasing cles at the mosques and scholars’ homes, production and use of textbooks. Grow- schools and colleges emerged as places ing out of the needs of Qurn readers that provided the space and the environ- in the late Umayyad and early Abbsid ment for more professionalised and insti- periods, scholars of Arabic grammar, for tutionalised teaching. instance, began writing textbooks on the These schools often appear to have subject. For example, Mudh al-Harr been hosted by, or been physically iden- (d. 187/803), a Kufan schoolteacher and tical with, the mosque. George Makdisi, grammarian, is recognised as one of the whose ground-breaking work The rise of earliest authors of grammar books used colleges has remained to date the classic in teaching (Abbott, 6–7, 25). His Bas- study of Islamic educational institutions, ran and Kufan contemporaries penned wrote: “[it] is certain . . . that the masjid was diverse lexical and grammatical works the frst type of college in Islam, . . . it was serving the educational and practical endowed, and the income of the endow- needs of pupils, secretaries, copyists, and ment paid the salary of the professor, booksellers. The supply of textbooks on who was usually its imm, or leader in grammar and other topics, both religious prayer. . . . [T]he student benefted in that and secular, “increased steadily to meet he had no tuition to pay; but he had to the demands of teachers (muallimn) in provide for his own lodging and subsis- the mosque schools as well as those of pri- tence” (Makdisi, Rise, 29). 34 education, general (up to 1500)

Early mosques used for professional In 359/970 in Cairo, the Sh Fimid schooling include the Masjid Rasl Allh dynasty established al-Azhar (“The radi- (“The mosque of the Messenger of God”) ant,” or “The blooming”) as a mosque in Medina where the Qurn-reader and for the imm-caliph and his court. Soon transmitter of prophetic traditions Yazd after, in 378/988, the wazr Ibn Killis (d. b. al-Qaq al-Qri is said to have taught 380/991) ordered the erection of a build- before the battle of arra in 63/683, ing right next to al-Azhar for the exclusive waged by the second Umayyad caliph, purpose of teaching, with Islamic law being Yazd b. Muwiya (r. 60–4/680–3), a focus of study. When the Ayybids came against Medina (Ibn Khallikn, Wafayt to power (r. 566–648/1171–1250) al-Azhar 6:274). Other early school mosques were became a Sunn mosque and institution of designated by the names of the scholars higher learning, and has remained so to who taught at them, such as the Masjid this day, coming, over time, to be viewed of Abdallh b. al-Mubrak (d. 181/797), as the perhaps most important religious a well-educated merchant and scholar. university in the Islamic world. Some early school mosques had an adja- cent khn, or “lodge,” a word of Persian 6.2. The kuttb and maktab origin, as a residence for out-of-town stu- Smaller schools in or near mosques, dents (Makdisi, Rise, 21–4; Ahmed, Muslim and sometimes in bookstores or private education, 106). homes, were called kuttb or maktab (lit. “a A particularly famous early school place for people who write,” “place where mosque is the Jmi al-zaitna (“Mosque the art of writing is taught,” “school”; cf. of the olive-tree”) in modern Tunisia, Lane, 7:2591). The mediaeval Arabic which dates from the early second/eighth sources yield little direct information century. It later developed into an impor- about the number, architecture, and cur- tant institution of higher learning in the ricula of these earliest schools for elemen- Maghreb, and is sometimes called the old- tary teaching and the training that led est university in the Islamic world. Like- to higher education. However, glimpses wise, the Jmi al-Qarawiyyn (“Mosque of the enormous educational potential of the people [of al-Qayrawn]”) was of the early Islamic city are provided by founded in 245/859 in Fès, Morocco, by the Baghdad historian and geographer Fima bt. Muammad al-Fihr, the pious al-Yaqb (d. after 292/905); given the daughter of a rich merchant originally fact that every large mosque and book- from al-Qayrawn (Ibn Khaldn, Tarkh, store could potentially have served as a 4:20); initially this was the Friday mosque place of religious instruction—whether for a quarter inhabited mainly by migrant informally or on a more professional families from al-Qayrawn. In the fourth/ basis—al-Yaqb writes that, in the third/ tenth and sixth/twelfth centuries, local ninth century, thirty thousand mosques Berber rulers and the Almoravids (r. 448– were located in a certain quarter (qaa) of 541/1056–1147) signifcantly extended the Baghdad, and there were ffteen thousand Jmi al-Qarawiyyn, and it has played an mosques located on the larger eastern important role in the Maghreb as a centre side of the Abbsid capital. In addition, of religious, cultural, and social education a hundred bookshops (nt al-warrqn) ever since (Brandenburg, Die , 56). were to be found in this part of the city education, general (up to 1500) 35

(Yaqb, Buldn, 27, 35, 42–8; see also had become, by the second half of the Toutah, Contribution, 15). second/eighth century, a key aspect of the Abbsid court during the reign of 6.3. The madrasa Hrn al-Rashd, and increasingly took The institution of higher Islamic learn- place in academic circles as well, espe- ing par excellence is known as the madrasa. cially between (orthodox) Ashar and Literally, the Arabic term madrasa means (rationalist) Mutazil theologians (van “place of study.” The verbal noun tadrs, Ess, Disputationspraxis, 28–31; van Ess, “teaching,” derives from the second form Theologie, 3:31, 199), but also in other reli- of the Arabic verb darrasa, initially meaning gious disciplines such as grammar and lit- “to make someone read,” or “read repeat- erary criticism, as well as in physics and edly,” or “to make him study” in order to medicine (McKinney, 66–81). Debate remember (Lane, 3:871). In a more spe- was now seen as a way of learning, as it cialised sense, darrasa, without a comple- helped to overcome one’s own scholarly ment, also came to sometimes mean “to shortcomings—a piece of advice given to teach law (shara).” In the classical period students by the lexicographer al-Khall b. of Islam, the madrasa was an institution Amad (d. ca. 175/791) (al-Ji, Bayn, for specialised and professional high-level 1:247). But scholarly debate was also used instruction in Islamic law and its auxiliary both as a method of reinforcing knowl- felds of knowledge, and is thus often ren- edge acquired previously and as a didactic dered into English as “college” or “college tool through which scholars and students of law.” The origins of the madrasa seem learned to defend their own position; to have been early- and mid-fourth/tenth this was especially the case in the study century Bukhr and Nshpr, which of law. The renowned jurist al-Shf were at that time signifcant centres of (d. 204/820) is said to have used the religious learning in the eastern regions of method of munara extensively with other Islam. From the ffth/eleventh century, the scholars, including Amad b. anbal institution of the madrasa spread westwards, (d. 241/855), and with his students, as and the ffth/eleventh to eighth/fourteenth portrayed by al-Bayhaq (d. 458/1066; centuries are considered the heyday of the cf. his Manqib, 1:187–219; al-Subk, classical madrasa. abaqt, 1:220, 236–7). Thus, learning through mutual studying (mudhkara) and 6.3.1. Early history disputation (munara, jadal; cf. the scrip- The question of when the frst madra- tural warrant for disputation at Q 16:125) sas appeared is still a matter of debate in gained in importance vis-à-vis the con- contemporary Islamic studies. There are ventional methods of having students three major points of consideration. First, merely listen to lectures (sam) and take with the rapid advances in Islamic cul- down dictation (iml). This is illustrated, ture and civilisation under the Abbsids, for example, by the fact that the famous the manner of scholarly communication adth scholar Ab Muammad al-Drim changed in order to underpin education- (d. 255/869) included in his Sunan (his ally the growth of Arabic-Islamic society. widely recognised compilation of pro- For example, disputation (sing. munara), phetic traditions) an entire chapter enti- a new method of scholarly exchange, tled mudhkarat al-ilm (“Studying through 36 education, general (up to 1500) exchanging knowledge”; al-Drim, Sunan, The earliest known madrasa was the 1:146–51). A particularly famous munara Madrasa-ye Frjak in Bukhr. It was on the relative merits of grammar and destroyed in 325/937 by a great fre in philosophy, which took place in 320/932 the city, as mentioned in the Persian His- between the grammarian Ab Sad tory of Bukhr by Ab Bakr al-Narshakh al-Srf and the logician of the Aristote- (d. 348/959; p. 26). Other early personal lian tradition Ab Bishr Matt b. Ynus, from the frst half of the fourth/ was reported by the man of letters and tenth century are reported to have been philosopher Ab ayyn al-Tawd located in Nshpr, including those (d. 424/1023, cf. his al-Imt, 1:107–29; of Ab l-Wald assn b. Muammad also Mez, Renaissance, 179–80, and Sez- al-Qurash (d. 349/960), built near his gin, Geschichte, 1:58–62, for technical terms house; Ab l-asan Al b. al-asan used in religious education). As mosques al-ibgh (d. 350/961), who is said to have were generally unsuitable for such interac- issued fatws there following the death tive instruction and scholarly debate, sepa- of his father; and of Amad b. Isq b. rate buildings for the exclusive purpose of Ayyb al-ibgh (d. 342/953–4), called schooling, the madrasas, came to be erected, the Dr al-sunna, and which was built at though often in close proximity to mosques. the entrance of the Friday Mosque (Halm, Secondly, a much more practical rea- Die Anfänge, 438). Other madrasas in son for the emergence and spread of the Nshpr were established for Ab Isq madrasa pertains to the fact that students, al-Isfaryn (or al-Isfarn, d. 418/1027) who often travelled far and wide “in and Ab Bakr b. al-Frak (d. 406/1015), search of knowledge,” needed somewhere two distinguished Ashar theologians to live after attaching themselves to a and Shf jurists of the time. While certain scholar for a long period of time. al-Isfaryn’s madrasa was constructed in The older madrasas offered space for both a manner not previously seen in Nshpr teaching and lodging, and one specifc (a piece of information that thus confrms function was to serve as hostels for the ahl the existence of other madrasas in the al-ilm, or “people of knowledge” (Halm, city; buniya lah al-madrasa allat lam yubna Die Anfänge, 442–3). As such, it was not qablah bi-Nsbr mithluh), Ibn al-Frak’s uncommon for a madrasa to be founded at was erected beside the khnqh of the f the tomb, burial ground, or shrine (qabr/ al-Bshan (d. 348/959), as reported maqbar, mashhad) of a famous martyr, by the Nshpr historian and teacher scholar, or ancestor, or near a mosque or Ab Abdallh al-kim, known as Ibn a scholar’s home. al-Bayyi (d. 405/1014; al-Subk, abaqt, Thirdly, teaching at these earliest 3:111, 137). Likewise, the Shf jurist madrasas was rather informal. There was Amad b. Muammad b. Ubaydallh no distinct curriculum, no salaried teach- Ab Bakr al-Bust (d. 429/1037), expressly ing personnel, and no preference for any identifed in the sources as a leading one of the many Sunn law schools (later teacher (mudarris) and disputant (munir) reduced to four) over the others. The in Nshpr, built a madrasa at the gate scholar who founded a madrasa or taught of his house and gave it an endowment at it instructed the students in his own (al-Subk, abaqt, 3:33, 111, 137; Mez, scholarly interests and specialisation. Renaissance, 180). education, general (up to 1500) 37

The madrasa of the Shf scholar al-Shirz (d. 476/1083). He held this Ibn ibbn al-Bust (d. 354/965) was position for 16 years, the longest tenure originally a khnqh, a place for spiritual for which it was held during this period. retreat, which he founded and where The Nimiyya’s most famous teacher he taught between 948–51 when visit- was Ab mid al-Ghazl (d. 505/1111), ing Nshpr for the second time. After an authoritative theologian, jurist, and his death it was turned into a madrasa mystic. He was known to lecture to more and the students were provided with sti- than 300 students at a time and was its pends from the endowment of its founder rector for many years (Makdisi, Institu- (al-Subk, abaqt, 2:131). In Baghdad, tions, 31–48; Shalaby, History, 205–22). the madrasa of the leading Twelver Sh The Mustaniriyya was another famous theologian and jurist al-Shaykh al-Mufd institution of higher learning in Baghdad. (d. 413/1022) was an example of an early Its foundations were laid in 625/1227 on Sh madrasa, one whose designation was the instructions of the Abbsid caliph linked to the scholar who founded and al-Mustanir bi-llh (r. 623–40/1226–42). taught at it (Stewart, Portrayal, 217; for When the building was completed in scholars from the mid-fourth/tenth to the 631/1234, the caliph appointed his wazr, sixth/twelfth century who taught at madra- Muayyad al-Dn Ab lib Muammad sas in the eastern regions of the Islamic b. Aqam, as the frst ustdh al-dr, or rec- world see Nouri, 192, 208 and 626–30). tor of the college. The building consisted of two stories, with four rectangular halls 6.3.2. The classical madrasa (sing. wn) running up to the full height of The largest and most widely known both levels. Each of these wns was dedi- institution of higher learning in classi- cated to the use of one of the four Sunn cal Islam was the Nimiyya in Bagh- law schools: Shfs, anafs, anbals, dad, built in 459/1067. Unlike the early, and Mliks, thus making the Mustaniriyya personal madrasas of individual scholars, the frst “universal madrasa.” While the the Nimiyya was founded by a repre- traces of many mediaeval institutions sentative of the state, the Saljq regent of higher learning have faded away, the and wazr Nim al-Mulk (d. 485/1092). building of the Mustaniriyya survived the Nim al-Mulk was born in Nshpr Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 656/1258 and may very well have been inspired by and has been restored (for the Mustaniriyya the madrasas he had seen there. With his see Schmid, Die Madrasa; colleges of dif- establishment of the Nimiyya, however, ferent types, including all four Sunn law the development of the madrasa reached schools, are recorded in Makdisi, Muslim a new level, as academic life at these Institutions, 17–29; for Nshpr madrasas colleges now became professionalised see Bulliet, Patricians, 249–55). and institutionalised. Thus, the madrasa supplemented, but never supplanted, the 6.3.3. Regional spread mosque as an educational institution, and Taking the Nimiyya in Baghdad as a “students and teachers moved freely from model, Sunn institutions of higher learn- one to the other according to their incli- ing were soon also established in s, nations or needs” (Tibawi, Origin, 225). Basra, Isfahan, Herat, Balkh, and Merv. At the Nimiyya, the frst chair of Shf Several madrasas were built in Anatolia by jurisprudence was given to Ab Isq the Saljq sultans (r. 469–706/1077–1307), 38 education, general (up to 1500) and in Syria, , and Egypt by Sh madrasas prospered in Iran under Nr al-Dn Mamd Zang (r. 541–69/ the afavid dynasty (907–1148/1501– 1146–74) and by Sal al-Dn (“,” 1736) and served as a counterweight to the r. 567–89/1171–93), the founder of the growing Sunn infuence in the realm of Ayybid dynasty, as well as by that dynas- education elsewhere in the Islamic world. ty’s successors, the Mamlks. Remarkable examples are those established in Konya, 6.3.4. Characteristics Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo (cf. Bran- Educationally, the classical madrasa denburg, Die Madrasa, 23–54). was distinguished by its specialised cur- In North Africa and Islamic Spain reli- riculum, which focused on Islamic law gious learning continued to take place pri- and ancillary subjects such as the Qurn marily in mosques, kuttb, and the homes and adth, the Arabic language and, by of teachers until around the middle of the no means the least important, logic. The sixth/twelfth century, when the Almohad latter two were deemed indispensable for dynasty was founded. In these regions the study of law and religion. Its institu- the Almohad ruler Yaqb al-Manr tional educational goals were the certif- (r. 580–95/1184–99) is credited with hav- cation of teachers and students, and the ing built a madrasa north of the Great preparation of personnel for the caliphal Mosque of Sal (Salé, in modern Morocco) administration. The course of studies was in 593/1197. Likewise, the Marnid ruler informal and there were no examinations. Yaqb b. Abd al-aqq (r. 656–85/1259– The certifcate from a professor confrm- 86) built madrasas for those in search of ing that a student had successfully com- knowledge. His son, Ab Sad Uthmn pleted the study of a particular text (ijza) b. Yaqb (r. 709–31/1310–31), followed also authorised that student to transmit in his footsteps in 723/1323 when he and teach the text in question (Stewart, had al-Madrasa al-um (“The great col- Doctorate, 45–52). lege”) built in Fès, on the northern side Organisationally, the madrasa included of the Qarawiyyn. This madrasa, one of the “an organized and differentiated student most beautiful in the Maghreb, is known body; a professoriate certifed to teach”; as today as the Madrasat al-arn (“College well as the appointment, tenure, and suc- of the [quarter of the] perfume vendors”). cession of the professor(s) (Chamberlain, Other such institutions followed in Tlem- Knowledge, 70). The institution was headed cen, Tunis, Tripoli, and Grenada, where by a senior shaykh or imm. Political rul- in 750/1349 a large madrasa was built ers supervised appointments, but did not by the Nard ruler Ysuf Ab l-ajjj generally play an active role in hiring the (r. 733–55/1333–54). Academic life and teaching personnel. They did, however, study courses at madrasas in the Maghreb reserve themselves the right to appoint appear to have been generally comparable the head imm-professor. The madrasa’s to those in the eastern parts of the Islamic buildings provided classrooms and living lands, with the notable difference that in quarters for both teachers and students. its Western parts the study of Islamic law Madrasas were maintained by dedicated focused on the foundational texts of the endowments (sing. waqf ) that provided Mlik law school that was predominant fnancial support for faculty and students. in the region (al-Q, al-Madrasa, 703– In social terms, the madrasa was “a pri- 14, 722). vately endowed institution destined for education, general (up to 1500) 39 the public, but [it was so] according to the mediaeval Muslim world with their the wishes of the individual founder who restricted, religiously oriented curriculum, established the institution, and who lim- increasingly came to affect the thematic ited its public character” (Makdisi, Rise, cohesiveness of Islamic learning. This led 300). In other words, the classical madrasa to intellectual conservatism and, among was not a state institution, even though certain scholars, to a disapproval of “secu- representatives of the state often instigated lar” learning, something that would have their founding. Furthermore, studying at a repercussions for the general development madrasa appears to have particularly ben- of Islamic education in the centuries to eftted men who were not part of a city’s come (Makdisi, Rise, 153; Makdisi, Mus- scholarly elite, or were immigrants. By lim Institutions, 14–5; Fück, Die Rolle, attracting individuals from different social 161–84; Berkey, Transmission, 44–94; groups, geographical origins, and edu- Chamberlain, Knowledge, 72–90, 106–7). cational traditions, the classical madrasa helped facilitate both the formation of a 6.3.5. The awza more coherent body of scholars in a given A different kind of higher learning city and the transregional association of institution was the Sh theological semi- scholars in the Islamic empire at large nary known today as the awza or awza (Ephrat, A Learned Society 114–5). ilmiyya, which originally meant “a place Earlier generations of Western scholars of guarding [religious knowledge]” (Lane, (e.g., Goldziher, Vorlesungen, 120) argued 2:668). The awza was a centre of Sh that the madrasa had a political func- learning dedicated to providing education tion as an institution intended primarily in a strictly structured religious environ- to develop the ideological cadres neces- ment. The awza curriculum was rather sary for the revival of Sunn orthodoxy, fexible: instruction focused on Islamic which ended a period of the Sh domi- law and the principles of Islamic jurispru- nance in the eastern regions. This view dence according to Sh doctrines, while was most strongly countered by Makdisi, other topics taught included the history of who stressed that the classical madrasa’s the Sh imms and their traditions, Ara- main purpose was to institutionalise bic grammar and syntax, rhetoric, logic, the teaching of Islamic law—an under- Qurnic exegesis, theology, and some- standing supported by the case studies times philosophy (Halm, The Fatimids, 44; of later scholars (e.g., Berkey, Transmis- Günther, Bildung, 217–8). sion; Chamberlain, Knowledge). While The origins of these scholarly cen- mediaeval madrasas did have a political tres date back to Baghdad and Qum in dimension, the religious scholars (ulam) the third/ninth and fourth/tenth centu- enjoyed relative freedom with respect to ries, a time when internal Twelver Sh the content and mechanisms of knowl- debates took place between rationalist edge transmission and, for the most part, scholars (in Baghdad) and traditional- suffered little interference from those in ists (in Qum) (Newman, Formative period, power (Mottahedeh, Mantle, 231). 12–49, 193–201). The equivalent in Najaf Certainly, the rise of an extensive net- was reportedly founded in the ffth/ work of madrasa colleges, both Sunn and eleventh century, a time at which Ab Sh, especially in the eastern parts of Jafar al-s, known as al-Shaykh al-s 40 education, general (up to 1500)

(d. 460/1067), played a key role in Sh for the most part, solely attended by boys. learning; today he is seen by most Sh Girls were usually educated at home, and Muslims as the founder of the awza in often only in housekeeping (Günther, Bil- Najaf, as it is currently known. Al-s dung, 225; Hirschler, 82–123). moved to the shrine of Al b. Ab lib in Najaf after his house in Baghdad was 8. The concept of adab plundered in 449/1057 following the The humanistic characteristics and Sunn Saljqs’ takeover of the city. His objectives of classical Islamic education are notes (daftir) and the chair (kurs) he used embodied in the term adab. While in pre- for teaching were taken away (Ibn Jawz Islamic Arabic the word mainly referred [d. 597/1201], al-Muntaam, 26:8) and to the good upbringing (of children) and burned, as reported by the Sh scholar behavioural etiquette, its meaning was pro- al-Allma al-ill (d. 726/1325, Khulat, foundly expanded during the early centu- 249) and the Sunn historian al-Dhahab ries of Islam. Primarily between the third/ (d. 748/1348, Siyar 18:335). In Najaf, ninth and ffth/eleventh centuries, adab al- began teaching again and laid came to mean intellectual education, the the foundations for the city to become an knowledge required for a certain profes- important centre of Sh learning. sion, and blameless moral behaviour and refned manners. From the third/ninth 7. Elementary education century at the latest, adab also denoted Generally, the elementary education of an important category of Arabic writing children from the age of six or seven years with the dual purpose of both instructing took place in primary or Qurn schools and entertaining the reader, a concept (sing. kuttb or maktab). Classes were held for which the term “belles-lettres” pro- in either a mosque’s atrium or a sheltered vides a close approximation. Accordingly, place suitable for teaching that was in or the expression db al-mulk (“the rules of near the teacher’s home. The curriculum conduct for kings [and princes]”) refers to in these elementary schools consisted of the “mirrors for princes” literary genre, a certain mandatory subjects, including cor- range of strongly didactic texts written in rect recitation and memorisation of the Arabic, Persian, and various Turkic lan- Qurn, or at least certain passages of it, guages. Particularly famous works of this reading and writing, and religious norms type include the collection of fables Kalla and rules for good behaviour as duties to wa-Dimna (“Kalila and Dimna”) and the God, as the Tunisian jurist Muammad Kitb al-adab al-aghr (“The concise book b. Sann (d. 256/870) specifed for the of good manners”) by Ibn al-Muqaffa elementary schools in the third/ninth cen- (d. ca. 139/756), as well as the works tury (Günther, Advice, 95–110). Pupils entitled Naat al-mulk (“Advice for were also instructed in writing, arithmetic, kings”) by or attributed to al-Ghazl, Ab and the fundamentals of the Arabic lan- l-asan al-Mward (d. 450/1058), and guage and grammar. The study of Arabic Abd al-Malik b. Muammad al-Thalib poetry and proverbs, as well as historical (d. 430/1038), as well as Kanz al-mulk f reports and the legends of the ancient kayfyyat al-sulk (“The treasure of princes Arabs was, however, only optional. Ele- about the fashion of behaviour”) by Sib mentary schools in mediaeval Islam were, b. al-Jawz (d. 654/1256) (Bosworth, Mir- education, general (up to 1500) 41 rors, 165–7; Zakeri, Persian wisdom, 1:xi– The frst proper pedagogical manual in xii, 326–38; Marzolph, Migration, 175–8). Islam was a handbook for teachers compiled by Muammad b. Sann (d. 256/870), 9. Pedagogical thought in a Mlik jurist from al-Qayrawn. Under classical Islam the title db al-muallimn (“Rules of con- The earliest Muslim treatise with an duct for teachers”), Ibn Sann provides explicitly pedagogical approach was the elementary school teachers with legal and Kitb al-lim wa-l-mutaallim (“The book practical advice on various aspects of of the one who knows and the one who teaching, such as the hiring and paying wants to know”). This work has tradi- of teachers, how to organise lessons and tionally been ascribed to the Kufan jurist the curriculum, how to work with students and theologian Ab anfa al-Numn b. in class, the permissibility of punishment, Thbit (d. 150/767), the eponym of the the required classroom equipment and largest of the four Sunn schools of law. teaching materials, and on examinations However, this popular work was apparently and graduation (Günther, Be masters, written by one of his students, Ab Muqtil 369–71). al-Samarqand (d. 208/823; cf. Schacht, In his Kitb al-muallimn (“The book Murci’ite treatise, 96–117; Rudolph, of teachers”), the philosophical theolo- al-Mturd, 44–53). In the Socratic man- gian and littérateur Amr b. Bar al-Ji ner, the treatise consists of the quaestiones (d. 255/868–9) highlights the importance a disciple asks his master and the detailed of instructing students in the techniques responsa the master offers. Although nei- of logical argumentation and deduction, ther Ab Hanfa nor al-Samarqand are as well as in good written expression. mentioned in the text by name, later Mus- The reading of books was also explicitly lim scholars identifed them as the two recommended for learning, as it was said around whom the text revolves, and sug- to promote creative thinking (Günther, gested that their conversation took place Advice, 110–26). during a meeting in Mecca. The thematic Jafar b. Manur al-Yaman (f. frst half focus of the book is on Islamic “creeds of the fourth/tenth century), an Isml and advice concerning the way a student author, presented a full-scale dramatic puts questions and a teacher responds” dialogue of spiritual initiation in his Kitb (according to the Ottoman scholar ajj al-lim wa-l-ghulm (“The master and the Khalfa (d. 1068/1657); cf. Schacht, disciple”). Relating to the quest for and Murci’ite treatise, 97). In addition to the gradual achievement of spiritual knowl- fact that this very early text promotes the edge, the author gives instructions in both question-answer pattern as a key method “the proper behavior of those who are of active learning, it is also of pedagogi- seeking the truth (db al-libn) and the cal interest for its admonitions to make ‘ways of proceeding’—through appropriate creative use of reason even in religious action, teaching and belief—of ‘the righ- matters, to always apply cognitive inves- teous,’ of those who are spiritually recep- tigation when attempting to distinguish tive, prepared and suited for those ways truth from falsehood, and that those who (madhhib al-lin)” (Morris, Master, 3). strive for knowledge have an obligation to The philosopher and logician Ab Nar concentrate on the essence of things. al-Frb (d. 339/950), on the other hand, 42 education, general (up to 1500) made a case for covering both “indige- arrogance toward a subject or a teacher, nous” (i.e. Islamic religious subjects based achieve a frm grasp of one discipline on the Qurn and Qurnic exegesis) before moving on to another, and struc- and “foreign” sciences (i.e. those based ture their studies so as to begin with the on Greek philosophy and other “foreign” most important branches of knowledge disciplines) in his I al-ulm (“The enu- frst. Furthermore, students should aspire meration of the sciences”). The idea of to spiritual perfection rather than worldly an integrated curriculum infuenced the fame and fortune. Teachers, on the other studies of philosophers (and physicians), as hand, are advised by al-Ghazl to be they generally followed this approach in empathetic to their students and to treat their informal study and discussion circles. them as if they were their own children. However, it failed to become established Teachers should imitate the example set in formalised higher education in Islam. by the prophet Muammad in teaching The polymath Ab Al b. Sn (Avicenna, without pay. They must never withhold d. 428/1037), in turn, was primarily inter- good advice from a student, must moti- ested in the education of children; in his vate learners with friendly guidance rather great al-Qnn f l-ibb (“The canon of than discouraging them with direct criti- medicine”) he asserted, for example, that cism, and should facilitate success in, and a stable emotional environment and the enjoyment of, learning (Günther, Prin- requisite protection of a child’s physical ciples, 82–4). and psychological development are essen- Although not an author of a peda- tial for successful learning and teaching gogical manual per se, the Andalus-Arab (Ibn Sn, Qnn, 68–9, 379; Günther, Be philosopher and physician Ibn Rushd masters, 376–80). (, d. 595/1198), in his famous Ab mid al-Ghazl is rightly con- Fal al-maql (“The decisive treatise”), sidered the principal architect of classical makes important statements about edu- Islamic education. He accepted Greek cational theory and practice. The core of logic as a neutral means of learning and these is the idea that the pursuit of philos- recommended that students of religion- ophy is a religious duty for the intellectual related subjects, including theology and elite, while for the masses religion pro- jurisprudence, learn to understand and vides instruction in basic truths. However, apply it. Al-Ghazl’s wealth of experi- Ibn Rushd saw logic as the main path to ence in teaching is refected in his many knowledge, with the intellect as its vehicle. treatises on the role of knowledge and of Burhn al-Dn al-Zarnj (d. frst half of teaching and learning. In what is perhaps seventh/thirteenth century), in his widely his most important book, Iy ulm al-dn read Talm al-mutaallim arq al-taallum (“The revival of the religious sciences”), (“Instructing the learner in the method al-Ghazl includes several lengthy chap- of learning”), offers detailed advice on ters advising learners to begin by cleans- the study of theology, for example with ing their souls of bad behaviour and respect to content, technique (repetition reprehensible qualities in order to make and memorisation had a prominent role), themselves worthy of receiving knowl- and the importance of mutual respect edge. They should concentrate fully and between teachers and students. Like many completely on their studies, show no of his contemporaries, and later scholars education, general (up to 1500) 43 as well, he stressed the authority of knowl- knowledge of natural phenomena, saying edge that had already been ascertained. it is essential if one is to infuence the nat- Ibn Jama (d. 733/1333), a Shf q ural environment, and, contrasting it with from Egypt, wrote one of the best-known ilm al-umrn (the “knowledge of civilisa- manuals on the contents and methods of tion”), an area of particular interest to Islamic learning. While he emphasises the him. Furthermore, within the framework central role of the Qurn and adth as of his Muqaddima, Ibn Khaldn offers com- primary sources of knowledge, Ibn Jama prehensive treatises on certain professions also strongly promotes the idea of books and trades and how they should be learnt and wide reading as indispensable tools and practised; on diverse areas of knowl- for learning. Furthermore, teachers are edge and methods of teaching; and on the advised to adapt their instruction to the various sciences, from the intellectual and intellectual level and physical capacities of literary disciplines to dream interpretation the student, and should motivate students, and even magic (Ibn Khaldn, Muqad- facilitate learning as much as possible, and dimah, 2:309–463 and 3; Black, History, constantly evaluate the students’ progress. 165–82; for selected passages on the edu- The latter, in turn, should be sincere in cational thought of this author and other their desire to learn. They should devote classical Muslim writers, see Cook, Classi- their youth to the pursuit of knowledge cal foundations). and divide their nights and days so as to learn most effectively: memorisation in the 10. Female education early morning, research at dawn, writing Most mediaeval Islamic texts on edu- around midday, and study and discussion cation refer exclusively to male students. in the evening. Student access to sources Certain historical and biographical that might contradict a teacher’s position, sources, however, offer data suggesting however, should be denied (Ibn Jama, that girls and women were not completely The memoir, 49–57; Rosenthal, Technique, excluded from elementary or higher edu- 7–19; Günther, Principles, 86–8). cation and that their edifcation was not The historian Ibn Khaldn (d. 808/ limited to moral education within the 1406), in his renowned Muqaddima (“Pro- family. These sources also speak of girls legomena”), identifes three types of and young women attending Qurn theoretical and practical knowledge: a) schools together with boys, for example. knowledge of the essences, which leads Also, ijzas or certifcates of authorisa- to an understanding of the reality behind tion for the transmission of texts, used phenomena; b) knowledge of the natural as lecture notes in scholarly assemblies, world and human culture, which enables sometimes include the names of women people to order their lives and to under- students. Furthermore, there is strong evi- stand and control the world in which dence in Arabic sources, for example, that they live; and c) moral knowledge, which women were instrumental to the general relates to the human capacities of thinking educational culture in pre-modern Islam, and gathering experience. Ibn Khaldn as they took part in Qurnic exegesis and emphasises the importance of experience, taught prophetic traditions, as reported social competence, and the ability to col- by Muy l-Dn al-Nawaw (676/1277), laborate with others. He also refects on who devoted a section in his biographical 44 education, general (up to 1500) dictionary Kitb tahdhb al-asm [wa-l- and today live mainly in Oman and parts lught] (“Emendation of names [of people] of North Africa, have their own (non-Sunn and expressions [mentioned in certain and non-Sh) legal doctrine. Accord- earlier works]”) to the educational activi- ing to this tradition, they were the frst ties of famous women. Likewise, women to begin making knowledge available to composed fne poetry and worked exten- the general population as well as the elite. sively as copyists, musicians, singers, and, This universalistic view of knowledge, as not least, mystics and spiritual guides, Ibs understand it, favours proselytising as Ibn ajar al-Asqaln (d. 852/1449) through education rather than through suggests in his biographical dictionary al- (military) force. This may also be the rea- Durar al-kmina f ayn al-mia al-thmina son why from the ffth/eleventh century (“The hidden pearls among the eminent onwards, the Ibis began modifying not fgures of the eighth [/fourteenth] cen- only their social but also their educational tury”). Wealthy women, or those belong- structures to guard against assimilation to ing to scholarly families, also acted as other Muslim communities (Schwartz, 66, patrons of learning, and several madrasas 72–4, 95i). were founded by royal women (see also Toutah, Contribution, 78–83; Geissinger, 12. Ideals of education and Gender, 20–2, 32; and Marín, Writing literacy the feminine, on the opportunities for and In conclusion, it must be stressed that limits to female education in Islam). in classical Islam the acquisition of intel- lectual and practical knowledge, along 11. The role of knowledge with the ideal of striving for education among Zayds, Ismls, and throughout one’s lifetime, are inseparably Ibs and profoundly connected with both the The pursuit of knowledge is central to religious and the ethical tenets expressed the identity of several Muslim religious in the Qurn and adth. This intercon- communities, in particular the Zayds, nectedness of faith, learning, and ethical Ismls, and Ibs. For the Zaydis, for aspiration defnes the responsibility of example, principally located in Yemen humans for their actions both as individu- since the third/ninth century, it is impor- als and as members of a community or tant that their religious and political society, and eventually determines each leaders have outstanding intellectual and person’s place in this world and the next. ethical qualifcations (Haykel, 7). To the While these ideas of classical Islamic Ismls knowledge and wisdom are gifts learning primarily refect theoretical from God, revealed to the people through considerations, they also had an impact the prophets. They instructed the great on the relatively high level of education majority of the people in the obvious, among the elites, including high literacy “exoteric” (hir) meaning of the revela- rates among administrators, merchants, tion, while the “esoteric” (bin) meaning representatives of the government, and was taught only to a small elite by certain scholars. The numerous libraries (and divinely authorised agents (Halm, Fatimids, bibliophiles) evidenced in the mediaeval 17–22, 28–9). The Ibs, who trace their Arabic, Persian, and Turkish sources, as history back to the earliest days of Islam well as the large number of manuscripts, education, general (up to 1500) 45 both religious and non-religious, that have involves—for Muslims at least—a diverse been preserved from the classical time of and diffuse picture, rather than a sharp Islam, also speak in this regard. More- distinction between those who could and over, the hundreds of bookstores reported could not read (Berkey, Popular preaching, by mediaeval Muslim historians in their 10), and further case studies, based on the descriptions of the larger cities of classi- rich textual traditions as well as aspects of cal Islam must have had their frequent material culture, are needed to uncover customers (Grohmann, Libraries, 317–9), reliable information on the practical sides while the large number of Arabic texts of of Islamic education in the period up to that period that explicitly deal with both 1500 CE. basic and higher education also signify that education had become available on a broader scale and was a dominant cul- Bibliography tural concern. Nabia Abbott, Studies in Arabic literary papyri III. Language and literature, Chicago, London However, while mediaevalists have 1972; Ab ayyn al-Tawd, al-Imt wa-l- intensively studied European sources on munasa, ed. 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al-tawl, eds. dil Amad Abd al-Wujd the two kinds of learning overlapped and and Al Muammad Muawwad, Riyadh contested with each other. For example, 1418/1998; al-Zarnj, Instruction of the stu- dent. The method of learning, trans. with an we have Minhj-i Sirj Jzjn, a seventh/ introduction by G.E. von Grunebaum and thirteenth-century scholar and educator, Theodora M. Abel, New York 1947 (repr. “a person who was exceptional but by no Chicago 2001). means unique in spanning the gap between Sebastian Günther a scholastic, textually grounded reading of Islam (an alim, singular; ulama, plural) and an esoteric, emotionally inspired, mysti- cally charged sensibility of the revealed Education in the Indian religion” (S. Kumar, Transitions, 205.) subcontinent In the frst three centuries of Islamic rule in South Asia under the Delhi Sultan- Islamic education (the intellectual ate, the burden of educational work was and cultural formation of an individual) divided between the fs and the ulam. in the Indian subcontinent has been f preceptors could be dominant fgures polymorphous and fuid since its introduc- in a city or a district, teaching, mediat- tion a millenium ago. A major change in ing, defning knowledge, and educating the millennia-old educational systems of into Islam. While many of the prs (Pers., South Asia coincided with the beginning spiritual masters, lit., old) and teachers of of Islamic rule in the subcontinent during the predominant f orders in India, the the ffth/eleventh century. North Indian Chishts and the Naqshbands, worked for Islamic dynasties in power over the next a stricter code of allegiance to religious eight centuries sought hegemonic political law and used texts in various ways, they power partly through the production and did emphasise spiritual truths—intuitive reproduction of Islamic values through or mystical knowledge—and for this they education. “Education” comprises sev- often used local languages, crossing the eral processes: socialisation into Islamic divide between popular and elite, classi- mores, induction of disciples and future cal and folk (the Chishtiyya was founded pedagogues, the production of knowledge, in Chisht, a small town near Herat, in and the burgeoning of schools and teach- about 318/930 by Ab Isq Shm, the ers exercising power in competition and “Syrian,” d. 328/940, and introduced in cooperation with each other. The madrasa India by Mun al-Dn Sijz, d. 627/1230; (loosely, school) was introduced frst on the Naqshbandiyya, whose eponymous the subcontinent as a place of informal founder Bah al-Dn Naqshband, died in instruction perhaps by Arab traders in Bukhr in 791/1389, is now widespread; the fourth-sixth/tenth-twelfth centu- it began to gain a foothold in India in ries. Its curriculum came to include the the early tenth/sixteenth century). We Qurn, adth, sra (prophetic biography), are speaking of several centuries, many fqh ( jurisprudence), grammar, logic, and places, and leaders with diverse methods, rhetoric, along with the Arabic language. all of which makes generalisation diffcult. It was never, however, the only legiti- The ulam in the premodern period mate source of teaching. The transmis- were also a heterogeneous group, thus sion of ideas and knowledge was carried mirroring the very defnition of ilm (signif- on equally, or even more, by fs, and cant “knowledge”), a concept deliberately