In Medieval Damascus Author(S): Joan E. Gilbert Source: Studia Islamica, No

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Institutionalization of Muslim Scholarship and Professionalization of the 'Ulamā' in Medieval Damascus Author(s): Joan E. Gilbert Source: Studia Islamica, No. 52, (1980), pp. 105-134 Published by: Maisonneuve & Larose Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595364 Accessed: 18/06/2008 12:19

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http://www.jstor.org INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP AND PROFESSIONAITZATION OF THE 'ULAMA' IN MEDIEVALDAMASCUS

Introduction

Following the Islamic conquests, companions of Muhammad (sahaba) left Mecca and Medina. As Muslims spread across the world from Spain to Central Asia, scholars eager to keep alive Muhammad's teachings traveled back and forth through Islamic lands to discuss religious questions, to exchange information, and to teach. The first generation of scholars of Islam after the companions of Muhammad are designated followers (tabi'iin), subsequent generations are called 'ulama'. Scholars is the essential meaning of the word 'ulamd'. As generations of Muslims sought to order society on the basis of the principles of Islam, the term 'ulamd' came to connote scholars of religion and religious law; and 'ulama' became a collective word referring to all manner of scholars of religion, including the judges who administered the law of Islam, professors of Islamic law, hadlth transmitters, imams, preachers, legal advisers, sufts, and private individuals with some proficiency in religious matters. In each episode of Islamic history, 'ulama' have been a general 106 J. E. GILBERT body of scholars of religion who filled one or more of the fore- going specific religious roles. Yet, when scholars of religion are considered in the context of the whole of Islamic society, the general term 'ulama' fails in precision, for the broader social roles of the 'ulama' have varied over the centuries. During the course of Islamic history 'ulamd' have been both proponents of social change and preventers of it. In diverse times and places 'ulamd' have either shunned or accepted state appointments. In the early centuries of Islam private, independent scholars representing all levels of society informally associated with one another. In the later Islamic centuries 'ulamd' served as salaried bureaucrats and permitted the incorporation of their scholarly organization into the state. The present article concentrates on the 'ulama' of medieval Damascus between the years 468/1076 and 658/1260. Throughout this period interaction between the 'ulama' and the ruling families of Damascus increasingly promoted the endowment of religious establishments, the institutionalization of Muslim scholarship, and the professionalization of the 'ulamd'-developments which mark a significant change in Islamic social structure and Muslim community life. During two separate epochs of Islamic history Damascus served as a capital city and as the source of political, social, cultural, and intellectual trends that influenced the entire Islamic world. The first such era lasted approximately one hundred years, from the mid-seventh to the mid-eighth century. The second period of special importance for Damascus extended through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In this period Turkish and Kurdish rulers replaced local militias with imperial troops for external defence and with a police force for internal control. The city enjoyed growing agricultural and manu- facturing activity and increased trade. Expansion of the religious establishment was part of the renaissance of twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus. Although 'ulama' were active in Damascus throughout previous centuries, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they enjoyed unprecedented opportunities. Scores of new religious institutions were established, large numbers of salaried posts INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 107 for teachers and stipends for students became available, and increasing numbers of religious scholars from around the Islamic world came to study, many to settle, in Damascus.

The International System of Scholarship

Before the crystallization of Muslim scholarship in twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus, and from earliest Muslim times, companions of Muhammad, tabi'iin, and subsequent generations of 'ulamd' journeyed throughout the Islamic territories to pursue and disseminate religious knowledge. This tradition of travel in search of learning continued to dominate the educational and career patterns of later 'ulama'. As conquest and conversion brought diverse ethnic and linguistic groups into the original Arabo-Islamic empire, Muslim scholars from areas as distant as Spain, North Africa, and Central Asia sought personal communication with one another. A network of scholarly contacts began to extend across the Islamic world. Muslim scholars traveled as participants in a host of professional and social as well as religious practices that grew up around the exchange of religious information. These organized pursuits constituted an international system of Muslim learning. Scholars of religion in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries typically studied first in their native city and began to travel, usually to several places, in order to continue their education. When they had accumulated enough knowledge and the documents certifying proficiency, they looked for positions either at home or abroad. Wherever they lived they both taught and carried forward their education, profitting from both resident and traveling 'ulamd'. Scholars sought to gain students and to increase their reputation, for future employment might depend upon popularity and fame. Contemporaries and biographers did not hesitate to compare one scholar with another, and the numbers of students and sizes of crowds in attendance were significant ingredients in a scholarly reputation. In every generation two or three scholars were acknowledged as outstanding, and others went 108 J. E. GILBERT

to meet and study with these men. The biographies of contemporary 'ulama' show that they traveled to the same towns and that they nearly always studied with the same famous individuals. Religion was the basis of the system of international scholarship and the overriding motivation for itinerant scholars. For example, persons became muhaddiths for the sake of the religious experience of being part of a continuous chain of transmitters extending back to Muhammad. Scholars directed their travels to study with the most noted men of their generation in order to insure their place in chains of authorities stretching into the past and, through their own students, into the future. They were in their own estimation living links between generations of scholars. (1) Pilgrimage and traveling to gain religious knowledge were frequently combined. Essential to the functioning of the international scholarly system were personal contacts. Social connections integrating the system included acquaintance with influential scholars at home and around the Islamic world, contact with other students engaged in similar careers, and the establishment of marriage alliances. Some students studied with many professors; others stayed with a single professor for years, holding a job or two under him and acting as his companion or junior colleague. In some cases a student studied with only one individual, followed his professor from place to place, and settled himself in the new locale to which his teacher had migrated. A scholar might wed the daughter of a native-born or immigrant professor in his home town or in the course of his travels, and a new professor in town might marry into an established scholarly family. Thus, inter-city marriage alliances began to exist, further reinforcing the international association of scholars. (2)

(1) Ibn Khallikan, Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, trans. by Mac Guckin de Slane, 4 vols. (Paris, 1843-1871; reprinted Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1970), II, pp. 387-388. (2) Ibn Rajab, Kitdb al-Dhayl 'ald Tabaqdt al-Hanabila, ed. by Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi, 2 vols. (Cairo: Al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya, 1952-1953), II, pp. 294, 296, developed a formula for describing the scholar that studied, married, and had children abroad: sami'a bihd, tafaqqaha bihd, tazawwaja bihd, wa wulida lahu. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 109

The strength of scholarly relationships explains how persons could arrive alone or with a single companion (often father and son or two brothers) and be accepted, cared for, and employed in towns around the Islamic world. 'Ulama' corresponded about political events as well as about religious matters and kept their colleagues in other parts of the Islamic world informed about important military and political events occurring in their region. When a famous scholar died, people throughout the Islamic world mourned him. Aspiring students who came from scholarly families might call upon colleagues of their relatives for assistance in the course of their travels; others struck out on their own. Traveling in order to spread a particular religious doctrine or viewpoint was additional motivation for participation in the international scholarly system. New generations of scholars continually restarted the process of traveling for education, increased reputation, job opportunities, and social, professional, and family ties. In addition to religious fulfillment, the international system of scholarship resulted in strong social bonds and a coherent, satisfying life of travel, adventure, and learning. The international scholarly system provided the mechanism for standardization of portions of Islamic education, society, and culture. In an environment where scholars in Khurasan and Spain read books by muhaddiths of Iraq, Damascenes filled law professorships in Baghdad, and scholars from all over the Islamic world were journeying to meet and study with one another, the result was the creation of a strong, cosmopolitan, influential elite. The international system of scholarship also contributed to the homogeneity of medieval Islamic secular literature and poetry, for almost without exception the 'ulamd' were poets and belletrists; sometimes they were historians; and they exchanged literary information as well as religious knowledge when they met. Three of the most famous muhaddith-historians of medieval Islam, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn 'Asakir, and al-Sam'ani, were the compilers of the great biographical dictionaries of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and their careers and writings illustrate the far-reaching connections among 'ulama' and the 110 J. E. GILBERT workings of the international system of scholarship. Al- Khat.ib al-Baghdadi (392/1001-463/1070) was a celebrated muhaddith from Baghdad, Ibn 'Asakir (499/1105-571/1175) was a distinguished legal scholar and muhaddith and member of a prominent Damascene family of 'ulama', and al-Sam'ani (506/ 1112-562/1167) was a noted scholar from Marv. All three scholars resided in or traveled to Syria, Iraq, and Khurasan, and Ibn 'Asakir journeyed to Marv, where he met al-Sam'ani. Al-KhatIb al-Baghdadi visited Damascus twice, writing and teaching his works, from 444/1052 to 445/1053 on his way to Mecca and for eight years between 451/1059 and 459/1066. (1) Al-Khatib al-Baghdad!'s major work was the Ta'rlkh Baghdad, a combination city description and alphabetical biographical dictionary. The form in which al-Baghdadi put his work was his original contribution to the historiography of Islam. (2) Although al-Baghdadi died thirty years before Ibn 'Asakir was born, the teachers of Ibn 'Asakir were scholars who studied with al-Baghdadi while he was in Damascus. They also had traveled to Baghdad and studied al-Baghdadi's work with al-Baghdadi's colleagues and students, for Ta'rTkh Baghdad enjoyed immediate renown. Ibn 'Asakir composed Ta'rikh Madlnat Dimashq in the same format. In 535/1140 al-Sam'ani came to Damascus. He renewed his acquaintance with Ibn 'Asakir, whom he had met when Ibn 'Asakir was traveling in Khurasan. After leaving Damascus, al-Sam'anI sent Ibn 'Asakir a book of his fond memories of Damascus. Ibn 'Asakir replied in poetry. (3) Al-Sam'ani wrote Ta'rzkh Marw, as well as a continuation of al-Khatib al-BaghdadI's Ta'rTkhBaghdad. (4)

(1) Ibn 'Asakir, Tahdhfb al-Ta'rikh al-Kabir (Ta'rfkh Madinat Dimashq), ed. by 'Abd al-Qadir b. Badran and Ahmad 'Ubayd, 7 vols. (Damascus: Rawdat al-Sham, 1911-1932), I, pp. 398-401; Ibn Khallikbn, I, pp. 75-76; al-Subki, Tabaqdt al-Shfi'iyya al-Kubra, ed. by Muhammad al-Tannahi and 'Abd al-Fattah al-Halu, 8 vols. (Cairo: 'Isa al-BBbi al-Halabi, 1964-1971?), IV, pp. 29-39; al-Dhahabi, Al- 'Ibar fE khabar man ghabar, ed. by Salah al-Din al-Munajjid and Fu'ad Sayyid, 5 vols. (Kuwait: Printing and Publishing Department, Government of Kuwait, 1960-1966), III, p. 253. (2) Jacob Lassner, The Topography of Baghdad in the Early Middle Ages: Texts and Studies (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1970), pp. 34-36. (3) Al-Subki, VII, p. 222. (4) Nikita Elisseeff feels that al-Sam'fni, who knew and admired the Ta'rfkh INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 11

Thus, scholars around the eleventh and twelfth-century Islamic world journeyed great distances to meet one another, drew on the same scholarly sources, and wrote in similar formats. The biographical histories of Baghdad, Damascus, and Mary, as well as other works written by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn 'Asikir, al-Sam'ini, and others, are not merely expressions of local pride but demonstrations of the involvement of each of these cities, and many others, in worldwide scholarly developments. Damascus was one of the important way-stations in an interchange of scholars and ideas traveling east and west, and during the late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries a variety of establishments appeared in the city that institutionalized the international system of scholarship.

The 'Ulama' of Medieval Damascus

The 'ulama' residing in or passing through medieval Damascus participated in the international system of Muslim scholarship. Collection and analysis of all references to 'ulamd' in works by thirteen medieval Muslim authors yields data on over one thousand scholars present in late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth-century Damascus. (1) Between 468/

Baghddd, might have encouraged Ibn 'Asakir to write a similar work. Ibn 'AsBkir, La Description de Damas d'Ibn 'Asdkir (historien mort d Damas en 571/1176), trans. by Nikita Eliss6eff (Damascus: Institut Frangais de Damas, 1959), p. xxxvii. (1) Ibn al-Qalanisi, Damas de 1075 a 1154: Traduction annotee d'un fragment de l'Histoire de Damas d'Ibn al-Qaldnisi, trans. by Roger Le Tourneau (Damascus: Institut Frangais de Damas, 1952) and History of Damascus, 363-555 A. H. by Ibn al-Qaldnisi from the Bodleian MS Hunt. 125, ed. by H. F. Amedroz (Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1908). Ibn 'Asakir, La Description de Damas d'Ibn 'Asdkir, Tahdhib al-Ta'rikh al-Kablr (Ta'rikh Madinat Dimashq), and Ta'rikh Madinat Dimashq, ed. by Salah al-Din al-Munajjid, 2 vols. (Damascus: The Arab Academy of Damascus, 1951-1954). Sibt b. al-Jawzi, Mir'at al-Zamdn fl Ta'rikh al-A'ydn, 2 parts (Hyderabad: Osmania Oriental Publications Bureau, 1951). Abu Shama, Kitdb al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbdr al-Dawlatayn al-Nuiriyya wa al-Salahiyya, ed. by Muhammad Hilmi Muhammad Ahmad and Muhammad Mu?tafa Ziybda, 2 parts (Cairo: Ministry of Culture, 1956-1962) and Tardjim Rijdl al-Qarnayn al-Sddis wa al-Sdbi' al-Ma'rdf bi al-Dhayl 'ald al-Rawdatayn, ed. by Muhammad al-Kawthari (Cairo: DBr al-Kutub al-Malikiyya, 1947). Ibn Khallikan, Ibn Khallikan's Biogra- phical Dictionary. Al-Subki, Tabaqdt al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubrd. Ibn Abi al- Wafa', Al-Jawdhir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqdt al-Hanafiyya, 2 vols. (Hyderabad: Nizamia 112 J. E. GILBERT

1076 and 658/1260 scholars came to Damascus from over one hundred different cities, towns, and villages and represented all parts of the Islamic world from Spain and Morocco to Trans- oxiana and Central Asia. (1) Syrians formed the greatest number of immigrant and transient scholars, and Iraq, primarily Baghdad, sent the next largest group. But Spain, North Africa, Egypt, the Jazira, western Iran, and eastern Iran supplied large numbers of scholars. 'Ulamd' from Sicily, Arabia, Turkey, and Central Asia were less numerous. In the second half of the thirteenth century, however, scholars increasingly confined their educational and professional pursuits to a Damascus-Cairo axis. The 'ulamd' of medieval Damascus may be divided into four categories: 1) native-born scholars, 2) immigrant scholars, 3) transient scholars, and 4) emigrant scholars. Native-born scholars frequently left Damascus in order to secure credentials, teaching experience, and reputation abroad, even if their ultimate goal was to find a position at home. Slightly less than half of the 1047 scholars surveyed were native-born 'ulama'. A second category of 'ulama' were those who immigrated to Damascus, took jobs, and adopted the city as their permanent home. (2) Nearly one-half of the resident 'ulamd' of twelfth

Oriental Publications Bureau, 1914). Ibn Rajab, Kitub al-Dhayl 'ald Tabaqdt al-Handbila. Al-Dhahabi, Al-'Ibar fl Khabar Man Ghabar and Kitdb Tadhkirat al-Huffdz, 4 vols. (Hyderabad: Osmania Oriental Publications Bureau, 1955-1958). Ibn Kathir, AI-Biddya wa al-Nihdya, 14 vols. (Beirut: Maktabat al-Ma'arif, 1966). Ibn al-'Imad, Shadhardt al-Dhahab fl Akhbdr Man Dhahab, 8 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-Qudsi, 1931-1932). Ibn Shaddad, Al-A'ldq al-Khatira fl Dhikr Umard' al-Sham wa al-Jazira: Ta'rikh Madinat Dimashq, ed. by Sami al-Dahhan (Damascus: Institut Francais de Damas, 1956). Al-Nu'aymi, Al-Ddris fl Ta'rikh al-Maddris, ed. by Ja'far al-Hasani, 2 vols. (Damascus: Arab Academy of Damascus, 1948- 1951). Only scholars for whom some biographical information was obtained beyond statement of name were analyzed. The tables presented in this article are based on these sources. (1) Compare tables 1, 2, 3, and 4, Joan E. Gilbert, "The Ulama of Medieval Damascus and the International World of Islamic Scholarship," Ph. D. dissertation (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1977). These tables also support further statements in this article on the geographical mobility of the 'ulamd' of late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth-century Damascus and the relative proportions of native-born to foreign-born scholars. (2) "He adopted Damascus as his home," istawtana Dimashq, a formula that appears frequently in the biographies surveyed, describes this circumstance. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 113 and thirteenth-century Damascus were immigrants. These immigrants included aspiring students and full-fledged scholars who had established their reputations elsewhere. A third category of scholars were those passing through town, seeking to study with a particular individual while participating in the system of professional advancement. (1) Approximately one- fifth of all scholars present in Damascus during the late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries were transients. A handful of native-born Damascenes left Damascus permanently, usually simply moving on to better opportunities elsewhere. During the twelfth century many scholars leaving Damascus emigrated to Iraq; during the thirteenth century most emigrants went to Egypt. While visiting Damascus for brief or lengthy periods of time, scholars learned hadiths and studied law or sufism and paused long enough to write books and to make their own contri- butions to the intellectual life of the city. Many of the fore- most scholars of medieval Islam included Damascus in their itineraries. Immigrant scholars and passersby were generally not the product of temporary social and economic maladjust- ments, such as wars, invasion, earthquakes, and drought, although certain individual scholars were refugees from adverse conditions at home. The far more important reason for travel was to be a part of the international scholarly world, and itinerant and native-born scholars made Damascus an influential learning center in the medieval Middle East.

Institutionalization of International Scholarship and Professionalization of the 'Ulama'

During the first five centuries of Islam 'ulam'f developed their own practices and organizations independently of the state. The Umayyad and 'Abbasid caliphs relied on scholars as advisers and ambassadors and employed 'ulama' as judges,

(1) "He stopped over in Damascus," nazala Dimashq, and "he resided in Damascus for a while," sakana Dimashq mudda, are repeated phrases describing individuals living in Damascus for a period of time. 114 J. E. GILBERT but they established no enduring institutions with staffs devoted to the study of the religion and law of Islam. On an occasional basis benefactors patronized particular scholars or specific scholarly projects and institutions. Yet through the activities of independent 'ulama' and the minority of scholars who enjoyed personal or state patronage, the informal educational, organizational, and social pursuits of Muslim scholars grew into regularized practices and an international system of scholarship during the early centuries of Islam. Then, this older order of scholarly activity evolved further with institutionalization of the international system of scholarship and professionalization of the 'ulama'. Institutionalization meant permanent provision of special places of instruction, residence, and employment for a majority of scholars and lasting endowments to pay the salaries of the personnel and building costs. Professionalization required both maintenance of established standards and procedures of scholarship and the availability of pay for the practice of the profession. An enumeration of the establishment of law schools, hadTlhacademies, and sufi centers demonstrates the process of institutionalization of international scholarship in twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus; a survey of the enactment of a regular system of stipends documents the professionalization of the 'ulamd'. At the end of the eleventh and in the early twelfth centuries a variety of patrons, inspired by the presence of scholars of international reputation, began to build the first madrasas, schools of law, in Damascus (table 1). The rate of their construction gradually increased during the next two centuries. The first madrasa in Damascus was located in the Great Mosque in the heart of the city, and most madrasas of the early twelfth century were situated inside the city walls immediately around the Great Mosque. The densest madrasa construction occurred between the citadel and the Great Mosque in the northwest section of the city. While madrasas continued to be built within the city during the thirteenth century, they were also constructed in the suburbs. The madrasas of the Salihiyya suburb, northwest of Damascus, were established primarily in the thirteenth century. Although the Hanbalis founded the INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 115

TABLE 1

Madrasas ESTABLISHEDIN DAMASCUS,468/1076-658/1260

Inside City Suburbs Walls

o ed 0 CC

C c c t

ar, O _ *r,Q o0 5 ~:07a

A.D. A. H.

1076 468-479 480-489 1 1100 490-499 1 500-509

510-519 1 520-529 3 1 530-539 1 1150 540-549 3

550-559 3 560-569 1 4 1 570-579 1 4 1 580-589 4

1200 590-599 6 1 600-609 1 1 2 610-619 3 1 620-629 3 2 8 1

630-639 5 3 2 640-649 1 4 1 1260 650-658 1 5 2

Salihiyya suburb, and this quarter is generally considered to be a Hanbali section of town, there were an equal number of Hanafi law schools located there as well as one or two Shafi'l 116 J. E. GILBERT madrasas. Within the city walls madrasas were erected for the major law schools, Shafi'i, Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali. There was no Maliki madrasa outside the walls of the city. During the second half of the twelfth century, ddr al-hadtlhs, academies for the study and transmission of hadtlhs, originated in the city (table 2). Eight of the ten ddr al-hadlths studied were founded in the thirteenth century, and most were located

TABLE 2

Ddr al-Hadiths ESTABLISHEDIN DAMASCUS,468/1076-658/1260

Inside City Walls ~Walls~Suburbs

Sharaf Salihiyya

A.D. A.H.

1076 468-479 480-489 1100 490-499 500-509

510-519 520-529 530-539 1150 540-549

550-559 560-569 1 570-579 580-589

1200 590-599 1 600-609 610-619 620-629 2 (1) (1)

630-639 1 640-649 1 L 1260 650-658 1 (1) ' _{ll IIII, _I JII ,, I

NOTE: Figure in parenthesis represents a ddr al-hadrth located within a madrasa. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 117 inside the city walls. By the late eleventh century various benefactors had slowly founded places of sifT education and devotions, khdnaqdhs, ribd.s, and zdwiyas, and these buildings increased in number in the period between 468/1076 and 658/ 1260 (table 3). Construction of siifr institutions took place mainly in the last half of the twelfth and during the thirteenth

TABLE 3

Khdnaqdhs, ribdts, AND zdwiyas ESTABLISHED IN DAMASCUS,468/1076-658/1260 I Inside City Suburbs Walls

East of Sharaf 'Uqayba Salihiyya Salihiyya

A.D. A.H.

1076 468-479 480-489 R 1100 490-499 K 500-509

510-519 520-529 K 530-539 1150 540-549

550-559 R 560-569 KR K 570-579 580-589 K K

1200 590-599 R 600-609 610-619 620-629 K KZZ ZZ

630-639 RZ RZ 640-649 Z 1260 650-658 KZ Z

NOTE: Symbol K represents a khanaqah, R a ribat, and Z a zawiya. 118 J. E. GILBERT centuries, with an acceleration of building in the 620's/1220's and 630's/1230's. There were ten sufi establishments inside the city walls, but over half were located in the suburbs. The madrasas, ddr al-hadiths, khanaqahs, ribdts, and zdwiyas housed local and visiting students and scholars and supported them through special financial arrangements, including salaries for professors and shaykhs and stipends for students. The religious institutions of twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus provided regular means of livelihood for teachers and students of law, hadlth, and siifism. This systematic support contrasted with the earlier situation in which 'ulamd' sustained their teaching and scholarly efforts through secular occupations and occasional patronage and in which students depended upon family income or odd jobs. By degrees specialized buildings replaced common teaching sites such as mosques, libraries, shops, private homes, and gardens, and served not only as places of instruction, devotion, and employment, but also as residences for professors and students. Both native-born and immigrant scholars utilized these new facilities; newcomers no longer had to seek accomodations in khans, mosques, or private homes. A few of the most prominent teachers did not hold jobs in institutions but received the patronage of a king, a wazir, or an amir. Others combined both institutional and personal patronage. Hence regularized salary provisions emerged alongside continuing practices whereby an individual patron directly subsidized a scholar. Patrons, in addition to employing individuals directly, now endowed permanent institutions that sustained groups of scholars. Between the years 468/1076 and 658/1260 one hundred and twenty-one new religious institutions were established, and there were over four hundred new job openings and turnovers in professorships and shaykhships at these institutions (table 4). Biographies report the specific types and locations of the hundreds of professional posts now occupied by legal scholars, muhaddiths, and sufTs in Damascus. Madrasas and ddr al-hadiths possessed sufficient endowments, except in two or three instances, to fill at least one professorship or shaykhship throughout the period and in most cases for several centuries beyond. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 119

TABLE 4

NEW RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS IN DAMASCUS AND TURNOVERS IN PROFESSORSHIPS AND SHAYKHSHIPS, 468/1076-658/1260

No. No. Type of Building BuildinJob Turnovers

Shafiti madrasa ...... 34 145 Hanafi madrasa ...... 35 165 combined Shaflti-Hanafi madrasa ...... 4 25 HIanbali madrasa ...... 9 40 Maliki madrasa ...... 3 7 ddr al-hadith ...... 7 14 ddr al-hadlths within 2 Hanbali madrasas and 1 Hanafi madrasa ...... 3 3 khanaqdh ...... 11 8 rib t ...... 7 2 zawiya ...... 8 13

TOTAL...... 121 422

Special legal arrangements funded these buildings and their staffs, and these provisions, as well as the legal document describing them, are known as waqf. After a new building was constructed, or an existing building set aside, it was possible to dedicate that building to a religious or charitable purpose and to provide for the maintenance of the building and a salaried staff, theoretically, in perpetuity. The funds to support the building and its personnel came from the rents and proceeds of private properties also set aside, in theory, forever. Available, published waqf documents are scant and generally do not provide full details of the endowments. In some instances there are descriptions and locations of the houses, shops, baths, khans, gardens, orchards, farms, villages, and parcels of real estate whose rents and revenues were set aside to sustain the institution. Rarely is there enumeration of everyone employed in any given institution, the number of students provided for, or exact salaries paid. However, the founder of the Iqbaliyya Madrasa, established in 628/1230 120 J. E. GILBERT inside the Faraj and Faradis gates of the city, stipulated that there would be twenty-five faqlhs (legal scholars) furnished with an ample monthly allowance, a daily food ration, sweet- meats on holidays, fruit in season, and robes of honor for the professors, their assistants, and the rest of the faqlhs on the dedication day of the madrasa. (1) The waqf of the Madrasa al-'Adiliyya al-Sughra, inside Bab al-Faraj, east of the gate to the citadel, sustained a professor, an assistant, an imam, a muezzin, doorkeepers, a guard, and twenty faqlhs. The waqf paid for the upkeep of the building and for the expenses of its residents. The building was a converted residence, part of which was to be used as a madrasa and part as living quarters and a tomb complex for the descendants of the founder. (2) The waqf of the 'Asriniyya Madrasa, established in about 570/ 1174 east of the citadel in the Hajar al-Dhabab quarter of Damas- cus, stipulated that there would be no more than twenty faqThs, Shafi'is, and others, and that the professorship would remain in the family of the founder, the Baniu 'Asruin, as long as they were capable of filling it. (3) The founder of al-Diya'iyya al-Muhammadiyya Madrasa and Dar al-Hadith complex in Salihiyya wished to arrange, among other things, a place for youths to hear hadTihs. He built this ddr al-hadith for muhaddiths and visiting scholars, no matter how poor or short of resources. (4) The founder of the Khanaqah al-Mujahidiyya in Sharaf, a suburb west of the city, in 650/1252 made provisions for twenty sufls. (5) An institution might maintain about twenty to twenty-five scholars. One of the few published waqf documents from the period under discussion is a portion of the waqf for the Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya, dated 633/1235. The building was located inside the city walls, just east of the citadel. The endowment provided for a professor of hadith (90 dirhams per month), an

(1) al-Nu'aymi, I, pp. 159-160. (2) al-Nu'aymi, I, p. 368. (3) ai-Nu'aymi, I, p. 399. (4) al-Nu'aymi, II, p. 94; H. Sauvaire, "La Description de Damas", Journal Asiatique IV (November-December, 1894), p. 471. (5) al-Nu'aymi, II, p. 169. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 121 imam who in addition to leading prayers was to offer Koran instruction (60 dirhams per month), another instructor (60 dirhams per month), a caretaker of the mihrab (40 dirhams per month), a hadth reader (24 dirhams per month), a muezzin (20 dirhams per month), a librarian (18 dirhams per month), two guards (30 dirhams per month between them), a gatekeeper (15 dirhams per month), ten Koran reciters (10 dirhams per month per individual), regular students (8 dirhams per month each), and beginning students (3 to 4 dirhams each per month). Additional clauses stipulated that if a renowned scholar arrived in Damascus he could stay at the Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya and receive two dirhams per day. When he left he was given 30 dinars. Scholars who came from other towns in Syria received slightly smaller allowances. During the month of Ramadan the waqf supplied the entire establishment with either food or a sum of 1,000 dirhams, apparently to be divided among the staff, students, and guests. If the waqf could not maintain these payments, allocations to beginning students could be lowered, but not those of the professor, the imam, the Koran reciters, the muezzin, or the regular students. (1) The madrasa, the dar al-hadUth,and the three types of suif establishment, khanaqdh, ribdt, and zawiya, are physical evidence of the institutionalization of the practices and special- izations of international scholarship that had been developing for centuries. Whereas the functions of ddr al-hadlths and sufi establishments are obvious and agreed upon, modern scholars continue to debate the educational, political, and social functions of the madrasa. (2) Did madrasas exist to train bureaucrats, to form cadres of partisans against Shi'ite

(1) E. Ashtor, "Salaires dans l'Orient medieval a la Basse-1poque", Revue des 1ftudes Islamiques, XXXIX (1971), pp. 104-105, citing verbatim Muhammad b. Tauln, Al-Lum'dt al-Barqiyya fl al-Nukat al-Ta'rlkhiyya (Damascus, 1348/1929), pp. 20 ff. (2) See George Makdisi, "Muslim Institutions of Learning in Eleventh-Century Baghdad," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXIV (1961), pp. 1-56; A. L. Tibawi, "Origin and Character of al-Madrasah," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXV (1962), pp. 225-238; and Richard Bulliet, The Patricians of Nishapur: A Study in Medieval Islamic Social History (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972), pp. 48-60. 122 J. E. GILBERT political aspirations and the Crusaders, or to manage and control religious scholars? In my view, the primary function of the madrasa system, in conjunction with other religious institutions of the day, was to create a professional class of scholars that would influence all of Muslim society. The madrasa employed and trained scholars of religion and law and was a positive outgrowth of the existing system of scholarship rather than a reaction to Shi'ite movements or the pressures of the Crusades. Nor was the education of state bureaucrats, except for qadls and deputy qd.ds, who occupied a special position between religious scholarship and state service, a principal function of madrasas in twelfth and thirteenth- century Damascus. Bureaucrats were a by-product, few in number, and become noticeable only later in the period surveyed (table 5). Madrasas produced the professional scholars who brought Islamic law to the Muslim community of Damascus on a one-to-one basis. Malik b. Anas, Ab Hianifa, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad b. Hanbal, the originators of the major law schools of Islam, worked and wrote during the eighth and ninth centuries. During the tenth and eleventh centuries subsequent generations of scholars elaborated and systematized the thought of the founders of the Maliki, HIanafi, Shafi'i, and Hanbali law schools. Yet wholesale application of the doctrines of the law schools necessitated significant numbers of professional scholars devoted primarily to legal studies and dissemination of religious and legal information. The madrasas of the late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries produced these large numbers of scholars who in turn popularized Islamic law and promoted communal organization on the basis of law school affiliation. The endowment of scores of religious buildings and the availability of salaried positions and stipends for students made Damascus increasingly attractive to scholars during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Throughout these two centuries the international element in Damascus continued to be important, and the roughly equal proportion of native- born to immigrant scholars remained constant. Slightly less than half of all Shafi'i scholars surveyed, 468/1076-658/1260, INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 123

TABLE 5

DEATHDATES OF 'ULAMA' HOLDING POSTS IN THE STATE BUREAUCRACY EXCLUDING THE POST OF QADI, 468/1076-658/1260

Legal Scholars, Muhaddiths, and Uifis

* - C xc - c. A.D. A.H.

1076 468-479 480-489 1100 490-499 500-509

510-519 520-529 530-539 1150 540-549

550-559 560-569 1 1 570-579 2 580-589 1

1200 590-599 1 1 600-609 610-619 1 1 620-629 1 1

630-639 1 1 2 1250 640-649 1 1 3 650-659 1 2 1 6 660-669 1 1 1

670-679 1 1 680-689 4 5 1299 690-699 8 were native-born Damascenes, although the Shafi'i madhhab was to an appreciable extent in the hands of native-born Damascenes after the initial period of institutionalization of the school in Damascus. During the two hundred year period 124 J. E. GILBERT under discussion almost twice as many IHanafi scholars were immigrants as were native-born Damascenes. Native-born Hanbalis, members of the Baniu Shirazi, the Banui Qudama, and the Banui Munajja, families who were originally immigrants to Damascus, controlled the Hanbali law school in this period. With one or two exceptions, Maliki scholars studying and teaching in Damascus were immigrants. Half of the total number of muhaddiths studied were native-born Damascenes, one-quarter were immigrants, one-quarter were passersby. There were twice as many immigrant siifTs as either native-born Damascene sufis or transient sufiTs. One-half of the qadis appointed in this period were native-born Damascenes, the other half were immigrants or short term residents. A wave of scholars from Spain and Iran passed through Damascus in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, but later scholars were more inclined to stay. The number of scholars living in Damascus during the thirteenth century was at least double the number present during the twelfth century, and the greater number of academic positions with remuner- ation for teachers and students no doubt played a major part in this expansion of the population of scholars. Professionalization of the 'ulama' occurred concomitantly with the institutionalization of international scholarship in Damascus. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries 'ulama' in Damascus evolved from part-time, private scholars into full-time, paid professionals. Several studies have conclud- ed that the 'ulamd' of the centuries prior to the twelfth and thirteenth were primarily volunteer scholars of religion who engaged in other occupations, mostly trade. (1) Biographical

(1) Munir-ud-Din Ahmed, Muslim Education and the Scholars' Social Status up to the 5th Century Muslim Era (11th Century Christian Era) in the Light of Ta'rEkh Baghdad (Zurich: Verlag "Der Islam," 1968), pp. 252-254; S. D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968), pp. 8 and 219; Hayyim J. Cohen, "The Economic Background and the Secular Occupations of Muslim Jurisprudents and Traditionists in the Classical Period of Islam (until the middle of the eleventh century)," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XIII (January, 1970), pp. 16-61, studies the religous scholars of the first 470 years of Islamic history. (The present study begins in 468/1076.) Cohen finds that during the first two centuries of Islam, that is, during the seventh INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 125 information for the twelfth and thirteenth centuries indicates a new trend in Damascus. Whereas a small, fairly constant number of 'ulama' held various secular jobs, there was a dramatic increase in the number of scholars holding paid, professional positions. (1) Of the 156 Hanafi legal scholars examined in this study none held outside jobs. Only 5 of the 195 Shafi'i legal scholars engaged in secular pursuits. Two were merchants, one was a fruit and vegetable dealer, one a lumber dealer and one a foundry worker. (2) Merely 3 of 91 Hanbali legal scholars were also merchants. (3) But one of 19 Maliki legal experts was a merchant, and one an herbalist. (4) Of 102 stfifs just 6 were in trade: one was a tailor, one an arrow maker, a third was involved in silk craft, a fourth was an iron worker,

and eighth centuries, most scholars of religion found secular employment in government service. Cohen concludes that during the ninth and tenth centuries over 75 percent of the 'ulama' or their families engaged in commerce or handicrafts, p. 39. (1) Little information is available to determine whether professional 'ulamd' of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries stemmed directly from earlier scholar- merchant families, whether they represented all levels of society, and whether there was any significant displacement of persons from business activities to scholarly pursuits. (2) Abu al-Nazzar al-Hasan b. Safiyy al-Baghdadi, Shafi'i faqih and merchant: Ibn 'Asfkir, IV, pp. 166-170. Abu al-Faraj Jabir b. Muhammad al-Hamawi thumma al-Dimashqi, Shafi'i faqlh and merchant: al-Dhahabi, 'Ibar, IV, p. 312; Ibn al-'Imad, IV, p. 345. Abf 'Abd Allih Muhammad b. Isma'il al-Baghdfdi, Shffi'i faqlh and fruit and vegetable dealer: al-Subki, VI, pp. 94-95. 'All b. 'Asakir al-Maqdisi thumma al-Dimashqi, Shafi'i faqlh and lumber dealer: al-Dhahabi, 'Ibar, IV, pp. 152-153; Ibn al-'Imfd, IV, pp. 167-168. Abf Tahir Ibrahim b. al-Mutahhar al-Jurjini, Shffi'i faqlh and foundry worker: Ibn 'Asakir, II, p. 297. These five Shafi'i legal scholars who were also involved in secular professions were all immigrants to Damascus or passersby. All five died in the twelfth century, and by the thirteenth century it was unlikely that a Shaf'i faqlh would also be a merchant, businessman, or artisan. (3) Sharaf al-Din Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Shirazi al-Dimashqi, Hanbali faqih and merchant: al-Nu'aymi, II, p. 69, Safiyy al-Din Abf Zakariyya Yahya b. al-Muzaffar al-Baghdadi, Hanbali faqlh and merchant: Ibn al-'Imad, V, p. 31. 'Izz al-Din Abf Amr 'Uthmbn b. As'ad b. al-Munajja al-Dimashqi, Hanbali faqlh and merchant: Ibn Rajab, II, p. 226; Ibn al-'Imfd, V, pp. 211-212. (4) Rashid al-Din Abf al-Husayn Yahyb b. 'Ali al-Nabulusi thumma al-Misri, Maliki imam and perfume seller: al-Dhahabi, Huffaz, IV, pp. 1442-1443. Abi al-Hasan 'Ali b. Ahmad, known as Ibn Qays, Maliki muftf and herbalist: Sibt b. al-Jawzi, I, p. 159. 126 J. E. GILBERT a fifth sold perfume, and a sixth was in the sawmill business. (1) However, the ordinary muhaddith was in a different position. Muhaddiths comprise slightly more than half of the scholars studied, and they more commonly engaged in secular occupations. Yet even in the case of muhaddilhs, the study and teaching of hadlth tended to become a full-time paid profession for increasing numbers of scholars in the second half of the twelfth and during the thirteenth centuries. New occupational opportunities appear to have furnished livelihoods for a middle income group of professional scholars. Biographies rarely designate a scholar as either wealthy or poor in this period, and the evidence of the chronicles and biographical dictionaries suggests the hypothesis that the 'ulama' of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries received moderate incomes. There is no evidence to suggest that 'ulamd' were large property owners, and many of the most prominent 'ulamd' in this period were immigrants to the city. Only toward the end of the Ayyiibid period during the mid-thirteenth century and continuing into the Mamlfk era did increasing numbers of religious scholars enter state service, receive multiple professorships and political appointments, and acquire the wealth that noted 'ulama' and renowned scholarly dynasties of all eras are often presumed to possess. The new religious establishments of medieval Damascus institutionalized the international system of scholarship. With the foundation of dozens of religious institutions that employed hundreds of scholars, the 'ulama' of twelfth and thirteenth- century Damascus exchanged nonprofessional status for full-time scholarly employment.

(1) Ahmad b. Salamat al-Dimashqi, sffi and blacksmith-ironworker: al-Nu'aymi, II, pp. 122-123; Ibn al-'Imfd, V, p. 360. (2) Taqiyy al-Din Abf 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Yinini al-Ba'albakki, sufi and arrow maker: Ibn Rajab, II, pp. 269-273; al-Dhahabi, Huff@d, IV, pp. 1439-1442 and 'Ibar V, p. 248. (3) Abi Muhammad 'Ali b. 'Ali al-Dimashqi, sufi and engaged in silkcraft: Abi Shbma, Dhayl, p. 180; al-Dhahabi, 'Ibar, V, p. 186; Ibn Kathir, XIII, pp. 173-174; al-Nu'aymi, II, pp. 197-199; Ibn al-'Imad, V, pp. 231-232. (4) Abu al-Faraj Yahya b. Mahmid al-Isbah5ni, blacksmith-iron worker in youth and sufi: al- Dhahabi, 'Ibar, p. 254. (5) Abu al-Ijasan 'All b. Abi Bakr al-Baghdadi, sufZ and perfume merchant: Ibn al-'Imad, V, p. 160. (6) Arslan b. Yaqut b. 'Abd al-Rahman, sufi and engaged in the sawmill business: Henri Sauvaire, "La Descrip- tion de Damas," Journal Asiatique, V (May-June, 1895), p. 404, note 9. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 127

The 'Ulama' and the Political Rulers of Damascus

The basic relationship between the 'ulama' and the political rulers of medieval Damascus was one of cooperation in the pursuit of stable community life. (1) Nevertheless, contests for dominance of this two-party alliance occurred, and one overriding political issue divided the rulers and the 'ulamd'. Would the rulers or the 'ulama' direct the newly-institutionalized madrasa system? Would the 'ulama' take charge of their own organization or would the state? The answer to these questions may be seen in an evaluation of the two stages in which professionalization of the 'ulama' occurred in late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth-century Damascus. During the first stage, which corresponds with the period of Saljuiq and Biirid control of Damascus (468/1076-549/1154), members of the rulers' household and entourage, but not the rulers, established madrasas. In the second phase, the Zengid and Ayyubid era (549/1154-658/1260), the rulers themselves became directly involved in patronizing the madrasa system. Political patronage did not deprive the 'ulamd' of their autonomy in the first period. Increasing absorption of the 'ulama' and their organization into the state system characterized the second period. During the eighty years of Saljuiq and Biirid rule Damascus was an autonomous city-state, and its political and social institutions reflected that status. Change of ruler under the Saljfqs and Buirids involved family and court politics within the city; the Crusader states were the major entities in the foreign relations of Damascus at this time. In Saljiiq and Buirid Damascus members of the rulers' households and court officials were the principal builders of public monuments. Between 468/1076 and 549/1154 women from the ruling family,

(1) Ira M. Lapidus, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, Massa- chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967), discusses the cooperative alliance of the Mamlik rulers and the 'ulamd' of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pp. 107-115. 128 J. E. GILBERT amirs, and other officials of the court and household of the ruler established waqfs for five Shafi'i madrasas, five Hanafi madrasas, and one khdnaqdh. The members of the royal family and the officials who endowed these eleven buildings were part of the ruling elite. These eleven endowments represent the great majority of the new types of religious institutions established in the Saljuiqand Buiridperiods in Damascus. Saljuq and Burid rulers did not themselves create religious foundations, although in 529/1134 Shams al-Mulk Ism5'il b. Buir did build a khdnaqdh. Wealthy IHanbali merchants, not Turkish amirs or royalty, built and endowed the two Hanbali madrasas established in the Saljiq-Burid period. The household of the ruler and the court patronized religious institutions (though the rulers might be considered indirect patrons) during the decades of Saljuq and Buirid rule, and 'ulania' in scholarly posts were not involved in government service. In Saljuq and Burid Damascus law schools employed and produced scholars, not bureaucrats. The most famous teachers, who were also most often the leaders, ra'rses, of the law schools, did not belong to the entourages of the rulers in the sense of being clients, and they did not hold political or admi- nistrative offices. They directed the law schools and sought independence from the political system. One family, the Banu Qurashi, was strong enough to dominate the qadiship of Damascus in the Buirid period and to share control of the qadiship, traditionally a political appointment, with the Birid rulers. Thus, the scholars of the period 468/1076-549/1154 represent a first phase of the professionalization of the 'ulama' in Damascus in which indirect political patronage, devotion to scholarship, and 'ulama' control of their own organization prevailed. With the arrival of Nir al-Din and the Zengids in 549/1154, Damascus became the capital of a Syrian-Jaziran empire. Under the Ayyubids, who followed the Zengids, Damascus was either the imperial capital or second city of a Syrian-Jaziran- Egyptian empire. Change of ruler under the Ayyuibids meant at least one blockade or siege of Damascus as an outside family member tried to battle his way to control of the town. Rela- INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 129 tions with the Crusader states continued to dominate foreign policy. The Khwarizmians, sometime allies, and the Mongols were special threats to the later Ayyubids. The approximately 110 years of Zengid and Ayyubid rule that followed the Saljuq- Burid era inaugurated new political relationships between the rulers and the 'ulamd'. When Nur al-Din arrived in Damascus, he personally established religious foundations, systematically giving state support for religious buildings, and began a second phase of the professionalization of the 'ulama'. Of the Zengid and Ayyuibid rulers Nur al-Din endowed the largest number and the most diverse religious institutions. He provided buildings, staffs, and salaries for the first two Maliki madrasas in the city, two Shafi'i madrasas, one Hanafi madrasa, the first dar al-hadtih in the city, and one khanaqdh. Nur al-Din also sought to make use of and influence the 'ulamd' in two other ways: first, through careful personal selection and recruitment of appointees to established religious offices and, second, through creation of new government offices that employed religious scholars. The struggle for domination of the 'ulamd' began in earnest. Nur al-Din preferred to appoint established scholars to political and religious positions and to set up government departments to supervise areas that had previously been in the hands of the 'ulamd'. For instance, Nir al-Din created the post of inspector of the suft establishments of Syria and appointed a prominent sufi from Khurasan to the position. (1) When Saladin, founder of the Ayyfbid dynasty, became ruler of Damascus in 571/1174, he also sought to make political use of the 'ulamd'. For example, Saladin appointed Ibn Abi 'Asrun, ra'Tsof the Shafi'i law school, to the post of qddt of Damascus. (2)

(1! AbO al-Fath 'Umar b. 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Juwayni al-Sufi, known as Ibn Harnmuwayh, immigrated with his son from Khurasan to Damascus and filled this new position that NOr al-Din established. Sibt b. al-Jawzi, I, p. 272; al-Nu'aymi, II, pp. 153-154; Ibn al-'Imad, IV, p. 259; H. L. Gottschalk, "Awlad al-Shaykh," EI2, I, pp. 765-766. (2) Ibn Abi 'Asrun was the only ra'is of the Shafi'i law school who also served as qddi of Damascus in the period under discussion. Sharaf al-Din Abu Sa'd 'Abd Allih b. Muhammad al-Hadithi thumma al-Mawsili, known as Ibn Abl 'Asrun: Sibt b. al-Jawzi, I, p. 394; Ibn Khallikan, II, pp. 32-36; al-Subki, VII, pp. 132-137; al-Dhahabi, Huffaz, IV, pp. 1357-1358 and 'Ibar, IV, p. 256; Ibn

5 130 J. E. GILBERT

Through this appointment Saladin sought to coopt the entire Shafi'i organization of the city by making its leader a government appointee. Several later rulers tried to secure equally influential scholars as qadrs and failed. When the Ayyfibid ruler al-'Adil invited Fakhr al-Din Ibn 'Asakir, ra'is of the Shafi'i law school, to accept the qadiship, Fakhr al-Din refused. (1) His refusal was not merely a matter of personal conscience. It was the stand of the spokesman of the Shafi'l law school, who wished to insure maximum control of the school by the 'ulamd'. The Zengids, and Ayyuibids did not permit a single family to hold the qadiship for more than two successive terms. Unlike Nur al-Din, Saladin did not complete any religious monuments in Damascus, although he founded many religious establishments in Cairo and Jerusalem. Ayyuibid rulers after Saladin, on the other hand, imitated Nir al-Din's example in Damascus, took the lead in the patronage of the madrasa system, and substantially increased the number of religious buildings. Lesser members of the royal family, court officials, and amirs continued to found the bulk of the madrasas and other religious institutions. For the first time, several bureaucrats and'ulamd' holding important government posts established Shafi'l madrasas and ddr al-hadiths. The most important Ayyfibid rulers of Damascus usually built one significant building. This royal endowment was normally large and prestigious and often housed the tombs of the family. The Hanbalis, except in two cases, continued to finance their own buildings. Because they were not in the direct pay of the ruler, even sensitive scholars did not hesitate to accept posts in madrasas founded by rulers or appointments to professorships made by rulers, but in fact they became more dependent on the state for their posts and salaries. In addition, Saladin and the Ayyubid rulers who followed him in Damascus did manage to attract a minority of scholars into government service.

Kathir, XII, pp. 333-334; al-Nu'aymi, I, pp. 399-403; Ibn al-'Imad, IV, pp. 283- 284; Ibn Tailun, Qudat Dimashq, ed. by Saliah al-Din al-Munajjid (Damascus: Arab Academy of Damascus, 1956), pp. 49-51. (1) Aba Shama, Dhayl, pp. 137-138; Ibn Kathir, XIII, p. 101. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 131

Biographies of the late Ayyubid period describe house arrests, confiscations, and even executions of 'ulamd' who became involved in politics and accepted high government positions. Previous generations of scholars in Saljiiq, Burid, Zengid, and early Ayyiibid Damascus almost without exception lived long, nonviolent lives. Thus, in contrast to the rulers of Damascus during the previous eighty years, the Zengid and Ayyibid rulers directly patronized religious institutions. Later Ayyibid rulers continued to follow the examples of Nur al-Din and Saladin. They created new state offices to supervise tasks that the 'ulama' had previously carried out or appointed 'ulamd' to duties that bureaucrats would normally perform. The later Ayyuibids also extended their power of appointment to the hiring and dismissal of professors of various madrasas and continued the effort to make the 'ulama' and their organization subservient to the ruler of Damascus and positions of the 'ulamd' conditional upon the action of the state.

Conclusion

The rulers of late eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth-century Damascus, who generally failed to achieve political or admi- nistrative continuity, took advantage of the opportunity to help shape social institutions. These rulers and their households institutionalized international scholarship and professional- ized the 'ulama' in Damascus and then sought to bureaucratize, hierarchize, and further dominate the 'ulama' by making areas once in the hands of scholars dependent on government. During the Saljfiq and Birid decades, the 'ulamd' were involved in their own organization, not with the state bureaucracy, and were supported only by indirect political patronage. In the Zengid and Ayyibid periods rulers became concerned with direct patronage of religious institutions, in controlling appointments to professorships, shaykhships, and qiadships, and in fostering the bureaucratization of the 'ulama'. The law schools lost ground in their confrontation with political rulers. Toward 132 J. E. GILBERT the end of the Ayyfbid period individual scholars and members of scholarly families began to seek government posts and the wealth that these offices might bring. In the ninth century the 'Abbasid caliphs had tried and failed to gain control over religious doctrine and the content of Islamic law. Earlier scholars, especially a number of ninth- century 'ulamd', had rejected the qadiship in order to avoid acquiescing in state control over religious law. (1) The Shi'ite rulers in the tenth and eleventh centuries had endeavoured to impose a new religious doctrine as a basis of government but did not succeed. In twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus, however, the state did gain partial control of the 'ulama'. There was no question of Niir al-Din or the Ayyubids seeking to set doctrine, change the law, or prescribe a religious system. Rather, they recognized the dominant socioreligious force and tried to dominate it through professionalization of the 'ulami' and bureaucratization of its members. The rulers of twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus supported the establishment of law schools, ddr al-had[ths, and suft institutions, as well as mosques, because they understood the collective role of the 'ulama' in society. Although the Saljuiq, Buirid, Zengid, and Ayyfubid rulers in general failed to develop strong, innovative, or permanent political, bureau- cratic, and military institutions, they did perceive the influence of the network of international scholarship and the social and political benefits of its institutionalization. These Turkish and Kurdish rulers appreciated a chance to strengthen a working system, while partially controlling it, and, instead of merely binding various individuals to the state, the rulers of Saljtiq, Buirid, Zengid, and Ayyuibid Damascus managed to patronize a whole social-professional-educational system. They realized that a strong bureaucracy combined with a standing army were not the only avenues to stability. The madrasa system that the rulers supported and expanded produced the personnel

(1) N. J. Coulson, "Doctrine and Practice in Islamic Law: One Aspect of the Problem," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XVIII (1956), pp. 211-226. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARSHIP 133 necessary to provide authoritative and expeditious guidance for the mass of the Muslim community. The increased professionalization of the 'ulamd' perhaps balanced the decreased institutional complexity of the bureaucracy and army in the political and social structure of twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus. A second reason why the rulers of Damascus supported institutionalization of the international system of scholarship and professionalization of the 'ulamd' was that the rulers could then enjoy the political benefit of closer association with and influence over the only source of legitimation which rivaled the authority of the caliph. (1) Later Islamic states such as the Mamluik and Ottoman empires built upon earlier traditions of Islamic religious scholarship. In the Mamluk empire powerful and wealthy scholarly families with vested interests in Cairo and elsewhere controlled vast numbers of appointments. In the late thirteenth century and during the fourteenth century individuals might be appointed at one time to seven or eight professorships, an accumulation of offices unheard of in Saljuq, Burid, Zengid, or Ayyuibid Damascus. In the Ottoman empire religion became a department of state under the sultan and over which a hierarchized bureaucracy of 'ulamd' presided. For example, in the second half of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century two major hierarchies led to the two top religious offices, that of the chief qddl and the shaykh al-Isldm. In order to advance to either position a candidate had to pass through a graded succession of lower jobs, and there was no interchange between the two hierarchies. (2) Offices that were general titles or ranks in twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus, such as shaykh al-Islam or muftl of Damascus, evolved into precise offices of the state bureaucracy during Mamliik and Ottoman times. The 'ulama' of twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus were

(1) George Makdisi, Ibn 'Aqll et la r6surgence de l'Islam Tradilionaliste au XIe siecle (Ve siecle de l'Hdgire) (Damascus: Institut Francais de Damas, 1963), p. 226. (2) Richard Repp, "Some Observations on the Development of the Ottoman Learned Hierarchy," Scholars, Saints, and Sufis, ed. by Nikki Keddie (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), pp. 17-32. 134 J. E. GILBERT nonspecialized and freely moved in and out of a variety of professional posts. Twelfth and thirteenth-century Damascus was the scene of the institutionalization of international scholarship and marks a turning point in the evolution of Muslim society and community life. This period represents an intermediary stage in the development of the 'ulama' from their volunteer beginnings to a bureaucratized class of professionals. During the early centuries of Islam the 'ulama' generated their own independent scholarly procedures and usually combined scholarship with secular professions. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Damascus, immigrant, transient, and native-born scholars acquired salaried posts in the religious institutions that were endowed at this time and presaged a fully professional- ized and bureaucratized class of scholars which became greatly specialized in later Islamic centuries.

Joan E. GILBERT (Alaska)