Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (), one of the first nizamiyehs, was established in 1065 in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. The Nizamiyya School was considered among the most important and prestigious educational institutions of the Abbasid era, alongside the Mustansiriya School. It has been described as the "largest

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

of the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

world." The Nizamiyya school was completely

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

. One of its requirements was that all teachers, preachers, and librarians be Shafi'i in jurisprudence and

Ash'ari Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on ...

in theology. This school was home to prominent Shafi'i jurists including Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, Ibn al-Sabbagh, Abu Sa'ad al-Mutawalli,

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

, and Al-Kiya al-Harrasi.In July 1091,

Nizam al-Mulk Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī Ṭūsī () (1018 – 1092), better known by his honorific title of Niẓām al-Mulk (), was a Persian Sunni scholar, jurist, political philosopher and vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising from a low position w ...

appointed the 33-year-old

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

as a professor of the school. Offering free education,

Ibn Tumart Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn Tūmart (, ca. 1080–1130) was a Muslim religion, religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern present-day Morocco. He founded and served as the spiritual and first military leader ...

, founder of the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

Almohad dynasty, reputedly attended the school and studied under Al-Kiya al-Harrasi.

's son-in-law Mughatil ibn Bakri was also employed by the school. In 1096, when al-Ghazali left the nezamiyeh, it housed 3,000 students. In 1116, Muhammad al-Shahrastani taught at the nezamiyeh. In the 1170s, statesman Beha ud-Din taught at the nezamiyeh, before he moved on to teach in

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

, while Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani studied there in the late 12th century. Others affiliated with the Nizamiyya of Baghdad include Asad Mayhani,

Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani Ayn-al-Qużāt Hamadānī, also spelled Ain-al Quzat Hamedani or ʿAyn-al Qudat Hamadhani (1098–1131) (), was a Persian jurist, mystic, philosopher, poet and mathematician who was executed at the age of 33. Title ''Ayn-al-Qużat'' in Arab ...

and al-Janzi. The Persian poet Saadi Shirazi studied at the nezamiyeh during the early 13th century, when he set out on a journey. He was also among those who witnessed first-hand accounts of its destruction by Mongol

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

invaders led by Hulagu during the Sack of Baghdad in 1258. He recalls clearly his days of studies at the al-Nizamiyya in Baghdad "A fellow-student at Nizamiah displayed malevolence towards me, and I informed my tutor, saying 'Whenever I give more proper answers than he the envious fellow becomes offended.' The professor replied 'The envy of thy friend is not agreeable to thee, but I know not who told thee that back-biting was commendable. If he seek perdition through the path of envy, thou wilt join him by the path of slander.'" The

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

initially focused on

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

, and

arithmetic Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms. ...

, and later extended to

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, the

physical sciences Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences". Definition ...

, and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

.B.G. Massialas & S.A. Jarrar (1987)
"Conflicts in education in the Arab world: The present challenge"
''Arab Studies Quarterly'': "''Subjects such as history, mathematics, physical sciences, and music were added to the curriculum of Al-Nizamiyah at a later time.''"

References

Bibliography

*Makdisi, George: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''

Studia Islamica ''Studia Islamica'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Islamic studies focusing on the history, religion, law, literature, and language of the Muslim world, primarily of the Southwest Asian and Mediterranean regions. The editor- ...

'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255–264 Schools in Iraq History of education in Baghdad Educational institutions established in the 11th century 11th-century establishments in the Abbasid Caliphate Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate 1065 establishments Education in the medieval Islamic world {{Islam-org-stub

See also

References

Bibliography