Nizamiyah: A Sunni Madrasah In Baghdad At Medieval Islam

In the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 A.D.) and the Caliph al-Ma'mun (813-817 A.D.), Islamic world reached its zenits of civilization. One of its characteristics was that the progress of intellectual activities. Muslim and non-Muslim scholars along with their works, commentaries, translations and inventions were not compared to any others. The light of Islamic civilization turned to decline after the Mongols captured Baghdad in 1258 A.D. Thousands of books, manuscripts and collections of intellectual works in Bayt al-Hikmah, center of Muslim education whose major function was academic research during the Abbasids, were burned down.

However, the attitude of learning and scholarship among Muslims never fades away. Many verses in the Holy Koran (Alquran) and the Prophet Traditions (Alhadis) motivate to, oblige to, stress on the importance of learning. Also, Muslim educational centers and institutions like sufi ribats, khanqahs, zawiyahs, and madrasahs were continuously¬ established everywhere in the Islamic world ¬following the early period of Islam. The hattitude of learning and scholarship in Islam kept on filling the heritage of the Islamic civilization.

Although the system of madrasahs (singular madrasah) is said to be one of the causes of stagnation in Islam, madrasahs were very important in terms of the history of education. First, madrasahs to some extent, replaced education in the mosques at the early period of Islam. The second, they were claimed to be the patterns of others or became the prototypes of new madrasahs in the following periods in the Islamic world. The last is that of their fundamental roles both intellectually and politically.

There were a lot of madrasahs in medieval Islam. One of them was Nizami-yah Madrasah of Baghdad whose fame and importance in the history of Islam. Not only because its location in the capital of the Abbasid caliphate, Baghdad, its associated name with the great Seljuq vizier Nizan al-Mulk, its professor al-Ghazali who considered as a great theologian in the realm of Islam, a prototype of the Sunni madra-sahs at medieval Islam, but also its political orienta¬tions made the madrasah well-known and greatly important.

This writing tries to describe the profile and the role of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad as a Sunni religious college during the medieval period of Islam.

A. The Profile of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad

Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was founded by the great Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, in 457 A.H. (1065.A.D.). There is a little difference among the sources about the year of Nizamiyah Madrasah founded. In Harun Nasution (1992: 742), it is stated that the madrasah was built in 460 A.H. (1067 A.D.), while English sources like Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam (1961), and in Nashabe(1989: 23) state that the madrasah was built in 457 A.H. (1065 A.D.). The former source might be based on the official opening of the madrasah after the building had already completed; conversely, the later started their calculation on the basis of the construc¬tion oof the building, not on the opening or inauguration of the madrasah.
 

The building was completed in about two years, from 457 to 459 A.H/1065-1067 A.D. It did not only have learn¬ing facilities like rooms, halls and library, but also others for instance dining rooms, bath rooms, laboratories, and medical service. There-fore, it was the very complete madrasah during its period.

The students of the madrasah were boarded, they lived in dormitories. Beside no payment, they were also endowed living costs and scholarships (Nasution, 1992: 742). The teachers also stayed at the houses built by the government. Their salaries were high. The vizier provided the waqf for administering the madrasah and other ne-cessities.
It was a religious college of the Sunni orthodoxy, where al-Ghazali (450-505 A.H. /1059-1111 A.D.), one of the great religious thinkers, taught there for a while. He was appointed by the vizier to a professorship in the college in 484 A.H/1091 A.D. (Diyab, 1990: 425) but then in 489 A.H./1095 A.D., he stopped teaching there. He left his professorship for Damascus to search for piece and certainty, went on to Jerusalem, then to Mecca on pilgrimage (Diyab, 1990: 426-427). Some sources say, he had be-come a sufi wanderer until he built a house for his students and a khanqah for Sufis in his home town, Tus, after having a short stay in Nizamiyah Madrasah in Nishapur, Western Persia (Diyab, 1990: 427). Another professor teaching there was al-Imam al Haramayn, al Juwayni (d. 478 A.H./1084 A.D.), to whom al-Ghazali had ever learned while studying at Nizamiyah madrasah in Nishapur, and a theologian Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi )d. 476 A.H./1083 A.D.), who was the first professor of law in the madrasah (Makdisi, 1992: 24)

Although very little information, it is believable that there were a lot of sub-jects given in the madrasah. Alquran and Alhadis, commentaries of the Koran, and Arabic language and literature, were among the subjects that became the foundation of the curriculum of the madrasah. In addition, young men studied the law, as compiled in law books and collections of the fatwas, under the guidance of masters at the madrasah (Lippman, 1990: 80)
Also, it is neither clearly informed whether natural sciences and sufism were taught in this college, except Islamic law and theology; nor is about the methods of how students learned, how the professors taught in this madrasah. Since the learning attitude of the medieval Islam was to encourage memorizing rather than real under-standing, passive rather than active (Rahman, 1979: 189-191), it is supposed that the students learned the subjects from their teachers mostly through listening, reading, memorizing, and a little discussing or debating.
In a whole, Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was a state-sponsored college, traditional, but well-conditioned, well-organized and highly prestigious at least in terms of its facilities, professorship and patronage. Thus, it became the most notable madrasah in the sixth century of Hijrah.
 

B. The Role of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad
 

The role of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad can be seen from two perspec-tives. The first is on intellectual perspective, that will be studied from its educational system. The second is that of political perspective, which will be traced through the purposes of the madrasah and the activit¬ies by which the madrasah was engaged in meeting its goals.
 

Since the first century of Hijrah, mosques had been centers of Islamic edu-cation. Often, mosques had large open spaces, and that a lot of people or Muslims were possible to meet and to gather. By gathering in circles, Muslims learned Islamic tea-chings under the guidance of the ulama (religious teachers). Beside that, mosques were places of worship, so that they were quiet, clean and secure, the conditions that were conducive for learning. Lippman (1990: 6) says: “Traditionally the mosque has served the faithful as meeting hall, shelter and library. Large mosques often contain space for religious schools, madrasas, where the students were instructed in the Koran, religious law and Arabic”
 

The first madrasah was established in Khurasan. For some reasons, the number of the madrasahs were, then, multiple. They were founded mostly everywhere in the Islamic world. Some of them were Nizamiyah madrasahs founded during the Seljuq hegemony, particularly when Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485 A.H. / 1092 A.D.) became the Seljuq Prime Minister; and the most famous among them was Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad.
It is said that Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was a place of advanced learning. The subjects that the students learned were focused on religious sciences like Alquran, Alhadis, fiqh, kalam and Arabic language and literature. It means that the madrasah devoted primarily on Islamic sciences (Rahman, 1984: 33). No more infor-mation is known whether secular or natural sciences were also given there. The only closer indication towards the information is that Rahman's writing on the curriculum and instruction of medieval Islamic learning as follows: “... the curriculum was natu-rally confined to the purely religious sciences with grammar and literature as their ne-cessary instrument. The purely religious subjects were four: Hadis or Tradition, fiqh or Law (including the `Principles of Law), kalam or theology and tafsir or the exegesis of the Quran (Rahman, 1984: 189).

Rahman (1979) also stated that in certain schools, works on Sufism were added. The curriculum was usually executed on the method of succession of subjects. The serial of arrangement was that Arabic grammar and language, arithmetics, philosophy, law, jurisprudence, theology, Quranic exegesis, and Alhadis. The rational or secular sciences like physics, mathematics, astronomy and medicine were subjects studied at certain madrasahs. Therefore, it is supposed that the natural sciences like physics, arithmetics, mathematics, astronomy and medicine, to a certain degree, were also taught in Nizamiyah Madrasah.

On the other hand, it is predicted that philosophy and sufism were not given there. Since philosophy attaches more to ratio or logic (aql) other than intuition or dogma (naql), sufism to some extent turns to pantheism, to which are considered out of the Sunni tradition, it is impossible to say both were taught in Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad. Some sources even state that philosophy and sufism, in the meaning of Greek and Persian origins, had no any place in the madrasah. The acceptance of both subjects was taken place after al-Ghazali succeeded to compromise the philosopical and sophistic thoughts into sophistic philosophy that is not merely based on reason, logic, or intuition, but on combination of the reason, intuition, ethics and dogma un-der divined guidance (Fajar, 1991: 23)
 

After graduating, they used to be the jurist consults (the muftis), the teachers (the mudarrisun), the ulama, whose Sunni school or more particular the Shafi'i, the state administrators of the cities or the provinces who replaced the formal secretarial class (Gibb, 1982: 24)
 

So that, the madrasah only produced bureaucracy class, not the original thinkers like its well-known, al-Ghazali. It is quite true to say that the most of celebrated savants in the medieval periods were not the product of the madrasahs, but from indi-vidual teacher who taught informally (Rahman, 1979: 185). However, these characte-ristics of learning describe the educational system of the madras as well as one of its fundamental roles, that is, a place for a transfer of knowledge.
 

The role of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was also political-oriented or political interest. One of the reasons is that, like other madrasahs, the founding of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was intended for some purposes. The main purpose was, of course, to produce the learned men, that in turn to be the ulama, the juristconsults (the muftis), the teachers (the mudarrisun), whose jobs were either in the state or in society. Therefore, the ulama that the madrasah intended to produce were the ulama whose the Shafi'i school. Other purpose was of a broader interest, i.e., to pre-serve the unity of the Sunni (Nashabe, 1989: 8) to counterattack the Shi'ism, more particular on revolutionary heterodoxy of the Isma’ilis, and the intellectual radicalism of the preceding period, and to produce the bureaucracy elites whose religious, socio-political out-looks.
 

Other reason is that, the professorship, the patronage, the teaching of Islamic law (fiqh) and theology of the orthodox Sunni, to some extent, related to political in-terest of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad. The existence of the theologians like al-Shirazi, al-Juwayni and his disciple al-Ghazali in Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was significant.
 

The first reason is that, they were great Sunni theologians whose teachings had an impact on their students' attitude. However, it is common that a teacher (teachers) has great influence on his (their) students’ mind, his (their) students' attitude, his (their) behavior, so is that of a teacher(s) of the madrasah. Rahman (1979: 185) says that the first chief characteristics of learning at medieval Islam was on individual teacher. After giving his full courses, the teacher then gave a certificate (ijaza) to the student who was allowed to teach, sometimes for an individual subject, or for several subjects or to specified books which the student had read, and even it was issued in the name of the teacher rather than that of the school. It means that the teacher himself was more im-portant than the institution, and that the influence of a teacher towards his students' mind and attitude cannot be inevitable.
 

The second, al-Ghazali to some degree opposed Shi'ism and intellectual radi-calism like the thoughts of the Mu'ta¬zili is opposition can be understood from his ima-ginary dialogue with an Isma’ili figure that he wrote in Fada'ih al-Batiniyah as follows: "It has always been my practice, as a youth and as a man, to thirst for knowledge of true nature of things ... so that I can be freed from the bond of imitation” /taqlid (Diyab, 1992: 425). However, this piece of writing indicates his opposition towards the heretic Isma’ili, particularly on the concept of the Imamate that allows the followers to perform the assisinations like this extreme group did in their successive revolts after their leader Hasan al-Sabah had returned to Persia from Egypt and occu-pied the fortress of Alamut.
 

In addition, it indirectly opposed the thoughts of Mu'tazili that more empha-sizes on reason (aql) other than dogma (naql). Therefore, the brilliant thoughts of al-Ghazali were not only to counter the revolutionary hetero¬doxy oof the Shi'ism, more particular on the Isma’ili, and the intellectual radicalism on the one hand, but also preserved the unity of the Sunni on the other hand.
 

The patronized system of the madrasah also related to political interest. It is said that the madrasah(s) was under the control of his (their) founders or patrons. Nizam al-Mulk and other Seljuq rulers patronized the madrasah, and that all policies on Nizamiyah Madrasah like the purpose(s), the subjects (materials), the recruitment of the teachers, in some degree, were all under consideration of the patrons. Because the patrons were Sunnism, the activities of the madrasah were on the ground of Sunni tradition. Also, the madrasah was involved in the support of, the spread of the Sunni propaganda, that in turn to strengthen the position of the patrons. Therefore, on the one hand, the found¬ing of the madrasah was intended to preserve, to unity, to consolidate the Sunni against their rivals; on the other hand, it was for the support or the defense of the position of the Seljuq vizier in particular and the Seljuq rulers in general.
 

In addition, the success of the Seljuqs (in the fifth century of Hijrah) and the Ayyubids (in the sixth century of Hijrah) in replacing the Buwayhids and the Fatimids, however, had revived the Sunni movement. Before the coming of the Seljuq dynasty, most of the Islamic world from the third to the first half of the sixth century was under the Buwayhids and the Fati¬mids under the two dynasties, Shi'ism ecame the state-religious sect. Its propaganda spread over the lands of Iraq, Syria, Persia, Egypt, and North Africa. When the Seljuqs ruled in Iraq and Persia (429-590 A.H), in Syria (471-511 A.H.), so did the Ayyubids in Egypt (564-648 A.H.), the Sunnism regained its place and gradually replaced the Shi’ism. It became the official sect of the state. To defend the Sunni, particularly against the Shi'i propaganda, which was launched through the Shi'i schools of thought, that became the most powerful during the fifth century of the Hijrah (Nashabe, 1989: 22-23) the Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, inisiated to establish the Sunni madrasahs -- one of them was Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad.
 

Moreover, learning activities in Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad were, tradi-tionally, more stressed on the Shafi’i school other than the first three orthodox schools of Sunni, i.e., the Hanafi, the Hanbali, and the Maliki. In the other words, the Shafi'i school became prominent in the madrasah. Inspite of producing the Shafi'i ulama, the madrasah was also intended to provide a Sunni state with an orthodox bureaucracy. In contrast, other Sunni schools like the Hanafi, to some extent, had no place in the mad-rasah. The madrasah was exclusive from any other schools other than the Shafi’i. The rival of different orthodox schools (among the Sunnis) had taken place in Khurasan since the fifth century of Hijrah, that is, the feuds between Hanafites and the Shafi'ites. The rivalry between the two Sunni schools on the basis of madrasah (the mashad-college) also took place in Baghdad in the fifth century of Hijrah (Nashabe, 1989: 22-23). Therefore, the unity of the Sunni became weak because of their rivalry, but each of the school.
 

Other political orientation of the establishment of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad related to the teaching background of Islamic law and theology. It is true that, on the one hand, the teaching of the two subjects were on the basis of the need for Islamic education in the madrasah. (Rahman, 1984: 189) says: "Law and theology formed the central part of higher educational system of Islam imparted in the the mad-rasahs”. On the other hand, it was on political interest. Since the two subjects deal with legal systems, both were relevant to provide for administrative and judicial needs. Also, both were relevant for the students to learn, for they were provided for being the state administrators. Therefore, the existence of Islamic law and theology in the madra-sah, to some degree, was based on the political interest, and that the role of Nizamiyah Madrasah of Baghdad was also political-oriented.
 

C. Conclusion
 

Finally, I can conclude that the fundamental role of Madrasah of Baghdad was intellectual and politic. Besides functioning as a place to transfer knowledge, the madrasah also had political orientations. Its directly and indirectly counterattack to the Shi'ism, to intellectual radicalism of the Mu'tazili; its intention to defend the unity of the Sunni, particularly the Shafi'i school, to train administrators who supposed to post in the state-cities or the provinces, to produce the ulama, and the religious teachers, whose outlook, mind and attitude of orthodox Sunni, all related to political role of the madrasah. Although the madrasah did not produce brilliant thinkers or theologians like its professor, al-Ghazali, it was highly appreciated in the history of Islam. Its out-comes, its complete learning facilities and other infrastructures along with the state-support, however, made the Sunni orthodoxy college of Bagh¬dad no compared to any other madrasahs during the medieval Islam.


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Written By: Ahdi Makmur (Alumnus a Diploma of Islamic Studies at McGill University Montreal Canada (1991), and a Master Degree from Post Graduate Program¬ IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta)