Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai Politics Talk

From time to time, it is alleged that the invention of the University, one of the crowning achievements of Medieval Christendom, was copied, or at least strongly influenced by Islam. A typical example is Diarmaid MacCulloch in his History of Christianity (Penguin, 2009). In a similar vein, it is claimed that the world's first university was not Bologna but the the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. It's date of foundation is about 970AD. Bologna was founded between 1088 and 1158 when it was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor.

But in fact, Al-Azhar was founded as a madrasa, a charitable school of religion and law. It was not an independent corporation and could not award degrees until 1961. In contrast, the Western universities are corporations with separate legal personality. They set their own statutes and are not restricted in the subjects they could teach or how they organised themselves. For this reason, science and medicine found a home in the University but never in the madrasa.

The standard authority on the connection between Islam and western universities is George Makdisi, whose book Rise of Colleges: Instituions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh,1981) is cited by MacCulloch in his own misleading comments on this subject. Makdisi is worth quoting (pages 224-5):

The university as a form of organisation owes nothing to Islam. Indeed, Islam could have nothing to do with the university as a corporation. Based on the concept of juristic personality, the corporation is an abstraction endowed with legal rights and responsibilities. Islamic law recognises the physical person alone as endowed with legal personality.

The university was a new product, completely separate from the Greek academies of Athens and Alexandria, and from the Christian cathedral and monastic schools; and it was utterly foreign to the Islamic experience.

Makdisi goes on to claim that the college, a charitable residence for students, may have had Islamic antecedents. It is colleges that MacCulloch is thinking of when he says in his History of Christianity western schools "copied in a remarkably detailed fashion the institutions of higher education which Muslims had created for their own universal culture of intellectual enquiry." But MacCulloch misleads by missing the most important elements of western higher education which had no Islamic antecedent at all.

From time to time, it is alleged that the invention of the University, one of the crowning achievements of Medieval Christendom, was copied, or at least strongly influenced by Islam.

Makdisi also argues that the scholastic method of disputation and the titles of academic positions in the European West were borrowings from Muslim educational practice and the Arabic language. The fact is that the cultural elite of Arab-Islamic civilisation made an extraordinary commitment to all forms of learning.

The oldest and greatest of all the madrasas, the al-Azhar university in Cairo, has a good claim to being the most sophisticated school in the entire Mediterranean world during the early Middle Ages. Indeed the very idea of a university in the modern sense – a place where students congregate to study a variety of subjects under a number of teachers – is generally regarded as an innovation first developed at al-Azhar.

In The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West, George Makdisi has demonstrated how terms such as having “fellows” holding a “chair,” or students “reading” a subject and obtaining “degrees,” as well as practices such as inaugural lectures, the oral defense, even mortar boards, tassels, Throughout much of Islamic history, madrasas were the major source of religious and
scientific learning, just as church schools and the universities were in Europe. and academic robes, can all be traced back to the practices of madrasas.

It was in cities not far from Islamic Spain and Sicily – Salerno, Naples, Bologna, and Montpellier – that the first universities in Christendom were developed, while the very first college in Europe, that of Paris, was founded by Jocius de Londoniis, a pilgrim newly returned from the Middle East.7

In The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West, George Makdisi has demonstrated how terms such as having “fellows” holding a “chair,” or students “reading” a subject and obtaining “degrees,”

The university as a form of organisation owes nothing to Islam. Indeed, Islam could have nothing to do with the university as a corporation. Based on the concept of juristic personality, the corporation is an abstraction endowed with legal rights and responsibilities. Islamic law recognises the physical person alone as endowed with legal personality.

The university was a new product, completely separate from the Greek academies of Athens and Alexandria, and from the Christian cathedral and monastic schools; and it was utterly foreign to the Islamic experience.

Let me know when you actually read Makdisi's book and can reconcile your view with what was quoted above by a couple of historians who cite Makdisi.

Where the universities differed, was in their organisation as separate 'corporations' not associated with religious associations

You may also want to look up what the Guinness Book of World records says is the oldest degree-issuing university.

The Al Karaouine institution is considered by the Guinness book the oldest continuously operating academic degree-granting university in the world.[2]

However, this claim on precedence appears to confound the distinct nature of madrasas and medieval universities which followed very different historical trajectories until the former were expanded to the latter in modern times,[3][4] and fails to take into account that the medieval doctorate out of which academic degree/modern university degrees originated had deviated from the Islamic Ijazah certificate. [5][6][7]

In addition to a place for worship, the mosque soon developed into a place for religious instruction and political discussion, gradually extending its education to a broad range of subjects, particularly the natural sciences. In 1957, King Mohammed V introduced mathematics, physics, chemistry and foreign languages.[9]

The commonly accepted view is that the Islamic mosque school was an institution distinct from the medieval university,[22][23][24] and that the university with all its facets, including the granting of academic degrees such as bachelor (Latin: baccalaureus), master (magister) and doctorate (licentia docendi), was a proper medieval European development unrelated to contemporaneous Islamic learning.[25][26][27][28] This view is indirectly supported by the entry on the "Madrasa" in the Encyclopædia of Islam, which draws no parallels between Islamic and Christian medieval institutions of higher learning and does not refer to any transmission process either way.[29]

However, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, al-Qarawīyīn University in Fez, Morocco is recognized by as the oldest degree-granting "university" in the world, having been founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri.[30] While the madrasah college could also issue degrees at all levels, the jāmi`ahs (such as al-Qarawīyīn and al-Azhar University) differed in the sense that they were larger institutions, more universal in terms of their complete source of studies, had individual faculties for different subjects, and could house a number of mosques, madrasahs, and other institutions within them.[16] Such an institution has thus been described as an "Islamic university".[31]

Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975 by the Isma‘īlī Shī‘ī Fatimid dynasty as a jāmi‘ah, had individual faculties[32] for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy.[33] The postgraduate doctorate in law was only obtained after "an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses", and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose."[17] ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī also delivered lectures on Islamic medicine at al-Azhar, while Maimonides delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin.[34] Another early jāmi‘ah was the Niẓāmīyah of Baghdād (founded 1091), which has been called the "largest university of the Medieval world".[35] Mustansiriya University, established by the ‘Abbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir in 1233, in addition to teaching the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural sciences.

However, the classification of madrasahs as "universities" is disputed on the question of understanding of each institution on its own terms. In madrasahs, the ijāzahs were only issued in one field, the Islamic religious law of sharī‘ah, and in no other field of learning.[36] Other academic subjects, including the natural sciences, philosophy and literary studies, were only treated "ancillary" to the study of the Sharia.[37] For example, a natural science like astronomy was only studied (if at all) to supply religious needs, like the time for prayer.[38] This is why Ptolemaic astronomy was considered adequate, and is still taught in some modern day madrasahs.[38] The Islamic law undergraduate degree from al-Azhar, the most prestigious madrasa, was traditionally granted without final examinations, but on the basis of the students' attentive attendance to courses.[39] In contrast to the medieval doctorate which was granted by the collective authority of the faculty, the Islamic degree was not granted by the teacher to the pupil based on any formal criteria, but remained a "personal matter, the sole prerogative of the person bestowing it; no one could force him to give one".[40]

Medievalist specialists who define the university as a legally autonomous corporation disagree with the term "university" for the Islamic madrasahs and jāmi‘ahs because the medieval university (from Latin universitas) was structurally different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a waqf institution like the madrasah and jāmi‘ah.[41] Despite the many similarities, medieval specialists have coined the term "Islamic college" for madrasah and jāmi‘ah to differentiated them from the legally autonomous corporations that the medieval European universities were. In a sense, the madrasah resembles a university college in that it has most of the features of a university, but lacks the corporate element. Toby Huff summarizes the difference as follows:

From a structural and legal point of view, the madrasa and the university were contrasting types. Whereas the madrasa was a pious endowment under the law of religious and charitable foundations (waqf), the universities of Europe were legally autonomous corporate entities that had many legal rights and privileges. These included the capacity to make their own internal rules and regulations, the right to buy and sell property, to have legal representation in various forums, to make contracts, to sue and be sued."[42]

While the organizational form of Western centers of higher learning allowed them to develop and flourish, "the Muslim ones remained constricted by the doctrine of waqf alone, with their physical plant often deteriorating hopelessly and their curricula narrowed by the exclusion of the non-traditional religious sciences like philosophy and natural science," since these were considered potential toe-holds for kufr, those people who reject Allah.[43] The madrasah of al-Qarawīyīn, one of the two surviving madrasahs that predate the founding of the earliest medieval universities and are thus claimed to be the "first universities" by some authors, has acquired official university status as late as 1947.[44] The other, al-Azhar, did acquire this status in name and essence only in the course of numerous reforms during the 19th and 20th century, notably the one of 1961 which introduced non-religious subjects to its curriculum, such as economics, engineering, medicine, and agriculture.[45] It should also be noted that many medieval universities were run for centuries as Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools prior to their formal establishment as universitas scholarium; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the university dates back to the 6th century AD,[46] thus well preceding the earliest madrasas. George Makdisi, who has published most extensively on the topic[47] concludes in his comparison between the two institutions:

Thus the university, as a form of social organization, was peculiar to medieval Europe. Later, it was exported to all parts of the world, including the Muslim East; and it has remained with us down to the present day. But back in the middle ages, outside of Europe, there was nothing anything quite like it anywhere.[48]

Nevertheless, Makdisi has asserted that the European university borrowed many of its features from the Islamic madrasah, including the concepts of a degree and doctorate.[17] Makdisi and Hugh Goddard have also highlighted other terms and concepts now used in modern universities which most likely have Islamic origins, including "the fact that we still talk of professors holding the 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the "traditional Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him", the term 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of aṣḥāb ("companions, as of the prophet Muhammad"), qirā’ah ("reading aloud the Qur'an") and ijazah ("license to teach") respectively. Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic education. Some of the practices now common in modern universities which Makdisi and Goddard trace back to an Islamic root include "practices such as delivering inaugural lectures, wearing academic robes, obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis, and even the idea of academic freedom are also modelled on Islamic custom."[49] The Islamic scholarly system of fatwa and ijma, meaning opinion and consensus respectively, formed the basis of the "scholarly system the West has practised in university scholarship from the Middle Ages down to the present day."[50] According to Makdisi and Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was also "modelled on Islamic custom" as practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first delibrately planned university" in Europe, the University of Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1224.[49]

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no tracable Islamic influence.[51] Generally, some reviewers have pointed out the strong inclination of Makdisi of overstating his case by simply resting on the "the accumulation of close parallels", but all the while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world.[52] Norman Daniel points out that the Arab equivalent of the Latin disputation, the taliqa, was reserved for the ruler's court, not the madrasa, and that the actual differences between Islamic fiqh and medieval European civil law were profound.[52] The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities.[52] In fact, there is no Latin translation of the taliqa and, most importantly, no evidence of Latin scholars ever showing awareness of Arab influence on the Latin method of disputation, something they would have certainly found noteworthy.[52] Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek Organon which set the scholastic sic et non in motion.[24] Daniel concludes that resemblances in method had more to with the two religions having "common problems: to reconcile the conflicting statements of their own authorities, and to safeguard the data of revelation from the impact of Greek philosophy"; thus Christian scholasticism and similar Arab concepts should be viewed in terms of a parallel occurrence, not of the transmission of ideas from one to the other,[24] a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.[53]

Tony Huff, in a discussion of Makdisi's hypothesis, concludes:

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.[54]

Nevertheless, Makdisi has asserted that the European university borrowed many of its features from the Islamic madrasah, including the concepts of a degree and doctorate.[17] Makdisi and Hugh Goddard have also highlighted other terms and concepts now used in modern universities which most likely have Islamic origins, including "the fact that we still talk of professors holding the 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the "traditional Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him", the term 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of aṣḥāb ("companions, as of the prophet Muhammad"), qirā’ah ("reading aloud the Qur'an") and ijazah ("license to teach") respectively. Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic education.

From time to time, it is alleged that the invention of the University, one of the crowning achievements of Medieval Christendom, was copied, or at least strongly influenced by Islam.

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no traceable Islamic influence.

QED - your quote shows that indeed the 'allegation' is correct.

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.[54]

His premise was that the 'allegations' that European Universities copied or were heavily influenced by Islamic institutions was wrong - and he specifically was saying that historian MacCulloch was wrong to say this.

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no tracable Islamic influence.[51] Generally, some reviewers have pointed out the strong inclination of Makdisi of overstating his case by simply resting on the "the accumulation of close parallels", but all the while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world.[52] Norman Daniel points out that the Arab equivalent of the Latin disputation, the taliqa, was reserved for the ruler's court, not the madrasa, and that the actual differences between Islamic fiqh and medieval European civil law were profound.[52] The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities.[52] In fact, there is no Latin translation of the taliqa and, most importantly, no evidence of Latin scholars ever showing awareness of Arab influence on the Latin method of disputation, something they would have certainly found noteworthy.[52] Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek Organon which set the scholastic sic et non in motion.[24] Daniel concludes that resemblances in method had more to with the two religions having "common problems: to reconcile the conflicting statements of their own authorities, and to safeguard the data of revelation from the impact of Greek philosophy"; thus Christian scholasticism and similar Arab concepts should be viewed in terms of a parallel occurrence, not of the transmission of ideas from one to the other,[24] a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.[53]

Tony Huff, in a discussion of Makdisi's hypothesis, concludes:

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.[54]

I showed that historians Makdisi, Huff, Dalrymple all agreed with MacCulloch

and indeed Makdisi cites in the same book quoted by your blogger 18 (yes 18) instances which debunk your loon theory.

Furthermore, the Guinness Book of World records disagrees with you as well.

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.[54]

so thank you again for pointing out the details of what European Universities did indeed copy from Islamic schools. Ergo, premise by blogger debunked. Comprehensively.

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no tracable Islamic influence.[51] Generally, some reviewers have pointed out the strong inclination of Makdisi of overstating his case by simply resting on the "the accumulation of close parallels", but all the while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world.[52] Norman Daniel points out that the Arab equivalent of the Latin disputation, the taliqa, was reserved for the ruler's court, not the madrasa, and that the actual differences between Islamic fiqh and medieval European civil law were profound.[52] The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities.[52] In fact, there is no Latin translation of the taliqa and, most importantly, no evidence of Latin scholars ever showing awareness of Arab influence on the Latin method of disputation, something they would have certainly found noteworthy.[52] Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek Organon which set the scholastic sic et non in motion.[24] Daniel concludes that resemblances in method had more to with the two religions having "common problems: to reconcile the conflicting statements of their own authorities, and to safeguard the data of revelation from the impact of Greek philosophy"; thus Christian scholasticism and similar Arab concepts should be viewed in terms of a parallel occurrence, not of the transmission of ideas from one to the other,[24] a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.[53]

Tony Huff, in a discussion of Makdisi's hypothesis, concludes:

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.[54]

shafique wrote:Still in denial.

The whole big thing point is that your blogger's initial premise has been debunked by the same book he took his one quote from (Makdisi's book). I concede that I only quoted Huff citing what Makdisi wrote about European universities copied from Islamic ones - but your blogger only cited Makdisi's quote. I should have stated that MacCulloch, Dalrymple and Makdisi disagree with your blogger, and that Huff also states what Makdisi says about European universities copying from Islamic ones.

Your blogger perhaps should have quoted Huff and not Makdisi. But that's not my problem, is it?

So, your blogger quotes Makdisi selectively and ignores the 18 points which Makdisi says were copied across. Focusing on the aspects that he says were innovations doesn't address the initial premise made by the blogger.

There's no disputing this fact - so thank you again for pointing out the details of what European Universities did indeed copy from Islamic schools. Ergo, premise by blogger debunked. Comprehensively.

Your blogger perhaps should have quoted Huff and not Makdisi. But that's not my problem, is it?