Islamic Civilization

Dominant Aspects of Islamic Learning

In the lines of  Mutahhr b. Tahir al-Maqdisi (fl 966):

‘Learning  only unveils herself to him who wholeheartedly gives himself up to her; who approaches her with unclouded mind and clear insight; who seeks God's help and focuses an undivided attention upon her; who girds up his robe and who, albeit weary, out of sheer ardour, passes sleepless nights in pursuit of his goal rising, by steady ascent, to its topmost height.’[1]

The 10^th century belletrist Ibn Abd Rabbihi of Cordova (860-940) devoted a whole book to knowledge and education: al-Iqd al-farid (The Unique Necklace).[2] In this work, he reiterates an already established tradition, stressing the importance of knowledge, its usefulness and virtue, exhorting people to pursue it.[3] He refers to the leading scholars, their qualities and prominent positions, and he defines knowledge and education as:

‘The pillars upon which rests the axis of religion and the world. They distinguish man from the beast, and the rational from the irrational being. They are the substance of the intellect, the lantern of the body, the light of the heart, and the pole of the soul… The proof is that the intellect grasps the sciences in the same manner sight receives colours, and hearing receives sound. Indeed, the intelligent person who is not taught anything is like one who has no intellect at all. And if a child were not educated and taught to read and write he would be the most stupid of animals and the most wandering beast.’[4] 

Knowledge is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilisation its distinctive shape and complexion, insists Rosenthal.[5] In fact, there is no other concept that has determined Muslim civilisation in all its aspects to the same extent as knowledge.[6]

Learning , by which is meant the whole world of the intellect, Pedersen also notes, engaged the interest of Muslims more than anything else during the golden age of Islam and for a good while thereafter.[7]

‘The life that evolved in the mosques,’ [Pedersen says,] ‘spread outward to put its mark upon influential circles everywhere. Princes and rich men gathered people of learning and letters around them, and it was quite common for a prince, one or more times a week, to hold a concourse (majlis), at which representatives of the intellectual life would assemble and, with their princely host participating, discuss those topics that concerned them, just as they were accustomed to do when meeting in their own milieu.’[8]

In the search for knowledge, I and L Al Faruqi explain, ‘everybody felt himself to be a conscript.'[9]

‘Never before and never since', [admits Briffault,] ‘on such a scale has the spectacle been witnessed of the ruling classes throughout the length and breadth of a vast empire given over entirely to a frenzied passion for the acquisition of knowledge. Learning  seemed to have become for them the chief business of life. Caliphs and emirs hurried from their Diwans to closet themselves in their libraries and observatories. They neglected their affairs of the state to attend lectures and converse on mathematical problems with men of science.'[10]

And where and when the ruler was absent, it was the closest in family ties on to whom this duty fell. In Muslim Spain, for instance, A1-Mondhir, a brother of Caliph Al-Hakem (r. 961-972), who, in the absence of the sovereign, presided over the contests of the famous literary institute in which the talents and the learning of the aspiring scholars of the land were exhibited.[11]

Early in the 9^th century, under the sponsorship of enlightened rulers, such as al-Mamun, Al-Mutawakkil, Abd Errahman II, and the Aghlabid rulers of al-Qayrawan, were established centres for advanced learning in the Muslim world. By the end of the 11^th century ‘university-type institutions' were established in most of the chief cities.[12] Earliest among such institutions was the first scientific academy of its genre: Bayt al-Hikma , or House of Wisdom, which was established in Baghdad  in the 9^th century. It was primarily a research institute, with, as Artz lists, a library, scientific equipment, a translation bureau, and an observatory. Instruction was given in rhetoric, logic, metaphysics and theology, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, biology, medicine, and surgery.[13] At the end of the 9^th century, under Aghlabid rule, a Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) was established in Al-Qayrawan , Tunisia , rivalling its counterpart in Baghdad in the study of medicine, astronomy, engineering and translation.[14] There, intellectual debate raged, mostly around religious subjects and issues of jurisprudence.[15] Two centuries later, in 1065, Artz notes, a great university was founded in Baghdad, and then, in 1234, a second, even more advanced, was set up. This one, he adds, had magnificent buildings, including quarters for four law faculties. The university also maintained dormitories, a hospital, and a huge library, where it was easy to consult the books, and where pens and paper and lamps were supplied free to the students. The students were maintained thanks to endowments.[16] Similar institutions had also been established at Fes , Al-Azhar in Cairo , at Cordova, and even as far east as in Ghazna, where Sultan Mahmud made the city one of the cultural centres of the orient, amongst other things with a scientific organisation comparable to a university.[17] The leading institution amongst these, the Qarawiyyin of Fes, was first built in 859, for some time one of the three or four schools of the city, before it became the principal centre of higher learning in Morocco .[18] It pioneered in providing an advanced curriculum and in its organisation.[19] Endowed principally by royal families, it received students from near and far, from the Maghrib , the Sahara and also Europe. These students lived in residential quadrangles, which contained two and three storey buildings, accommodating 60-150 students, who all received assistance with food and accommodation.[20] This Moroccan institution was impressive within and also without. Its dazzling beauty, in architecture and design, is perfectly caught by Burckhardt in all its majesty.[21]

A predominating trademark of Islamic learning was universality: learning, for the first time in human history, crossed boundaries of class, territory, and social function. In scarcely any other culture, Pedersen holds, has the literary life played such a role as in Islam.[22] Science, once secluded amongst the few, became ‘hobby of the masses, paupers and kings competing to obtain knowledge.’ Islam's religious encouragement of science broke the monopolies of the hermits, of churches and temples, say I. and L. Al-Faruqi.[23] In Al-Qayrawan , women actively participated in the pursuit of learning, and scholars, reigning monarchs and men from all walks of life seem to have supported eagerly the library of their town's grand mosque.[24] In Muslim Spain, Scott notes, there was not a village where ‘the blessings of education’ could not be enjoyed by the children of the most indigent peasant, and in Cordova there were eight hundred public schools frequented alike by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and where instruction was imparted by lectures.[25] The Spanish Muslim received knowledge at the same time and under the same conditions as the literary pilgrims from Asia Minor and Egypt , from Germany, France, and Britain.[26] And in the great Muslim university of Cordova, both Jews and Christians attained to acknowledged distinction as professors.[27]

‘During the most splendid period of Islamic Spain,’ [Scott adds,] ‘ignorance was regarded so disgraceful that those without education concealed the fact as far as possible, just as they would have hidden the commission of a crime.'[28]

Tuition in colleges was free, and in some cases government or philanthropy paid both the salaries of the professors and the expenses of the students.[29] Caliphs such as Al-Mutawakil (r.847-61), who succeeded Al-Ma’mun (r. 813-833), followed his example, favoured the sciences, and extended protection to men of science, many of whom were Christians; Al-Mutawakil also re-established the celebrated academy and library of Alexandria.[30] Early Arab authors also give lists of teachers, some of whom taught without remuneration.[31] However, the thousands of Muslim educational institutions set up between the 7^th and 13^th century, and even later, were maintained by endowments (waqf), income generating sources of one form or another.[32] In Aleppo , for instance, its is known that a share of the profits from lands and orchards, mills and shops, and baths was devoted to the financing of madrasas (and also mosques and hospitals.)[33] In Fustat, old Cairo , investments from a number of persons, and also revenues from caravanserais were devoted as waqfs for the up-keep of madrasas.[34]

At the peak of Islamic civilisation, Pedersen notes, the search for knowledge drove intellectuals to travel widely to hear eminent personages discussing their works.[35] The teacher counted for more than the text, except in the case of the Qur’an: boys studied men rather than books and students would travel  incredible distances to engage the mind of a famous teacher.[36] Every scholar who desired a high standing at home had to hear the master scholars of Makkah , Baghdad , Damascus , and Cairo .[37] The many books written about learned men left a strong impression of this intense life of study, which led young and old from one end of the far flung world of Islam to the other.[38] One person claimed hundreds of teachers, both men and women, and another sold all that he had inherited from his merchant family and spent the money in search of learning; so that he had to travel on foot to Isfahan and Baghdad, carrying his books on his back.[39] From the Atlantic to the Himalayas the fraternity of scholars thrived.[40] In many cases the wandering scholar received not only free instruction at the madrasa (college), but, for a time, also free lodging and food.[41] The great age of Muslim civilization achieved ‘a truly lofty ideal of the savant,’ concludes Von Grunebaum[42]

Islamic civilisation imposed the highest scholarly standards, and it also rewarded them.  Whether judge or theologian of Islam, Artz insists, they were required to be experts in Islamic tradition, canon law, and scholastic theology; and the state administrator, the civil servant, and the educated noble or merchant were supposed to be thoroughly trained in grammar, rhetoric, and history.[43] Among all these professions, facility and distinction in written expression, mastery of etiquette, and a fine command of handwriting were considered great accomplishments.[44] ‘Civilian patterns of human development such as the scholar, the saint, or the literateur have attracted most of Islam's creative energy,’ Von Grunebaum says. ‘In the social stratification, the civilian outranks the soldier. The vizier, a civil servant, is supposed to have precedence over the general. Governmental theory discusses the vizierate before the generalship. The soldier as a caste has frequently ruled Muslim states, but such de facto supremacy in no way changed the consensus that assigned the state civilian leadership.’[45] And the highest echelon of social respect was owed to the scholar; a respect that is a frequent topic of Muslim tradition, as Tritton notes:

‘All creatures lament the death of a scholar, the birds in the air and the fish in the sea, because they profited by his exposition of the law concerning them and his knowledge saved them from ill-treatment. The scholar should not be satisfied in his acts and thoughts with what the law allows: he should aim at the highest. An ignorant teacher is a mockery of religion and to say: 'I do not know' is half of knowledge. To cease learning is to be ignorant.’[46]