Islamic Civilization

Institutional/Organisational Impact

 Translations were essential, but were not alone to lead to both beginning and operations, or functioning of institutions of higher learning in the West. A variety of other factors, also derived from Islam, contributed to such developments. These influences have been studied by Ribera[1]and his followers, but refuted by Rashdall and his.[2]

 Before looking at the Islamic influences, it is first necessary to look at, and refute, Rashdall and his followers’ argument, which insists that Western universities were first on the scene, and as such owe nothing to any Islamic influence.

 Rashdall and his followers’ main point is that Western universities were the first true universities because they were set up by royal prerogative.[3]This is historically false. Contrary to what Rashdall and his followers[4] hold, no Western university, with the exception of Naples (set up by Frederick II  in 1224) was established by prerogative, or as a distinct institution. Haskins , indeed, notes, that at least five universities go back to the 12^th century: Salerno , Bologna, Paris, Montpellier  and Oxford. `Nevertheless,’ he points out,  `these have not entirely emerged from the general group of schools: the name university is scarcely known in this sense; its distinctive organisation is scarcely recognised; universities do not yet associate exclusively with other universities, nor has the Papacy laid its guilding hand upon them.’[5]There are, for instance, no statutes for the Parisian medical faculty before 1270.[6] Similarly, Sarton  notes, the eighth hundredth anniversary of the university of Bologna having been celebrated with considerable pomp in 1888, led many people to conclude that it must have been founded in 1088. But this is purely arbitrary Sarton adds, as it is impossible to say when the university was founded, for there never was a charter of foundation for it.[7] It was only by the middle of the 12^th century that its school of law was famous, and the university was only completely organised towards the end of that century (12^th).[8] Likewise, Clagett explains that the use of the term "university" (Latin , universitas) is somewhat misleading.[9]During the 13^thcentury it designated "an association or guild of either masters or students or both," but it was not limited to educational groups or learning associations, but was used for other associations or guilds. Thus a university did nor mean, as it does today, a group of faculties or schools.[10] Something more in line with our use of the word today, Clagett pursues, was the Latin term `studium generale,’ but even this expression is also misleading, since `generale’ does not refer so much to different faculties as to the fact that the studium was open to all comers. The studium referred to the institution, its place and courses, but not to the organization of its personnel.[11] And, again, back to Haskins, who insists, that despite indications of considerable bodies of masters and students and of vigorous intellectual life, there is very little evidence of formal university organisation.[12] It is, equally found vain by Sarton to try and fix the exact dates of the foundation of these universities, for the simple reason that, indeed, they were not deliberately founded.[13] Various acts of incorporation were given to them later, sometimes much later, when they had grown to a respectable size and shown by their own being what a university was. And the fact that not merely one university grew in that manner-somewhat unconsciously, like a living thing-but many, in different countries, proves, Sarton concludes, `that these creations answered a definite need of the time.’[14] And that need, he explains, was due to the vast influx of knowledge in the 12<sup>th</sup> century, so large learning, `that systematic methods of education became necessary. In the meantime the growth of cities had made the application of such methods at once more tempting and more easy. Thus our universities appeared in the second half of the 12^th century, and not before, because there had not been sufficient scope nor opportunity for them until that time, and they appeared then because the need was suddenly urgent.’[15]

From the preceding two conclusions can be derived:

First, contrary to what Rashdall and his followers hold, all Western institutions of higher learning operated for decades, at least, before they were officially set up.

Second, it was the influx of Islamic learning that was at the foundation of the origin, and very existence of such institutions.

 And whilst both these two points have been amply proved, Rashdall and his followers cannot provide a single piece of evidence to show one single document establishing such institutions officially at the very start of their existence. They can neither provide one single piece of evidence showing these universities providing any advanced teaching prior to the translations from Islam, or lecturing anything advanced other than what was translated from Arabic, except in theological sciences.

To reinforce the points just made, the first university to be founded at a definite time, by a definite charter in Western Christendom  was the University of Naples, founded in 1224 by Frederick II .[16] Its other distinction: it was the first university in the Western world that relied primarily on Islamic learning and Islamic model of teaching. Lest the learning of the scholars whom he had assembled should die with their deaths, Durant holds,[17]Frederick founded it in 1224, a rare example of a medieval university established without ecclesiastical sanction.[18] Frederick’s deep knowledge of the Muslim world, allowed him, according to Mieli , to know and appreciate the Muslim precedents, which explains his founding of Naples University.[19] More importantly, Frederick called to its faculty scholars in all arts and sciences, and paid them high salaries; and he assigned subsidies to enable poor but qualified students to attend.[20] Frederick also established universities in Messina and Padua, and renovated the old medical school of Salerno  `in accordance with the advances of Arab medicine.'[21]

Naples was, thus, unique, and Rashdall and his followers, hence, are telling a major fallacy when they attribute what is proper and unique to Naples to other Western Christian universities, when neither Rashdall nor his followers can show an earlier single piece of evidence of official founding at a precise date for any such universities. And Naples was unique because it was the most directly inspired institution from Islamic models, founded by an Islamic inspired ruler, its teaching based on Islamic science , and its principal function being to disseminate Islamic learning.

To demonstrate further both the Islamic pioneering role in higher learning, and the Islamic impact on the Christian West , it is important to address the issue from two distinct angles:

-First to show that institutions of higher learning were established in Islam centuries before their counterparts in the Christian West .

-Second, to show in detail some models of borrowing in the organisation of the first Western universities from their Islamic counterparts.

On the first point (the pioneering aspect), in Islam, there was some organisation of higher education as early as the beginning of the 9^th century, Watt notes, and by the end of the 11^th century, university-type institutions had been established in most of the chief cities.[22] Earliest of all, is Bayt al-Hikma (the house of Wisdom), founded in the 9^th century by Caliph Al-Mamun, and which has in all manners and forms the making of the earliest modern institution of advanced learning, including scientific equipment, a translation bureau, and an observatory. Instruction included rhetoric, logic, metaphysics and theology, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, biology, medicine, and surgery.[23] The institution was set up by the Caliph, himself, officially, and was funded by the central authority. In such an academy worked or collaborated the most eminent court scholars of the time: The Banu Musa  Brothers (mathematicians, and astronomers,) Al-Khwarizmi ; al-Battani, and so on and so forth.[24] In the same institution were recorded some of the earliest Islamic achievements. In astronomy, for instance, there was determined the position of the solar apogee,[25]the inclination of the ecliptic,[26]was calculated the earth circumference,[27]and were made observations of solar and lunar eclipses and planetary positions.

 Then, of course, are the university mosques; Watt pointed out (in 1972) that teaching has been going on continuously for a thousand of years in the university-mosque of Al-Azhar in Cairo .[28] And also at Al-Qarawiyyin (Fes), which dates from the middle of the 10^th century;[29]and at Al-Qayrawan  even earlier, as some of the medical texts mentioned above (that were translated by Constantine the African ) date from the 9^th century.[30]The curriculum in such places, Nakosteen points out, reminds us in its extensive and intensive nature of curricular programs of modern advanced systems of education, particularly on higher levels of education.[31] It was not unusual to find instruction in algebra, trigonometry, geometry, chemistry, physics, astronomy, medicine, pharmacy, history, geography etc.[32] Some of the professors of polite literature, Draper notes, gave lectures on Arabic classical works; others taught rhetoric or composition, or mathematics, or astronomy.[33] Specific instances show that astronomy and engineering were studied at Al-Azhar,[34] medicine also at Al-Azhar and the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Egypt  (9^th century).[35] At the Qarrawiyyin, were dispensed courses on grammar, rhetoric, logic, elements of mathematics and astronomy,[36] and possibly history, geography and elements of chemistry.[37] At Al-Qayrawan and Zaytuna in Tunisia , alongside the Quran and jurisprudence were taught grammar, mathematics, astronomy and medicine.[38]And these were no subjects of later centuries, quite the opposite. At Al-Qayrawan, in particular, classes in medicine were delivered by Ziad Ben Khalfun, Ishak Ben Imran and Ishak Ben Sulayman (all scholars of the 9^th century),[39]whose works were subsequently translated by Constantine The African in the 11^th century at Salerno .

And whilst in the Christian West , the name, university, Haskins  notes, eludes search before the 13^th century, when it appears incidentally in 1208-09 in the letters of a former student (Pope Innocent III), where, as often in the history of institutions, the name follows after the thing itself,[40]this is not the case in Islam. The word `Jamia’ (university in Arabic) appeared extremely early, and was linked with the first mosque universities of Islam such as Al-Qarrawiyyin in Fes, Al-Azhar in Cairo , Al-Qayrawan mosque, etc.[41]Jamia derives precisely from Jamaa (mosque), the two institutions, thus, having intricate links in curriculum and in name.[42]

And the same mosque/university linkage observed with respect to student organisation. The number of students at al-Azhar always included hundreds of foreign students, many from far distant lands; students who did not have homes in Cairo  were assigned to a residential unit, which was endowed to care for them.[43] Generally, the unit gave the resident students free bread, which supplemented food given to them by their families, whilst better off students could afford to live in lodgings near the mosque. Every large unit also included a library, kitchen and lavatory, and some space for furniture.[44]At the Qarrawiyyin (Fes), students were given monetary allowances periodically.[45]There, students lived in residential quadrangles, which contained two and three story buildings of varying sizes, accommodating between sixty and a hundred and fifty students, all also receiving a minimal assistance for food and accommodation.[46]

With regard to the second point, the Islamic impact in relation to organisation, is visible in all form, structure and also methods of teaching and examination, which are seen in turn.     

Ribera insists that in their structure and organisation, Western universities were based on the Nizamiyah madrasa (college) founded by the Seljuk minister in 1065 in Baghdad .[47] The students often lived in boarding houses (khan) under supervision of their teacher and employed an inkwell as a symbol.[48]A chapel and a library, as well as residential arrangements for students and teachers were a distinct feature of the madrasas, the precursors of the residential colleges of British universities.[49] The Studia of medieval Europe, according to Hossein, were just imitations of madrasas both in their name and free growth, and that `the great Muslim madrassah was also the archetype of the Studium General which, with the later requisite of the royal or papal authorization, came to be known as university in Europe.'[50] In going back to the origins, Makdisi points out, as it first appeared in Paris, Oxford and elsewhere, the college was a previous product of Islam; and that, in Merton College in Oxford, `we have a watershed in the history of the college.’[51] Merton stands as a dividing point between the college of Islam on the one hand, and that of the United States on the other.[52]

Both Islamic pioneering role and impact are also found in the manner of teaching. At the madrasas, centuries before Abelard, the dialectical method (jadal) was employed in disputations (munazara).[53] The different opinions were enumerated (khilaf), a consensus (ijma) was sought in order to harmonise reason with faith. In teaching, the dictation method was used, as teaching was synonymous with dictation (imla).[54] Classes were directed by a mudarris, who can be compared to a professor, with `naib' (substitute professor,) and also a muid who acts as a `drill master,' the latter repeating the teachings of the professor like a `repetiteur' of Western universities. From these institutions many of the practices observed in Western colleges were derived, says Draper.[55] They held commencements, at which poems were read and orations delivered in presence of the public.[56] Whilst going through the Azhar mosque during professorial lectures, Le Bon notes, `it seemed a magic stick had taken me back to our old 13^th century universities. The same confusion in the theology and literary studies, same methods, same organisation of students gathered in corporations, and benefiting of the same immunities and franchises.’[57] Thus, Gerard of Cremona , the first university lecturer, most probably in the first Western university, Toledo ,[58] was being heckled, but was not troubled, for we find him conducting his collegium like a Muslim faqih (learned religious person), anticipating counterarguments and sharpening his points in a lively encounter with his students.[59] In Paris, students sat on the floor, covered with straw, whilst a professor lectured from a platform. [60]

A major step in the advance of higher learning was the introduction of a system of examination and diplomas, and here, again, was the primary role of the Islamic system and its impact. It was under Roger II of Sicily , who was deeply influenced by Islamic antecedents and culture, that was pioneered the foundation and establishment of medical faculties and the granting of medical degrees. In 1140, he enacted that everyone who desired to practice medicine must, under pain of imprisonment and confiscation of goods, present himself before a magistrate and obtain authorization.[61]Roger introduced examination by experienced physicians of all candidates for the profession of medicine and surgery, restricting those whose learning was deficient to `the clandestine ministrations of the shrine and the confessional.’[62] Other rulers of Western Christendom followed his example, and these measures ultimately led to the specialization of the study of medicine and the granting of degrees by the medical faculties of universities.[63] The inception of the idea of the regularization of medical practice by Roger of Sicily was probably related to his `Arabist’ leanings, for the Arabs  had a system of licensing in vogue in the centuries previously.[64] It is necessary to remember that it was in 931, that Caliph al-Muqtadir ordered that physicians had to have licence before setting up practice.[65] The beginnings of the system of medical examinations, thus, are to be sought among the `Arabs.’[66]Obtaining a certificate was also the practice in even the earliest mosque study, and as a rule, once a student had been able to collect certificates from a number of teachers, he was in position to seek employment in a mosque, college, law court, government office or village school.[67]

Also amongst others, Islam pioneered and influenced the West and the course of university scholarship in the doctoral thesis and its defence, and in the peer review of scholarly work based on the concensus of peers.[68] A characteristic of the teaching in Islamic schools of Spain was that `dialectic tournaments' were customary among the students and also among the teachers; this practice was introduced with renewed vigour among the High scholastics of Medieval Europe, through the Western Caliphate.[69] The practice of these disputations was thus not entirely a new idea to the Latin  West, and it is to this custom that we owe the modern practice of demanding Theses and Dissertations from aspirants to University Honours.[70] And it is only in 1270 that we first find formal degrees granted by Bologna.[71]After having well studied his trivium, the candidate for the Baccalaureat underwent an examination, and had to enter into arguments upon grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics.[72] The title of doctor of medicine, first used by Giles of Corbeil with reference to Salernitan graduates (when Salerno  was then under the rule of Frederick) became the badge of honour of the most learned physicians, and graduation ceremonies were made as impressive as possible.[73]

More on these matters can be found expanded upon by Makdisi.[74]

Bringing the two main sources, or traits, of Islamic influence on the West (via learning, and models and organisation of learning) is the 12^th century Toledan experience. Toledo  supplied the Christian West  with learning more than any other place did before in history through the translations effected there.  It was also Gerard's (of Cremona) fame as a teacher and expounder of Islamic science  that gave Toledo its international stature and fame, says Metlitzki.[75] Daniel (of Morley) found him lecturing to a body of students, just like his Muslim predecessors, at the Toledo Mosque, which shows that Toledo was the first de facto university in Christian Spain, though it was not an official studium generale.[76] Daniel's eyewitness account of the proceedings is a unique medieval document, Metlitzki observes; the effects of which, even on the intellectual climate of medieval England , remain to be fully investigated.[77]And when he left Toledo, Daniel, on his return to England did not just take with him `a precious multitude of books,’ but, most importantly, in order `to explain the teaching of Toledo to Bishop John of Norwich (1175-1200),’[78]he wrote his De philosophia.[79]