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{{short description|School or college, often providing an Islamic education}}
{{Distinguish|Chennai{{!}}Madras|Madrasi|Madrasta (disambiguation){{!}}Madrasta|Madrashe}}
{{redirect-multi|3|Madraseh|Medrese|Madraza|other uses|Madrasa (disambiguation)}}
[[File:RegistanSquare Samarkand.jpg|alt=|thumb|upright=1.25|The three madrasas at the [[Registan]] of [[Samarkand]], built during the [[Timurid Renaissance]]]]
{{Islam}}{{Usul al-fiqh}}
'''Madrasa''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|d|r|æ|s|ə}},<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190606084157/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/madrasa "madrasa"] (US) and {{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/madrasa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230224626/https://www.lexico.com/definition/madrasa |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-12-30 |title=madrasa |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> <small>also</small> {{IPAc-en|US|-|r|ɑː|s|-}},<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|madrasa|access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref><ref name=":19">{{Cite Merriam-Webster|madrassa|access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|m|æ|d|r|ɑː|s|ə}};<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/madrasah|title=Madrasah|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=6 June 2019|archive-date=6 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606084145/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/madrasah|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Arabic]]: مدرسة {{IPA|ar|madˈrasa||ar-مدرسة.ogg}}, {{small|[[Plural|pl.]]}} {{lang|ar|مدارس}} {{transliteration|ar|ALA|madāris}}), sometimes [[Romanization of Arabic|romanized]] as '''madrasah''' or '''madrassa''',<ref name=":19" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=madrasa |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/madrasa |access-date=19 November 2023 |website=Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref> is the Arabic word for any type of [[educational institution]], secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. In countries outside the [[Arab world]], the word usually refers to a specific type of [[religious school]] or college for the study of the religion of [[Islam]] (loosely equivalent to a [[seminary]] in [[Christianity]] and a [[yeshiva]] or ''[[beit midrash]]'' in [[Judaism]]), though this may not be the only subject studied. 

In an [[Islamic architecture|architectural]] and historical context, the term generally refers to a particular kind of institution in the historic [[Muslim world]] that primarily taught [[Sharia]] (Islamic law) and ''[[fiqh]]'' (jurisprudence), as well as other subjects on occasion. The origin of the madrasa is widely credited to [[Nizam al-Mulk]], a [[vizier]] under the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuks]] in the 11th century, who was responsible for building the first network of official madrasas in Iran, [[Mesopotamia]], and [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]. From there, the construction of madrasas spread across much of the Muslim world over the next few centuries, often adopting similar models of architectural design.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" />

The madrasas became the longest-serving institutions of the Ottoman Empire, beginning service in 1330 and operating for nearly 600 years on three continents. They trained doctors, engineers, lawyers and religious officials, among other members of the governing and political elite. The madrasas were a specific educational institution, with their own funding and curricula, in contrast with the [[Enderun School|Enderun]] palace schools attended by [[Devshirme]] pupils.<ref>{{cite book |last=Aktan |first=Sümer |title=Curriculum Studies in Turkey:A Historical Perspective |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |date=2018 |location=United States |pages=46, 76, 77}}</ref>

==Definition==
=== Etymology ===
The word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' derives from the triconsonantal [[Semitic root]] د-ر-س ''D-R-S'' 'to learn, study', using the ''wazn'' ([[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] form or template) {{lang|ar|مفعل(ة)}}; {{transliteration|ar|ALA|mafʻal(ah)}}, meaning "a place where something is done". Thus, ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' literally means "a place where learning and studying take place" or "place of study".<ref>{{Cite web|title=madrasah - Origin and meaning of madrasah |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/madrasah|access-date=2020-08-13|website=Online Etymology Dictionary |language=en|archive-date=2020-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813174629/https://www.etymonline.com/word/madrasah|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> The word is also present as a [[loanword]] with the same general meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages, such as: [[Urdu]], [[Pashto]], [[Balochi language|Baluchi]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]], [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Somali language|Somali]] and [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hassim|first=E.|title=International Encyclopedia of Civil Society|publisher=Springer|year=2020|editor-last=List|editor-first=Regina A.|chapter=Madrassa|editor-last2=Anheier|editor-first2=Helmut K.|editor-last3=Toepler|editor-first3=Stefan}}</ref>

=== Arabic meaning ===
In the Arabic language, the word {{lang|ar|مدرسة}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' simply means the same as ''school'' does in the English language, whether that is private, state or religious school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether [[Muslim]], non-Muslim or secular.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/glossary-madrassa-or-madrasa-2352961|title=Alternate Spellings of Madrassa|work=ThoughtCo|access-date=2017-05-30|archive-date=2017-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014113940/https://www.thoughtco.com/glossary-madrassa-or-madrasa-2352961|url-status=live}}</ref><ref> ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Madrasah ʻāmmah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة عامة}}) translates as '[[Public school (government funded)|public school]]', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah khāṣṣah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة خاصة}}) translates as 'private school', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah dīnīyah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة دينية}}) translates as '[[Parochial school|religious school]]', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah Islāmīyah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة إسلامية}}) translates as 'Islamic school', and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah jāmiʻah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة جامعة}}) translates as 'university'.</ref> Unlike the use of the word ''school'' in British English, the word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' more closely resembles the term ''school'' in American English, in that it can refer to a university-level or post-graduate school as well as to a primary or secondary school. For example, in the [[Ottoman Empire]] during the [[Early Modern Period]], madrasas had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as ''danişmends''.<ref name="Ottoman">İnalcık, Halil. 1973. "Learning, the Medrese, and the Ulema." In ''The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600''. New York: Praeger, pp. 165–178.
</ref> In medieval usage, however, the term ''madrasah'' was usually specific to institutions of higher learning, which generally taught Islamic law and occasionally other subjects, as opposed to elementary schools or children's schools, which were usually known as ''[[Kuttab|kuttāb]]'', ''[[Khalwa (school)|khalwa]]''<ref>{{Cite book |last=McHugh |first=Neil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJVh-uUNSAkC&dq=%22Khalwa%22+school+-wikipedia&pg=PA85 |title=Holymen of the Blue Nile: The Making of an Arab-Islamic Community in the Nilotic Sudan, 1500-1850 |date=1994 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-1069-4 |language=en}}</ref> or ''maktab''.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /> The usual [[Arabic]] word for a university, however, is {{lang|ar|جامعة}} ''({{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}})''. The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[cognate]] ''[[midrasha]]'' also connotes the meaning of a place of learning; the related term ''[[midrash]]'' literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations.

=== Meaning and usage in English ===
In English, the term ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' or "madrasa" usually refers more narrowly to Islamic institutions of learning. Historians and other scholars also employ the term to refer to historical learning institutions throughout the [[Muslim world]], which is to say a college where [[Sharia|Islamic law]] was taught along with other secondary subjects, but not to secular science schools, modern or historical. These institutions were typically housed in specially designed buildings which were primarily devoted to this purpose. Such institutions are believed to have originated, or at least proliferated, in the region of [[Iran]] in the 11th century under [[vizier]] [[Nizam al-Mulk]] and subsequently spread to other regions of the Islamic world.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last1=Abaza|first1=Mona|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|last2=Kéchichian|first2=Joseph A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|chapter=Madrasah}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan M. |editor-link=Jonathan M. Bloom |volume=2 |pages=430–433 |language=en |chapter=Madrasa |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1 |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=Sheila S. |editor-link2=Sheila Blair}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Nizamiyya|List of oldest madrasahs in continuous operation}}

=== Early history ===
[[File:29610-Fez (28134041211) (qarawiyyin crop).jpg|thumb|View of the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|Qarawiyyin Mosque]] (marked by the green roofs and the white [[minaret]]) on the skyline of historic [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]]|alt=|250x250px]]

The first [[institute]] of madrasa education was at the estate of [[Zayd ibn Arqam]] near a hill called [[Al-Safa and Al-Marwah|Safa]], where [[Muhammad]] was the teacher and the students were some of his followers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} After [[Hegira|Hijrah]] (migration) the madrasa of "Suffa" was established in [[Medina|Madina]] on the east side of the [[Al-Masjid an-Nabawi]] mosque. [[Ubada ibn as-Samit]] was appointed there by Muhammad as teacher and among the students.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} In the curriculum of the madrasa, there were teachings of The [[Qur'an]], The [[Hadith]], [[fara'iz]], [[tajweed]], [[genealogy]], treatises of [[first aid]], etc. There was also training in horse-riding, the art of war, handwriting and [[calligraphy]], and [[Athletics (physical culture)|athletics]] and [[martial arts]]. The first part of madrasa-based education is dated from the first day of "[[nabuwwat]]" to the first portion of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} At the beginning of the [[Caliphate]] period, the reliance on [[Court (royal)|courts]] initially confined sponsorship and scholarly activities to major centres.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In the early history of the Islamic period, teaching was generally carried out in mosques rather than in separate specialized institutions. Although some major early mosques like the [[Umayyad Mosque|Great Mosque of Damascus]] or the [[Mosque of Amr ibn al-As]] in [[Cairo]] had separate rooms which were devoted to teaching, this distinction between "mosque" and "madrasa" was not very developed.<ref name=":0">{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=5|pages=1123–1154|article=Madrasa|last1=Pedersen|first1=J.|first2=G.|last2=Makdisi|last3=Rahman|first3=Munibur|last4=Hillenbrand|first4=Robert}}</ref> Notably, the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|al-Qarawiyyin]] (''Jāmiʻat al-Qarawīyīn''), established in 859 in the city of [[Fes, Morocco|Fes]], present-day [[Morocco]], is considered the oldest university in the world by some scholars,<ref name="founding-1"> while other scholars have argued that this distinction belongs to the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin]], also founded in 859.

*{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |author-link=John L. Esposito |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-512559-2 |page=328 }}
*Kettani, M. Ali. ''Engineering Education in the Arab World''. Middle East Journal, 1974, 28(4):441.</ref> though the application of the term "university" to institutions of the medieval Muslim world is disputed.<ref>Makdisi, George: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''[[Studia Islamica]]'', No. 32 (1970), pp.&nbsp;255–264</ref><ref name=":4">[[:fr:Jacques Verger|Verger, Jacques]]: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-521-54113-8}}, pp.&nbsp;35–76 (35): {{blockquote|No one today would dispute the fact that universities, in the sense in which the term is now generally understood, were a creation of the [[Middle Ages]], appearing for the first time between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It is no doubt true that other civilizations, prior to, or wholly alien to, the [[medieval]] [[Western world|West]], such as the [[Roman Empire]], [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]], [[History of Islam|Islam]], or [[History of China#Ancient China|China]], were familiar with forms of higher education which a number of historians, for the sake of convenience, have sometimes described as universities. Yet a closer look makes it plain that the institutional reality was altogether different and, no matter what has been said on the subject, there is no real link such as would justify us in associating them with [[Medieval university|medieval universities]] in the West. Until there is definite proof to the contrary, these latter must be regarded as the sole source of the model which gradually spread through the whole of Europe and then to the whole world. We are therefore concerned with what is indisputably an original institution, which can only be defined in terms of a historical analysis of its emergence and its mode of operation in concrete circumstances.}}</ref> According to tradition, the al-Qarawiyyin mosque was founded by [[Fatima al-Fihri|''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Fāṭimah al-Fihrī}}'']], the daughter of a wealthy merchant named {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Muḥammad al-Fihrī}}. This was later followed by the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] establishment of [[al-Azhar Mosque]] in 969–970 in Cairo, initially as a center to promote [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] teachings, which later became a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] institution under [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] rule (today's [[Al-Azhar University]]).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Creswell|first=K.A.C.|title=The Muslim Architecture of Egypt I, Ikhshids and Fatimids, A.D. 939–1171|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1952|pages=36}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Brett|first=Michael|title=The Fatimid Empire|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2017|pages=104}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Behrens-Abouseif|first=Doris|title=Islamic Architecture in Cairo: an Introduction|publisher=E.J. Brill|year=1989|pages=58–62}}</ref><ref name=":6">Jonathan Berkey, ''The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), ''passim''</ref> By the 900s AD, the Madrasa is noted to have become a successful higher education system.<ref name="Hilgendorf 63–75">{{Cite journal|last=Hilgendorf|first=Eric|date=April 2003|title=Islamic Education: History and Tendency|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327930pje7802_04|journal=Peabody Journal of Education|volume=78|issue=2|pages=63–75|doi=10.1207/s15327930pje7802_04|s2cid=129458856|issn=0161-956X|access-date=2021-11-23|archive-date=2023-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132433/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327930PJE7802_04|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== The development of the formal ''madrasah'' ===
[[File:المدرسة المستنصرية في بغداد.jpg|thumb|The [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya]] in [[Baghdad]], established in 1227, one of the only [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]]-era madrasas remaining today]]
In the late 11th century, during the late [[Abbasid|ʻAbbāsid]] period, the [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk]] vizier [[Nizam al-Mulk|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Niẓām al-Mulk}}]] created one of the first major official academic institutions known in history as the [[Nizamiyyah|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Madrasah Niẓāmīyah}}]], based on the informal ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|majālis}}'' (sessions of the shaykhs). {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Niẓām al-Mulk}}, who would later be murdered by the [[Assassins (sect)|Assassins]] (''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ḥashshāshīn}}''), created a system of state madrasas (in his time they were called the Niẓāmiyyahs, named after him) in various Seljuk and ʻAbbāsid cities at the end of the 11th century, ranging from [[Mesopotamia]] to [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> Although madrasa-type institutions appear to have existed in Iran before Nizam al-Mulk, this period is nonetheless considered by many as the starting point for the proliferation of the formal ''madrasah'' across the rest of the Muslim world, adapted for use by all four different Sunni [[madhhab|Islamic legal schools]] and [[Tariqah|Sufi orders]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> Part of the motivation for this widespread adoption of the madrasah by Sunni rulers and elites was a desire to counter the influence and spread of [[Shia Islam|Shi'ism]] at the time, by using these institutions to spread Sunni teachings.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

[[Dimitri Gutas]] and the ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' consider the period between the 11th and 14th centuries to be the "[[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age]]" of Arabic and [[Islamic philosophy]], initiated by [[al-Ghazali]]'s successful [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|integration of logic]] into the {{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}} curriculum and the subsequent rise of [[Avicennism]].<ref name="Stanford">{{cite web|author=Tony Street|title=Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Language and Logic|publisher=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|date=July 23, 2008|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-language|access-date=2008-12-05|archive-date=2019-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417070103/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-language/|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to religious subjects, they taught the "rational sciences," as varied as [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|mathematics]], [[Astronomy in medieval Islam|astronomy]], [[Islamic astrology|astrology]], [[Geography and cartography in medieval Islam|geography]], [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|alchemy]], and [[philosophy]], depending on the curriculum of the specific institution in question.<ref>{{citation|title=Between doubts and certainties: on the place of history of science in Islamic societies within the field of history of science|author=Sonja Brentjes|author-link= Sonja Brentjes |journal=NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|issn=1420-9144|volume=11|issue=2|date=June 2003|doi=10.1007/BF02908588|pages=65–79 [69]|pmid=12852421|s2cid=6271842}}</ref> The madrasas, however, were not centres of advanced scientific study; scientific advances in Islam were usually carried out by scholars working under the [[patronage]] of royal courts.<ref>{{citation | last = Sabra | first = A. I. | author-link = A. I. Sabra | editor-last = Shank | editor-first = Michael H. | contribution = Situating Arabic Science: Locality versus Essence | title = The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages | place = Chicago | publisher = University of Chicago Press | orig-year = 1996 | year = 2000 | pages = 215–31 | isbn = 0-226-74951-7}}, pages 225-7</ref> During the [[Islamic Golden Age]], the territories under the Caliphate experienced a growth in [[literacy]], having the highest literacy rate of the [[Middle Ages]], comparable to [[classical Athens]]' literacy in [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] but on a much larger scale.<ref>{{citation|title=Delivering Education|author=Andrew J. Coulson|page=117|publisher=[[Hoover Institution]]|url=http://media.hoover.org/documents/0817928928_105.pdf|access-date=2008-11-22|archive-date=2011-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817054244/http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/0817928928_105.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The emergence of the [[Kuttab|maktab]] and madrasa institutions played a fundamental role in the relatively high literacy rates of the medieval Islamic world.<ref>{{citation|author=Edmund Burke|title=Islam at the Center: Technological Complexes and the Roots of Modernity|journal=[[Journal of World History]]|volume=20|issue=2|date=June 2009|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|doi=10.1353/jwh.0.0045|pages=165–186 [178–82]|s2cid=143484233}}</ref>
[[File:Nur al-Din Madrasa.jpg|thumb|Courtyard of the [[Nur al-Din Madrasa]] in [[Damascus]], originally built in 1167 by [[Nur ad-Din Zengi]]]]Under the [[Sultanate of Rum|Anatolian Seljuk]], [[Zengid dynasty|Zengid]], [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]], and [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] dynasties (11th-16th centuries) in the Middle East, many of the ruling elite founded madrasas through a religious endowment and [[charitable trust]] known as a ''[[waqf]]''.<ref>Ira Lapidus, ''Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), ''passim''</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":2">Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. 2007. ''Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture''. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.</ref> The first documented madrasa created in Syria was the Madrasa of Kumushtakin, added to a mosque in [[Bosra]] in 1136.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Burns|first=Ross|title=The Monuments of Syria: A Guide|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2009|isbn=9781845119478|pages=|orig-year=1992}}</ref>{{Rp|27}}<ref name=":242">{{Cite book|last=|first=|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780195309911|editor-last=M. Bloom|editor-first=Jonathan|location=|pages=|chapter=Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; B. Central Islamic lands|editor-last2=S. Blair|editor-first2=Sheila}}</ref> One of the earliest madrasas in Damascus, and one of the first madrasas to be accompanied by the tomb of its founder, is the [[Nur al-Din Madrasa|Madrasa al-Nuriyya]] (or Madrasa al-Kubra) founded by [[Nur al-Din Zengi]] in 1167–1172.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|119}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ettinghausen|first1=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1uWZAzN_VcC&pg=PP1|title=Islamic Art and Architecture: 650–1250|last2=Grabar|first2=Oleg|last3=Jenkins|first3=Marilyn|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780300088670|edition=2nd|access-date=2021-11-18|archive-date=2023-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132431/https://books.google.com/books?id=l1uWZAzN_VcC&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|225}} After [[Saladin|Salah ad-Din]] (Saladin) overthrew the Shi'a Fatimids in Egypt in 1171, he founded a Sunni madrasa near the tomb of [[al-Shafi'i]] in Cairo in 1176–1177, introducing this institution to Egypt.<ref name=":242" /> The Mamluks who succeeded the Ayyubids built many more madrasas across their territories. Not only was the madrasa a potent symbol of status for its patrons but it could also be an effective means of transmitting wealth and status to their descendants. Especially during the Mamluk period, when only former slaves (''[[Mamluk|mamālīk]]'') could assume power, the sons of the ruling Mamluk elites were unable to inherit. Guaranteed positions within the new madrasas (and other similar foundations) thus allowed them to maintain some status and means of living even after their fathers' deaths.<ref name=":2" /> Madrasas built in this period were often associated with the mausoleums of their founders.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Caroline|title=Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide|publisher=The American University in Cairo Press|year=2018|edition=7th|location=Cairo}}</ref>

Further west, the [[Hafsid dynasty]] introduced the first madrasas to [[Ifriqiya]], beginning with the [[Madrasa Ech Chamaiya|Madrasa al-Shamma῾iyya]] built in Tunis in 1238<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|last1=Binous|first1=Jamila|title=Ifriqiya: Thirteen Centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia|last2=Baklouti|first2=Naceur|last3=Ben Tanfous|first3=Aziza|last4=Bouteraa|first4=Kadri|last5=Rammah|first5=Mourad|last6=Zouari|first6=Ali|publisher=Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF|year=2002|isbn=9783902782199|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name=":82">{{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&q=Islamic+Palace+Architecture+in+the+Western+Mediterranean&pg=PP1|title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2020|isbn=9780300218701|location=|pages=|access-date=2021-10-07|archive-date=2023-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132432/https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&q=Islamic+Palace+Architecture+in+the+Western+Mediterranean&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|209}} (or in 1249 according to some sources<ref name=":022">{{Cite book|last=Marçais|first=Georges|title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident|publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques|year=1954|location=Paris}}</ref>{{Rp|296}}<ref name=":244">{{Cite book|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780195309911|editor-last=M. Bloom|editor-first=Jonathan|chapter=Hafsid|editor-last2=S. Blair|editor-first2=Sheila}}</ref>). By the late 13th century, the first madrasas were being built in [[Morocco]] under the [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid dynasty]], starting with the [[Saffarin Madrasa]] in Fes (founded in 1271) and culminating with much larger and more ornate constructions like the [[Bou Inania Madrasa]] (founded in 1350).<ref name=":022"/><ref name=":13">{{Cite book|last1=Lintz|first1=Yannick|title=Maroc médiéval: Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne|last2=Déléry|first2=Claire|last3=Tuil Leonetti|first3=Bulle|publisher=Louvre éditions|year=2014|isbn=9782350314907|location=Paris}}</ref>

During the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman period]] the ''medrese'' ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] word for ''madrasah'') was a common institution as well, often part of a larger ''[[külliye]]'' or a ''waqf''-based religious foundation which included other elements like a mosque and a ''[[Hammam (bath)|hammam]]'' (public bathhouse).<ref name=":8"/> The following excerpt provides a brief synopsis of the historical origins and starting points for the teachings that took place in the Ottoman madrasas in the Early Modern Period:{{blockquote|
Taşköprülüzâde's concept of knowledge and his division of the sciences provides a starting point for a study of learning and medrese education in the Ottoman Empire. Taşköprülüzâde recognises four stages of knowledge—spiritual, intellectual, oral and written. Thus all the sciences fall into one of these seven categories: calligraphic sciences, oral sciences, intellectual sciences, spiritual sciences, theoretical rational sciences, and practical rational sciences. The first Ottoman medrese was created in İznik in 1331, when a converted church building was assigned as a medrese to a famous scholar, Dâvûd of Kayseri. Suleyman made an important change in the hierarchy of Ottoman medreses. He established four general medreses and two more for specialised studies, one devoted to the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥadīth}}'' and the other to medicine. He gave the highest ranking to these and thus established the hierarchy of the medreses which was to continue until the end of the empire.<ref name = "Ottoman"/>
|author=|title=|source=}}

== Islamic education in the madrasa ==
The term "Islamic education" means education in the light of Islam itself, which is rooted in the teachings of the [[Qur'an]] – the holy book of the Muslims. Islamic education and Muslim education are not the same. Because Islamic education has epistemological integration which is founded on [[Tawhid]] – Oneness or [[monotheism]].<ref>Baba, S., Salleh, M. J., Zayed, T. M., & Harris, R. (2015). [https://www.academia.edu/12291066/A_Qur_anic_Methodology_for_Integrating_Knowledge_and_Education_Implications_for_Malaysia_s_Islamic_Education_Strategy A Qur’anic Methodology for Integrating Knowledge and Education: Implications for Malaysia's Islamic Education Strategy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829104843/http://www.academia.edu/12291066/A_Qur_anic_Methodology_for_Integrating_Knowledge_and_Education_Implications_for_Malaysia_s_Islamic_Education_Strategy |date=2017-08-29 }}. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 32(2).</ref><ref>Baba, S., & Zayed, T. M. (2015). [https://www.academia.edu/11796624/Knowledge_of_Shariah_and_Knowledge_to_Manage_Self_and_System_Integration_of_Islamic_Epistemology_with_the_Knowledge_and_Education Knowledge of Shariah and Knowledge to Manage “Self” and “System”: Integration of Islamic Epistemology with the Knowledge and Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829104835/http://www.academia.edu/11796624/Knowledge_of_Shariah_and_Knowledge_to_Manage_Self_and_System_Integration_of_Islamic_Epistemology_with_the_Knowledge_and_Education |date=2017-08-29 }}. Journal of Islam, Law and Judiciary, 1(1), 45–62.</ref> To Islam, the Quran is the core of all learning, it is described in this journal as the “Spine of all discipline”<ref name="Hilgendorf 63–75" />

A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥifẓ}}'' course teaching memorization of the [[Qur'an]] (the person who commits the entire Qur'an to memory is called a [[Hafiz (Quran)|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥāfiẓ}}]]); and an [[Ulema|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʻālim}}]] course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community. A regular curriculum includes courses in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], ''[[tafsir]]'' (Qur'anic interpretation), [[sharia|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|sharīʻah}}]] (Islamic law), [[hadith]], [[mantiq]] (logic), and [[Muslim history]]. In the [[Ottoman Empire]], during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Süleyman I]].<ref name="Ottoman" /> Depending on the educational demands, some madrasas also offer additional advanced courses in [[Arabic literature]], English and other foreign languages, as well as science and world history. Ottoman madrasas along with religious teachings also taught "styles of writing, grammar, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, and etiquette."<ref name="Ottoman" />

People of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming [[imam]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21654.pdf|title=Islamic religious schools, Madrasas: Background|last=Blanchard|first=Christopher M.|date=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305093937/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21654.pdf|archive-date=2005-03-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} The certificate of an ''ʻālim'', for example, requires approximately twelve years of study.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} A good number of the ''ḥuffāẓ'' (plural of ''ḥāfiẓ'') are the product of the madrasas. The madrasas also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes and reside in dormitories. An important function of the madrasas is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madrasas may enroll female students; however, they study separately from the men.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}}

== Education in historical madrasas ==
{{See also|Education in Islam}}{{Arab culture}}

===Elementary education===
{{Main|Kuttab}}
[[File:Qaytbay sabil-kuttab 2.jpg|thumb|The Sabil-Kuttab of Sultan Qaytbay in Cairo, built in the 15th century. The bottom floor contained a ''[[Sebil (fountain)|sabil]]'' and the top floor held a [[kuttab]]]]
In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school (for children or for those learning to read) was known as a "'''kuttāb'''" or ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}''. Their exact origin is uncertain, but they appear to have been already widespread in the early Abbasid period (8th-9th centuries) and may have played an early role in socializing new ethnic and demographic groups into the Islamic religion during the first few centuries after the [[Spread of Islam|Arab-Muslim conquests]] of the region.<ref name=":05">{{Cite book|last1=Landau|first1=J.M.|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|last2=Makdisi|first2=G.|last3=Rahman|first3=Munibur|last4=Hillenbrand|first4=R.|publisher=Brill|year=2012|chapter=Kuttāb}}</ref> Like madrasas (which referred to higher education), a {{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}} was often attached to an endowed mosque.<ref name=":05" /> In the 11th century, the famous Persian [[Early Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosopher]] and teacher [[Avicenna|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ibn Sīnā}}]] (known as ''Avicenna'' in the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter about the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children", as a guide to teachers working at ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in [[Class (education)|classes]] instead of individual [[Tuition payments|tuition]] from private [[tutor]]s, and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of competition and [[emulation (observational learning)|emulation]] among pupils, as well as the usefulness of group discussions and [[debate]]s. {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ibn Sīnā}} described the curriculum of a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' school.<ref name="Asimov">{{citation|title=The Age of Achievement: Vol 4|last=M. S. Asimov|first=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]]|year=1999|isbn=81-208-1596-3|pages=33–4}}</ref>

====Primary education====
[[File:Classroom of Madrasa Taleemul Islam, Soofiya Masjid, Ahmadabad, Bhopal.jpg|thumb|Muslim children at a maktab in [[Bhopal]], India]]
{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ibn Sīnā}} wrote that children should be sent to a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' school from the age of 6 and be taught primary education until they reach the age of 14. During which time, he wrote, they should be taught the Qur'an, [[Islamic metaphysics]], Arabic, [[Islamic literature|literature]], [[Islamic ethics]], and manual skills (which could refer to a variety of practical skills).<ref name="Asimov" />

====Secondary education====
{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ibn Sīnā}} refers to the secondary education stage of ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|maktab}}'' schooling as a period of specialisation when pupils should begin to acquire manual skills, regardless of their social status. He writes that children after the age of 14 should be allowed to choose and specialise in subjects they have an interest in, whether it was reading, manual skills, literature, preaching, [[Islamic medicine|medicine]], [[Islamic mathematics|geometry]], [[Islamic economics in the world|trade and commerce]], [[Inventions in medieval Islam|craftsmanship]], or any other subject or profession they would be interested in pursuing for a future career. He wrote that this was a transitional stage and that there needs to be flexibility regarding the age in which pupils graduate, as the student's emotional development and chosen subjects need to be taken into account.<ref>{{citation|title=The Age of Achievement: Vol 4|last=M. S. Asimov|first=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1999|isbn=81-208-1596-3|pages=34–5}}</ref>

===Higher education===
{{See also|Ijazah}}
[[File:Ivan Bilibin 182.jpg|thumb|Courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque and University in [[Cairo]], Egypt]][[File:Die Gartenlaube (1869) b 509.jpg|thumb|An illustration of an "Arab university in Cairo" from 1869's [[Die Gartenlaube|Die Gartenlaube Journal]]]]During its formative period, the term ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' referred to a higher education institution, whose curriculum initially included only the "religious sciences", whilst [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and the [[Islamic science|secular sciences]] were often excluded.<ref name="Huff">Toby E. Huff (2003), ''The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West'', [[Cambridge University Press]], pp. 77–8</ref> The curriculum slowly began to diversify, with many later madrasas teaching both the religious and the "secular sciences",<ref>{{citation|title=The Age of Achievement: Vol 4|last=M. S. Asimov|first=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1999|isbn=81-208-1596-3|page=37}}</ref> such as [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|logic]], [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]] and [[Islamic philosophy|philosophy]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition — Brill|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2|access-date=2020-08-30|website=referenceworks.brillonline.com|archive-date=2021-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809194355/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2|url-status=live}}</ref> Some madrasas further extended their curriculum to [[Early Muslim sociology|history]], [[politics]], [[Islamic ethics|ethics]], [[Islamic music|music]], [[metaphysics]], [[Islamic medicine|medicine]], [[Islamic astronomy|astronomy]] and [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|chemistry]].<ref>{{citation|title=From Jami'ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue|first=Syed Farid|last=Alatas|journal=Current Sociology|volume=54|issue=1|pages=112–132 [122]|doi=10.1177/0011392106058837|year=2006|s2cid=144509355|quote=The main subjects taught were Quranic exegesis, theology, jurisprudence and the principles of jurisprudence, grammar and syntax, the Traditions of Muhammad(''ḥadīth''), logic and, sometimes, philosophy and mathematics. In addition to the above, other subjects such as literary studies, history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry were also taught.|url=https://zenodo.org/record/29439|access-date=2019-06-29|archive-date=2017-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923024727/https://zenodo.org/record/29439/files/6.1From_Jamiah_to_University.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfIslamAndTheMuslimWorld_411|title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world|pages=419|language=en}}</ref> The curriculum of a {{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}} was usually set by its founder, but most generally taught both the religious sciences and the physical sciences. Madrasas were established throughout the Islamic world, examples being the ninth century [[University of al-Qarawiyyin]], the tenth century [[al-Azhar University]] (the most famous), the eleventh century [[Nizamiyyah|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Niẓāmīyah}}]], as well as 75 madrasas in Cairo, 51 in [[Damascus]] and up to 44 in [[Aleppo]] between 1155 and 1260.<ref name=":18" /> Institutions of learning were established in the [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] cities of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], [[Seville]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], [[Granada]], [[Murcia]], [[Almería]], [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]] and [[Cádiz]] during the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]].<ref name=":18">{{Citation|contribution=education|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2008|contribution-url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179408/education|access-date=2008-09-30|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.]]|title-link=Encyclopædia Britannica|archive-date=2008-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007070937/http://britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179408/education|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Dubious|date=March 2023|reason=This statement seems at odds with other detailed scholarly references, and the cited source (Britannica) is very vague on Andalusi institutions. Some of the examples being referred to here are most likely later madrasas founded well after the Umayyad period. More specialized sources should be cited for more detail and clarity.}}

In the Ottoman Empire during the early modern period, "Madaris were divided into lower and specialised levels, which reveals that there was a sense of elevation in school. Students who studied in the specialised schools after completing courses in the lower levels became known as ''danişmends''."<ref name = "Ottoman"/>

Mosques were more than a place of worship as they were also utilized as an area to host community transactions of business. It was the center of most of a city's social and cultural life. Along with this came trades of information and teachings. As the mosque was a starting ground for religious discourse in the Islamic world, these ''madrasas'' became more common. In this context, a madrasa would be referred to as a localized area or center within the mosque for studies and teachings relating the Quran. Among the first advanced topics featured at a ''madrasa'' was [[sharia|Islamic law]]. There was a premium fee required to study Islamic law, which was sometimes fronted by state or private subsidiaries.<ref name=":17">{{Cite journal|last=Garcia|first=Michelle|date=February 25, 2013|title=Medieval Higher Education: Islamic and Western Academics|url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=2224276|journal=SSRN|pages=1–74|doi=10.2139/ssrn.2224276 |s2cid=142242807 |access-date=November 23, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132436/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2224276|url-status=live}}</ref> The topics of this higher education also expanded larger than the Islamic time and area. Arab translations of Greco-Roman classical texts were often examined for mathematical and grammatical discourse. Since the focus of theology and legal study was utmost, specified law schools began their own development. On the theological side however, these remained mainly at the general ''madrasa'' since it was more common and easier for the lower-level students to approach. The requirement of competent teachers to keep a madrasa up and running was also important. It was not uncommon for these scholars to be involved in multiple fields such as [[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi|Abd al-Latif]] who was an expert in medicine, grammar, linguistics, law, alchemy, and philosophy. The choice of freedom in inquiry was also important. Muslim higher education at ''madrasas'' offered not only mastery in specified fields but also a more generalized, broader option.<ref name=":17" />

In [[Islam in South Asia|Muslim India]], the ''madrasa'' started off as providing higher education similarly to other parts of the Islamic world. The primary function for these institutions was to train and prepare workers for bureaucratic work as well as the judicial system. The curriculum generally consisted of logic, philosophy, law, history, politics, and particularly religious sciences, later incorporating more of mathematics, astronomy, geography, and medicine. ''Madrasas'' were often subsidized and founded by states or private individuals, and well-qualified teachers filled in the role for professors. Foundations of Islamic higher education in India is tied to the establishment of the [[Delhi Sultanate]] in 1206 which set a basis of importance for Muslim education. Under control of the Delhi Sultanate, two early important madrasas were founded. The first was the Mu’zziyya named after Muḥammad Ghuri of the Ghorid Dynasty and his title of Muʿizz al-Dīn and founded by Sultan Iltutmish.<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal|last1=Pederson|first1=J|last2=Rahman|first2=Munibur|last3=Hillenbrand|first3=R|date=March 30, 2009|title=Madrasa|journal=Encyclopaedia of Islam|volume=5|pages=1123–1189}}</ref> The other ''madrasa'' was the Nāṣiriyya, named after Nāṣir al-Dīn Maḥmūd and built by Balban. These two ''madrasas'' bear importance as a starting point for higher education for Muslim India. [[Babur]] of the [[Mughal Empire]] founded a ''madrasa'' in Delhi which he specifically included the subjects of mathematics, astronomy, and geography besides the standard subjects of law, history, secular and religious sciences.<ref name=":16" /> Although little is known about the management and inner workings of these places of Islamic higher education, religious studies bore the focus amongst most other subjects, particularly the rational sciences such as mathematics, logic, medicine, and astronomy. Although some tried to emphasize these subjects more, it is doubtful that every ''madrasa'' made this effort.

While "{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}" can now refer to any type of school, the term ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' was originally used to refer more specifically to a medieval Islamic centre of learning, mainly teaching [[Sharia|Islamic law]] and [[Islamic theology|theology]], usually affiliated with a mosque, and funded by an early charitable trust known as ''waqf''.<ref name="Alatas">{{citation|title=From Jamiʻah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue|first=Syed Farid|last=Alatas|journal=Current Sociology|volume=54|issue=1|pages=112–132|doi=10.1177/0011392106058837|year=2006|s2cid=144509355|url=https://zenodo.org/record/29439|access-date=2019-06-29|archive-date=2017-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923024727/https://zenodo.org/record/29439/files/6.1From_Jamiah_to_University.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Law school====
{{See also|Sharia|Fiqh}}

Madrasas were largely centred on the study of ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|fiqh}}'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The ''[[Ijazah|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzat al-tadrīs wa-al-iftāʼ}}]]'' ("licence to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic [[legal education]] system had its origins in the ninth century after the formation of the ''[[madhhab|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madhāhib}}]]'' (schools of jurisprudence). George Makdisi considers the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzah}}'' to be the origin of the European doctorate.<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism">{{citation|last=Makdisi|first=George|title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=109|issue=2|date=April–June 1989|pages=175–182 [176]|doi=10.2307/604423|publisher=American Oriental Society|jstor=604423}}</ref> However, in an earlier article, he considered the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzah}}'' to be of "fundamental difference" to the medieval doctorate, since the former was awarded by an individual teacher-scholar not obliged to follow any formal criteria, whereas the latter was conferred on the student by the collective authority of the faculty.<ref name="Makdisi Madrasa and University 260">George Makdisi: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255-264 (260)</ref> To obtain an ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzah}}'', a student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course" and ten or more years for a [[Postgraduate education|post-graduate]] course. The "doctorate was 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." These were scholarly exercises practised throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded ''ijaza''s giving them the status of ''[[faqih|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|faqīh}}]]'' 'scholar of jurisprudence', ''[[mufti|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|muftī}}]]'' 'scholar competent in issuing [[fatwā]]s', and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|mudarris}}'' 'teacher'.<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism"/>

[[File:Bruner-Dvorak, Rudolf - Bosna, medresa 2 (ca 1906).jpg|thumb|right|[[Bosniaks|Bosnian]] Madrasa, c. 1906]]
The Arabic term ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzat al-tadrīs}}'' was awarded to [[Ulema|Islamic scholars]] who were qualified to teach. According to Makdisi, the Latin title ''licentia docendi'' 'licence to teach' in the European university may have been a translation of the Arabic,<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism"/> but the underlying concept was very different.<ref name="Makdisi Madrasa and University 260"/> A significant difference between the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzat al-tadrīs}}'' and the ''licentia docendi'' was that the former was awarded by the individual scholar-teacher, while the latter was awarded by the chief official of the university, who represented the collective faculty, rather than the individual scholar-teacher.<ref>Toby Huff, ''Rise of Early Modern Science'' 2nd. ed. p. 78-79; 136, 155.</ref>

Much of the study in the {{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}} college centred on examining whether certain opinions of law were orthodox. This scholarly process of "determining orthodoxy began with a question which the Muslim layman, called in that capacity ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|mustaftī}}'', presented to a [[Jurist|jurisconsult]], called ''[[mufti]]'', soliciting from him a response, called ''[[fatwa]]'', a [[legal opinion]] (the [[Sharia|religious law of Islam]] covers [[Civil law (common law)|civil]] as well as [[Religious law|religious matters]]). The ''mufti'' (professor of legal opinions) took this question, studied it, researched it intensively in the sacred scriptures, in order to find a solution to it. This process of scholarly research was called ''[[ijtihad|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijtihād}}]]'', literally, the exertion of one's efforts to the utmost limit."<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism"/>

====Medical school====
{{See also|Bimaristan}}

Though [[Islamic medicine]] was most often taught at the [[bimaristan]] teaching hospitals, there were also several [[medical school|medical madrasas]] dedicated to the teaching of medicine. For example, of the 155 madrasa colleges in 15th century Damascus, three of them were medical schools.<ref>{{citation|last=Gibb|first=H. A. R.|contribution=The University in the Arab-Moslem World|editor-last=Bradby|editor-first=Edward|title=The University Outside Europe: Essays on the Development of University|pages=281–298 [281]|year=1970|publisher=Ayer Publishing|isbn=978-0-8369-1548-8}}</ref>

Toby Huff argues that no medical degrees were granted to students, as there was no faculty that could issue them, and that therefore, no system of examination and certification developed in the Islamic tradition like that of medieval Europe.<ref>Toby Huff, Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West, 2nd ed., Cambridge 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-52994-8}}, p. 191-193</ref> However, the historians Andrew C. Miller, Nigel J. Shanks and Dawshe Al-Kalai point out that, during this era, physician licensure became mandatory in the [[Abbasid Caliphate]].<ref name="Miller">{{cite journal |url=http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/content/99/12/615.short |first=Andrew C |last=Miller |title=Jundi-Shapur, bimaristans, and the rise of academic medical centres |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |doi=10.1177/014107680609901208 |date=December 2006 |volume=99 |number=12 |pages=615–617 |pmid=17139063 |pmc=1676324 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201153053/http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/content/99/12/615.short |archive-date=2013-02-01 }}</ref><ref name=Shanks/> In 931 AD, Caliph [[Al-Muqtadir]] learned of the death of one of his subjects as a result of a physician's error.<ref name="Shanks">{{cite journal|author=Nigel J. Shanks, Dawshe Al-Kalai|title=Arabian medicine in the Middle Ages|journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine|date=January 1984|volume=77|pages=60–65|pmc=1439563|pmid=6366229|issue=1|doi=10.1177/014107688407700115 }}</ref> He immediately ordered his [[muhtasib]] [[Sinan ibn Thabit]] to examine and prevent doctors from practicing until they passed an examination.<ref name=Shanks/><ref name=Miller/> From this time on, licensing exams were required and only qualified physicians were allowed to practice medicine. The study of Medicine and many other sciences that took place in Madrasas made large contributions to western societies in later years.<ref name=Shanks/><ref name=Miller/>

In the Early Modern Period in the Ottoman Empire, "Suleyman I added new curriculums ['sic'] to the Ottoman medreses of which one was medicine, which alongside studying of the {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥadīth}} was given highest rank."<ref name = "Ottoman"/>

====Madrasa and university====<!--note: "Islamic university," "Jāmiʿah," and "Jamiah" redirect here. Repair if section title is changed-->
:''Note: The word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}}'' ({{langx|ar|جامعة}}) simply means 'university'. For more information, see [[Islamic university]] (disambiguation).''
Scholars like [[Arnold H. Green]] and [[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] have argued that, starting in the tenth century, some [[Islamic Golden Age|medieval Islamic]] madrasas indeed became [[universities]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Arnold H. Green|title=The History of Libraries in the Arab World: A Diffusionist Model|journal=Libraries & the Cultural Record|volume=23|issue=4|page=459|author-link=Arnold H. Green}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Hossein Nasr|title=Traditional Islam in the modern world|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|page=125|author-link=Hossein Nasr}}</ref> However, scholars like [[George Makdisi]], Toby Huff and Norman Daniel<ref>Toby Huff, ''Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West'', 2nd ed., Cambridge 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-52994-8}}, p. 179-185</ref><ref name="NDaniel1">{{cite journal | title = Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi" | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | year = 1984 | first = Norman | last = Daniel | volume = 104 | issue = 3 | pages = 586–8| jstor = 601679 | quote = The first section, typology of institutions and the law of waqf, is crucial to the main thesis, since the college is defined in terms of the charitable trust, or endowment, as in Europe: it is admitted that the university, defined as a corporation, has no Islamic parallel. | doi=10.2307/601679}}</ref> argue that the European [[medieval university]] has no parallel in the medieval Islamic world.<ref>George Makdisi: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255-264 (264): {{blockquote|Thus the university, as a form of social organisation, 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.}}</ref><ref name = huff334979>Toby Huff, ''Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West'', 2nd ed., Cambridge 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-52994-8}}, p. 133-139, 149-159, 179-189</ref> Darleen Pryds questions this view, pointing out that madrasas and European universities in the Mediterranean region shared similar foundations by princely patrons and were intended to provide loyal administrators to further the rulers' agenda.<ref>{{Citation | last = Pryds | first = Darleen | editor-last = Courtenay | editor-first = William J. | editor2-last = Miethke | editor2-first = Jürgen | editor3-last = Priest | editor3-first = David B. | year = 2000 | title = Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society | chapter = ''Studia'' as Royal Offices: Mediterranean Universities of Medieval Europe | series = Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance | volume = 10 | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden | pages = 83–99 | isbn = 90-04-11351-7 | issn = 0926-6070}}</ref> Some other scholars regard the university as uniquely European in origin and characteristics.<ref>Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. XIX–XX</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Nuria Sanz, Sjur Bergan|title=The heritage of European universities, Volume 548|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M09rKWhN3soC&q=arab-oriental|publisher=[[Council of Europe]]|page=121|isbn=9789287161215|date=2006-01-01|access-date=2020-10-27|archive-date=2023-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132432/https://books.google.com/books?id=M09rKWhN3soC&q=arab-oriental|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde: [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z1VBEbF0HAC ''A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132432/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z1VBEbF0HAC&printsec=frontcover |date=2023-01-15 }}, Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. 47-55</ref><ref name="Lexikon des Mittelalters: Doctor, doctoratus">{{Citation | last = Verger | first = J. | contribution = Doctor, doctoratus | title = Lexikon des Mittelalters | volume = 3 | at=cols. 1155–1156 | publisher = J.B. Metzler | place = Stuttgart | year = 1999| title-link = Lexikon des Mittelalters }}</ref><ref name= "Lexikon des Mittelalters: Licentia">{{Citation | last = Verger | first = J. | contribution = Licentia | title = Lexikon des Mittelalters | volume = 5 | at=cols. 1957–1958 | publisher = J.B. Metzler | place = Stuttgart | year = 1999| title-link = Lexikon des Mittelalters }}</ref>

[[University of al-Qarawiyyin|Al-Qarawīyīn University]] in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], present-day [[Morocco]] is recognised by many historians as the oldest degree-granting university in the world, having been founded in 859 as a mosque by [[Fatima al-Fihri]].<ref name="founding-2">{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |author-link=John L. Esposito |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-512559-2 |page=328 }}</ref><ref name="Kettani">Kettani, M. Ali. ''Engineering Education in the Arab World''. Middle East Journal, 1974, 28(4):441.</ref><ref>''Civilization: The West and the Rest'' by Niall Ferguson, Publisher: Allen Lane 2011 - {{ISBN|978-1-84614-273-4}}</ref> While the madrasa college could also issue degrees at all levels, the ''jāmiʻah''s (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, madrasas, and other institutions within them.<ref name="Alatas" /> Such an institution has thus been described as an "Islamic university".<ref>{{citation|author=Edmund Burke|title=Islam at the Center: Technological Complexes and the Roots of Modernity|journal=[[Journal of World History]]|volume=20|issue=2|date=June 2009|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|doi=10.1353/jwh.0.0045|pages=165–186 [180–3]|s2cid=143484233}}</ref>
[[File:Al Azhar Mosque.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Azhar Mosque]] and [[Al-Azhar University|University]] in [[Cairo]]]]
Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975 by the Ismaʻīlī Shīʻī [[Fatimid dynasty]] as a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}}'', had individual [[Faculty (division)|faculties]]<ref>{{citation|title=A History of Christian-Muslim Relations|first=Hugh|last=Goddard|year=2000|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|isbn=0-7486-1009-X|page=99}}</ref> for a theological [[seminary]], [[Sharia|Islamic law]] and [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]], [[Arabic grammar]], [[Islamic astronomy]], [[early Islamic philosophy]] and [[logic in Islamic philosophy]].<ref name="Alatas-123">{{citation|title=From Jamiʻah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue|first=Syed Farid|last=Alatas|journal=Current Sociology|volume=54|issue=1|pages=112–132 [123]|doi=10.1177/0011392106058837|year=2006|s2cid=144509355|quote=One such ''jamiʻ'' was that of al-Azhar in Cairo. This was established during the last quarter of the tenth century by the Fatimids to teach the principles of jurisprudence, grammar, philosophy, logic and astronomy. [...] It is here that we may find the origins of the modern universitas.|url=https://zenodo.org/record/29439|access-date=2019-06-29|archive-date=2017-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923024727/https://zenodo.org/record/29439/files/6.1From_Jamiah_to_University.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In the second half of the 19th century in Egypt, Muslim Egyptians began to attend secular schools, and a movement arose in the late 19th to the early 20th century to ''modernize'' al-Azhar.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&q=In+the+second+half+of+the+19th+century+%EF%BB%BF+in+Egypt%2C+Muslim+Egyptians+began+to+attend+secu-%EF%BB%BF+lar+schools%2C+and+a+movement+arose+in+the+late+19th+%EF%BB%BF+to+the+early+20th+century+to+modernize+al-Azhar.|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|date=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2696-8|pages=447|language=en|access-date=2021-05-04|archive-date=2022-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408191250/https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&q=In+the+second+half+of+the+19th+century+%EF%BB%BF+in+Egypt%2C+Muslim+Egyptians+began+to+attend+secu-%EF%BB%BF+lar+schools%2C+and+a+movement+arose+in+the+late+19th+%EF%BB%BF+to+the+early+20th+century+to+modernize+al-Azhar.|url-status=live}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism" /> [[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (medieval writer)|‘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]].<ref>{{citation|title=Muqarnas, Volume 13|first=Gulru|last=Necipogulu|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|year=1996|isbn=90-04-10633-2|page=56}}</ref> Another early ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}}'' was the [[Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad|Niẓāmīyah of Baghdād]] (founded 1091), which has been called the "largest university of the Medieval world."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metapress.com/|title=Metapress - Discover More|date=24 June 2016|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=25 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425064723/http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=c3ht013txp686v71&size=largest|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Mustansiriya University]], established by the [[Abbasid|ʻAbbāsid]] [[caliph]] [[Al-Mustansir (Baghdad)|al-Mustanṣir]] in 1227,<ref name=":9" /> in addition to teaching the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the [[natural science]]s. Madrasas by the 11th century had buildings and full time working educators. These educators were provided with places to live inside the madrasas. The institutions by this time occumulated a wide spread of attendance among the population. The attraction of the educational institution was that it provided free education for everyone in attendance.  Furthermore, sciences at madrasas were indeed taught, and much of the material was from well-known scholars of the sciences such as [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]], who was the “most famous and most successful” editor of the Shi’i law, kalam philosophy which include mathematic works and astrology.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=80}}

However, the classification of madrasas as "universities" is disputed on the question of understanding of each institution on its own terms. In madrasas, the ''[[Ijazah|ijāzahs]]'' were only issued in one field, the Islamic religious law of [[sharia|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|sharīʻah}}]], and in no other field of learning.<ref>{{citation|last=Makdisi|first=George|title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=109|issue=2|date=April–June 1989|pages=175–182 [176]|doi=10.2307/604423|publisher=American Oriental Society|jstor=604423}}: {{blockquote|There was no other doctorate in any other field, no license to teach a field, except that of the religious law. To obtain a doctorate, one had to study in a guild school of law.}}</ref> Other academic subjects, including the natural sciences, philosophy and literary studies, were only treated "ancillary" to the study of the Sharia.<ref>{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=5|pages=1123–1154|article=Madrasa|last1=Pedersen|first1=J.|first2=G.|last2=Makdisi|last3=Rahman|first3=Munibur|last4=Hillenbrand|first4=Robert}} {{blockquote|Madrasa,...in mediaeval usage, essentially a college of law in which the other Islamic sciences, including literary and philosophical ones, were ancillary subjects only.}}</ref> For example, at least in Sunni madrasas, astronomy was only studied (if at all) to supply religious needs, like the time for prayer.<ref name="Lessnoff">{{Citation| last=Lessnoff| first=Michael| editor-last=Malešević| editor-first=Siniša| editor2-last=Haugaard| editor2-first=Mark| chapter=Islam, Modernity and Science |title=Ernest Gellner and contemporary social thought|year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn= 978-0-521-70941-5 |page=196}}</ref> This is why [[Ptolemaic astronomy]] was considered adequate, and is still taught in some modern day madrasas.<ref name="Lessnoff" /> 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.<ref>Jomier, J. "al- Azhar (al-Ḏj̲āmiʿ al-Azhar)." Encyclopædia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2010 {{blockquote|There was no examination at the end of the course of study. Many of the students were well advanced in years. Those who left al-Azhar obtained an idjāza or licence to teach; this was a certificate given by the teacher under whom the student had followed courses, testifying to the student's diligence and proficiency.}}</ref> 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".<ref>George Makdisi: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255-264 (260): {{blockquote|Perhaps the most fundamental difference between the two systems is embodied in their systems of certification; namely, in medieval Europe, the ''licentia docendi'', or license to teach; in medieval Islam, the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzah}}'', or authorization. In Europe, the license to teach was a license to teach a certain field of knowledge. It was conferred by the licensed masters acting as a corporation, with the consent of a Church authority, in Paris, by the Chancellor of the Cathedral Chapter... Certification in the Muslim East remained a personal matter between the master and the student. The master conferred it on an individual for a particular work, or works. Qualification, in the strict sense of the word, was supposed to be a criterion, but it was at the full discretion of the master, since, if he chose, he could give an ijaza to children hardly able to read, or even to unborn children. This was surely an abuse of the system... but no official system was involved. The ijaza was a personal matter, the sole prerogative of the person bestowing it; no one could force him to give one.}}</ref>

Although there is a sort of validity to what was just mentioned in this section, more specifically in the previous paragraph, other sources also convey that an emphasis on the teaching of sciences in madrasas, and the licensing of ''[[Ijazah|ijāzahs]]'' to those who proved satisfactory in the knowledge of their specific scientific field of study, were indeed conducted. It is historically inaccurate to definitively mention that all forms of science were studied solely for the advancement/supplication of religious needs. This can be evident when one further examines the specific fields of secular sciences that have achieved an established position in madrasa curriculum. Such fields included the sciences of mathematics, medicine and pharmacology, natural philosophy, divination, magic, and alchemy (The last three being clumped up into one set of coursework).{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=77-111}} To support the claims mentioned earlier in this section, it has been noted that ''[[Ijazah|ijāzahs]]'' are not issued to these sciences as much as they are to religious studies, yet at the same time, there is no evidence fully supporting that none were given to these subjects. Clear examples of the issuing of such ''[[Ijazah|ijāzahs]]'' can be seen in numerous manuscripts, or more specifically, in [[Al-Sakhawi|Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi's]] multiple collections of manuscript titles and biographies. Further evidence of this was illustrated by [[al-Sakhawi]]. He mentioned that in places like Syria and Egypt, it has been suggested that public performances of knowledge, which its conduction was required for one to finally receive their ''[[Ijazah|ijāzah]],'' included mathematics in its content.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=69}} There are plenty of other examples of the issuance of [[Ijazah|''ijazahs'']] for scientific subjects. [[Abu'l-Hasan ibn Ali al-Qalasadi|Ali b. Muhammad al-Qalasadi]], a prominent mathematician in his day, was mentioned to be responsible for giving his students an ''[[Ijazah|ijāzah]]'' to teach his mathematical treatise on the dust letters.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=138}} [[Ibn al-Nafis]] gave an ''[[ijazah]]'' to his student al-Quff for proving sufficient in knowledge of his commentary on the medical book, ''[[On the Nature of Man]]''.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=161}} In addition, a copy of a commentary on [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq|Hunayn b. Ishaq's]], ''Problems of Medicine for Students,'' managed to show that one of its readers had sufficient knowledge in the medical text, ''Synopses of the Alexandrians.'' Later on in this commentary, an ''[[ijazah]]'', issued by a physician from Damascus, was present to confirm that one was indeed issued here for said student.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=251}} [[Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi]] was a student of [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] who was considered to be a proficient polymath, astronomer, philosopher, and physician who issued an ''[[ijazah]]'' to Najm al-Milla wa-l-Din M. b. M. b. Abi Bakr al-Tabrizi. This license was very extensive, allowing him to teach religious, philosophical, and even medical texts like [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina's]] first book in his ''[[The Canon of Medicine|Canon of Medicine]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brack|first=Jonathan|date=2019|title=A Mongol Mahdi in Medieval Anatolia: Rebellion, Reform, and Divine Right in the Post-Mongol Islamic World|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=139|issue=3|pages=611–630|doi=10.7817/jameroriesoci.139.3.0611|jstor=10.7817/jameroriesoci.139.3.0611|s2cid=211662842|doi-access=free}}</ref> These are just a few select/historical examples of the issuance of ''[[ijazah]]s'' for scientific subjects, thereby proving that such licenses were indeed issued along with those regarding religious studies. There are many more examples of this that are not listed on this page, but can easily be found. When taking this evidence into account, one may then reasonably assume that the presence, teaching, and licensing of certain sciences in madrasas has been historically underrepresented.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=77-111}} This information, along with some of what is discussed in the following sections/paragraphs on this page, may now hopefully help one in identifying whether or not madrasas can indeed be classified as "Universities". However, arguments for why they should not be classified as such will later be proposed as well.

Medievalist specialists who define the university as a legally autonomous corporation disagree with the term "university" for the Islamic madrasas and ''jāmi‘ah''s because the [[medieval university]] (from Latin ''universitas'') was structurally different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a ''[[waqf]]'' institution like the madrasa and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}}''.<ref>Toby Huff, ''Rise of early modern science'' 2nd ed. (Cambridge University, 2003) p. 149.</ref> Despite the many similarities, medieval specialists have coined the term "Islamic college" for madrasa and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}}'' to differentiate them from the legally autonomous corporations that the medieval European universities were. In a sense, the madrasa resembles a [[university college]] in that it has most of the features of a university, but lacks the corporate element. Toby Huff summarises the difference as follows: {{blockquote|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."<ref>{{cite book|first =Toby|last = Huff|title = Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West|edition = 2nd |location = Cambridge|date = 2003|page =179}}</ref>}}

As Muslim institutions of higher learning, the madrasa had the legal designation of [[waqf]]. In central and eastern Islamic lands, the view that the madrasa, as a charitable endowment, will remain under the control of the donor (and their descendant), resulted in a "spurt" of establishment of madrasas in the 11th and 12th centuries. However, in Western Islamic lands, where the [[Maliki]] views prohibited donors from controlling their endowment, madrasas were not as popular. Unlike the [[corporate]] designation of Western institutions of higher learning, the waqf designation seemed to have led to the exclusion of non-orthodox religious subjects such a philosophy and natural science from the curricula.<ref>C. E. Bosworth: Untitled review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', No. 2 (1983), pp. 304-305</ref> The madrasa of al-Qarawīyīn, one of the two surviving madrasas 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.<ref>Kevin Shillington: "Encyclopedia of African history", Vol. 1, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2005, {{ISBN|1-57958-245-1}}, p. 1025</ref> 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.<ref>Skovgaard-Petersen, Jakob. "al-Azhar, modern period. 1. From madrasa to university" Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas and Everett Rowson. Brill, 2010, retrieved 20/03/2010</ref> Many medieval universities were run for centuries as Christian [[cathedral school]]s or [[monastic school]]s prior to their formal establishment as ''universitas scholarium''; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the university dates back to the sixth century AD,<ref>Riché, Pierre (1978): "Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century", Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, {{ISBN|0-87249-376-8}}, pp. 126-7, 282-98</ref> thus well preceding the earliest madrasas. George Makdisi, who has published most extensively on the topic<ref name=":0"/> concludes in his comparison between the two institutions: {{blockquote|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.<ref name="Makdisi Madrasa and University 264">George Makdisi: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", ''Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255-264 (264)</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Nevertheless, Makdisi has asserted that the European university borrowed many of its features from the Islamic madrasa, including the concepts of a degree and doctorate.<ref name="Makdisi Scholasticism" /> 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 'chairman' 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 '[[Study circle|academic circles]]' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having '[[fellow]]s', '[[Reading education|reading]]' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|aṣḥāb}}'' ('[[Sahaba|companions]], as of Muhammad'), ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|qirāʼah}}'' ('reading aloud the Qur'an') and ''[[ijazah|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijāzah}}]]'' ('licence [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."<ref name="RelationsHughGoddard1">{{citation|title=A History of Christian-Muslim Relations|first=Hugh|last=Goddard|year=2000|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|isbn=0-7486-1009-X|page=100|oclc=237514956}}</ref> The Islamic scholarly system of ''[[fatwa|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|fatwá}}]]'' and ''[[ijma|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ijmāʻ}}]]'', meaning [[opinion]] and [[Consensus (disambiguation)|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."<ref name="G-Makdisi">{{citation|last=Makdisi|first=George|title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=109|issue=2|date=April–June 1989|pages=175–182 [175–77]|doi=10.2307/604423|publisher=American Oriental Society|jstor=604423}}</ref> According to Makdisi and Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was also "modelled on Islamic custom" as practised in the medieval Madrasa system from the ninth century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first deliberately planned university" in Europe, the [[University of Naples Federico II]] founded by [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]] in 1224.<ref name="RelationsHughGoddard1" />

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by other scholars to be independent medieval European developments with no necessary Islamic influence.<ref>Cf. [[Lexikon des Mittelalters]], J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, individual entries on: Baccalarius; Collegium; Disputatio; Grade, universitäre; Magister universitatis, Professor; Rector; Studia humanitatis; Universität</ref> Norman Daniel criticizes Makdisi for overstating his case by simply resting on "the accumulation of close parallels" while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world.<ref name="Daniel 1984, 586f.">Norman Daniel: Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1984), pp. 586-588 (586f.)</ref> Daniel also 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 (legal system)|civil law]] were profound.<ref name="Daniel 1984, 586f." /> The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities.<ref name="Daniel 1984, 586f." /> Moreover, 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.<ref name="Daniel 1984, 586f." /> Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek [[Organon]] which set the scholastic [[sic et non]] in motion.<ref name="Daniel 1984, 587" /> 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,<ref name="Daniel 1984, 587">Norman Daniel: Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1984), pp. 586-588 (587)</ref> a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.<ref>Hugh Kennedy: ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', Third Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1992), pp. 272-273 (272): {{blockquote|It is more likely that the undeniable similarities sprang from similar circumstances. Both cultural traditions had sacred writings which needed to be examined, both had systems of law that looked back to ancient precedent, neither culture knew printing (which meant that dictation and verbal communication were so important).}}</ref> Toby Huff, in a discussion of Makdisi's hypothesis, argues:{{blockquote|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.<ref>Toby Huff, ''Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West'', 2nd ed., Cambridge 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-52994-8}}, p. 155</ref>}}

[[George Saliba]] criticized Huff's views regarding the legal autonomy of European universities and limited curriculum of Madrasahs, demonstrating that there were many Madrasahs dedicated to the teaching of non-religious subjects and arguing that Madrasahs generally had greater legal autonomy than medieval European universities. According to Saliba, Madrasahs "were fully protected from interference in their curriculum by the [[Waqf|very endowments]] that established them in the first place." Examples include the Dakhwariyya madrasah in [[Damascus]], which was [[Medicine in medieval Islam|dedicated to medicine]], a subject also taught at [[Bimaristan|Islamic hospitals]]; the Madrasah established by Kamal al-Din Ibn Man`a (d. 1242) in [[Mosul]] which taught astronomy, [[Islamic music|music]], and the [[Old Testament|Old]] the [[New Testament]]s; [[Ulugh Beg]]'s Madrasah in [[Samarqand]] which taught [[Astronomy in medieval Islam|astronomy]]; and [[Shia Islam|Shi`i]] madrasahs in [[Iran]] which taught astronomy along with religious studies. According to Saliba:<ref>{{citation|author=George Saliba|title=Flying Goats And Other Obsessions: A Response to Toby Huff's Reply|journal=Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies|volume=4|issue=2|year=2002|url=http://baheyeldin.com/history/george-saliba-2.html|access-date=2010-04-02|author-link=George Saliba|archive-date=2009-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231213711/http://baheyeldin.com/history/george-saliba-2.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|As I noted in my original article, students in the medieval Islamic world, who had the full freedom to chose their teacher and the subjects that they would study together, could not have been worse off than today’s students, who are required to pursue a specific curriculum that is usually designed to promote the ideas of their elders and preserve tradition, rather than introduce them to innovative ideas that challenge ‘received texts.’ Moreover, if Professor Huff had looked more carefully at the European institutions that produced science, he would have found that they were mainly academies and royal courts protected by individual potentates and not the universities that he wishes to promote. But neither universities nor courts were beyond the reach of the [[Inquisition]], which is another point that he seems to neglect.}}

===Female education===
{{See also|Women in Islam|Women's literary salons and societies in the Arab world|List of female Muslim scholars}}
Prior to the 12th century, women accounted for less than one percent of the world's Islamic scholars. However, [[al-Sakhawi]] and [[Mohammad Akram Nadwi]] have since found evidence of over 8,000 female scholars since the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nadwi|first=Mohammad Akram|title=al-Muhaddithat|date=2013|publisher=Oxford: Interface Publications}}</ref> al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume [[biographical dictionary]] ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʻ}}'' to female scholars, giving information on 1,075 of them.<ref>{{citation|title=Women in Iran from the Rise of Islam to 1800|last=Guity Nashat|first=Lois Beck|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|year=2003|isbn=0-252-07121-2|page=69}}</ref> More recently, the scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi, currently a researcher from the [[Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies]], has written 40 volumes on the [[muhaddith|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|muḥaddithāt}}]] (the women scholars of hadith), and found at least 8,000 of them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/magazine/25wwlnEssay.t.html|title=A Secret History|date=25 February 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=22 February 2017|archive-date=16 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316104624/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/magazine/25wwlnEssay.t.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Haildhar Madrasah.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Jamiatul Arabia Haildhar Madrasa]] was the first female ''[[qawmi madrasa]]'' in [[Bangladesh]].]]

From around 750, during the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], women "became renowned for their brains as well as their beauty".<ref>Doreen Insgrams (1983), ''The Awakened: Women in Iraq'', p. 22, Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon</ref> In particular, many well known women of the time were trained from childhood in [[Arabic music|music]], dancing and [[Arabic poetry|poetry]]. Mahbuba was one of these. Another female (albeit probably fictional) figure to be remembered for her achievements was [[Tawaddud]], "a slave girl who was said to have been bought at great cost by [[Harun al-Rashid|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Hārūn al-Rashīd}}]] because she had passed her examinations by the most eminent [[Ulema|scholars]] in [[Astronomy in medieval Islam|astronomy]], [[Medicine in medieval Islam|medicine]], [[Sharia|law]], [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]], [[Islamic music|music]], [[Muslim history|history]], [[Arabic grammar]], [[Arabic literature|literature]], [[Islamic theology|theology]] and [[chess]]".<ref>Doreen Insgrams (1983), ''The Awakened: Women in Iraq'', p. 23, Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon</ref> Moreover, among the most prominent feminine figures was Shuhda who was known as "the Scholar" or "the Pride of Women" during the 12th century in [[Baghdad]]. Despite the recognition of women's aptitudes during the Abbasid dynasty, all these came to an end in [[Iraq]] with the [[Battle of Baghdad (1258)|sack of Baghdad]] in 1258.<ref>Anthony Nutting, ''The Arabs''. (Hollis and Carter, 1964), p. 196</ref>

According to the [[Sunni]] scholar [[Ibn Asakir|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ibn ʻAsākir}}]] in the 12th century, there were opportunities for [[female education]] in the [[Islamic Golden Age|medieval Islamic world]], writing that women could study, earn ''[[ijazah]]s'' ([[academic degree]]s), and qualify as [[Ulema|scholars]] and teachers. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families, who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters.<ref>{{citation|title=Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World|first=James E.|last=Lindsay|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=2005|isbn=0-313-32270-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/196 196 & 198]|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/196}}</ref> Ibn ʻAsakir had himself studied under 80 different female teachers in his time. Female education in the Islamic world was inspired by [[Muhammad's wives]], such as [[Khadija bint Khuwaylid|Khadijah]], a successful businesswoman, and 'A'isha, a strong leader and interpreter of the Prophet's actions. According to a hadith attributed both to Muhammad and 'A'isha, the women of Medina were praiseworthy because of their desire for religious knowledge: Although female madrasas did exist before the 1970s large strides were made is regards to female education. After the 1970s a large increase in total female madrasas took place expanded very rapidly across the region.<ref>{{citation|title=Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World|first=James E.|last=Lindsay|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=2005|isbn=0-313-32270-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/196 196]|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/196}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=ibn al-Hajjaj|first1=Muslim|title=Sahih Muslim|url=https://sunnah.com/muslim/3/72|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=29 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129144841/https://sunnah.com/muslim/3/72|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|How splendid were the women of the ''ansar''; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in the faith.}}

While it was not common for women to enroll as students in formal [[Class (education)|classes]], it was common for women to attend informal lectures and study sessions at mosques, madrasas and other public places. While there were no legal restrictions on female education, some men did not approve of this practice, such as Muhammad ibn al-Hajj (d. 1336) who was appalled at the behaviour of some women who informally [[Academic audit|audited]] lectures in his time:<ref name="Lindsay">{{citation|title=Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World|first=James E.|last=Lindsay|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=2005|isbn=0-313-32270-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/198 198]|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/198}}</ref>

{{blockquote|[Consider] what some women do when people gather with a shaykh to hear [the recitation of] books. At that point women come, too, to hear the readings; the men sit in one place, the women facing them. It even happens at such times that some of the women are carried away by the situation; one will stand up, and sit down, and shout in a loud voice. [Moreover,] her ''awra'' will appear; in her house, their exposure would be forbidden — how can it be allowed in a mosque, in the presence of men?}}

The term ''[[Awrah|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʻawrah}}]]'' is often translated as 'that which is indecent', which usually meant the exposure of anything other than a woman's face and hands, although scholarly interpretations of the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʻawrah}}'' and [[hijab|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥijāb}}]] have always tended to vary, with some more or less strict than others.<ref name="Lindsay" />[[File:Atik Valide Mosque 5832.jpg|thumb|The ''medrese'' of the [[Atik Valide Mosque]], part of a ''[[külliye]]'' sponsored by [[Nurbanu Sultan]] (wife of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] sultan [[Selim II]]) and designed by imperial architect [[Mimar Sinan]] in 1571]]Women played an important role in the foundations of many Islamic educational institutions, such as [[Fatima al-Fihri]]'s founding of the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|al-Qarawiyyin]] mosque in 859, which later developed into a madrasa. The role of female patrons was also evident during the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosques and madrasas were established in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the ''waqf'' (charitable trust) system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also women.<ref>{{citation|title=Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World|first=James E.|last=Lindsay|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=2005|isbn=0-313-32270-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/197 197]|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/197}}</ref> Royal women were also major patrons of culture and architecture in the Ottoman Empire, founding many ''külliye''s (religious and charitable complexes) that included madrasas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Necipoğlu|first=Gülru|url=|title=The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-86189-253-9|pages=268–368 and elsewhere|orig-year=2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Thys-Senocak|first=Lucienne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffNADgAAQBAJ|title=Ottoman Women Builders: The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan|date=2017-03-02|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-91315-7|language=en|access-date=2021-11-18|archive-date=2022-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408191250/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffNADgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 20th century in Indonesia, madrasas founded by women played an important role in increasing educational standards in the country. In November 1923, [[Rahmah el Yunusiyah]] opened a school located in Padang Panjang  called {{lang|id|Diniyah School Putri}} or {{transliteration|ar|Madrasah Diniyah Li al-Banat}}.<ref name="Munawaroh 2002">{{cite book |last1=Munawaroh |first1=Unaidatul |title=Ulama perempuan Indonesia |date=2002 |publisher=Gramedia Pustaka Utama |isbn=9789796866441 |editor1-last=Burhanuddin |editor1-first=Jajat |pages=1–38 |language=id |chapter=Rahmah el-Yunusiah: Pelopor Pendidikan Perempuan}}</ref><ref name="tirto bio">{{cite news |last1=Raditya |first1=Iswara |title=Rahmah El Yunusiyah Memperjuangkan Kesetaraan Muslimah |language=id |work=tirto.id |url=https://tirto.id/rahmah-el-yunusiyah-memperjuangkan-kesetaraan-muslimah-cE52 |url-status=live |access-date=13 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216000837/https://tirto.id/rahmah-el-yunusiyah-memperjuangkan-kesetaraan-muslimah-cE52 |archive-date=16 February 2021}}</ref> This school is generally thought to be the first Muslim religious school in the country for young girls.<ref name="Munawaroh 2002" /><ref name="Seno 2010 63">{{cite book |last1=Seno |first1=Seno |url=http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/12765/ |title=Peran kaum mudo dalam pembaharuan pendidikan Islam di Minangkabau 1803-1942 |date=2010 |publisher=BPSNT Padang Press |isbn=978-602-8742-16-0 |location=Padang |page=63 |language=en |access-date=2022-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701151157/http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/12765/ |archive-date=2022-07-01 |url-status=live}}</ref> El Yunusiyah, a deeply religious woman, believed that Islam demanded a central role for women and women's education.<ref name="Jejak Islam bio">{{cite news |date=24 January 2020 |title=Rahmah el Yunusiyyah Pejuang Pendidikan Kaum Wanita |work=Jejak Islam untuk Bangsa |url=https://jejakislam.net/rahmah-el-yunusiyyah-pejuang-pendidikan-kaum-wanita/ |url-status=live |access-date=13 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516003054/https://jejakislam.net/rahmah-el-yunusiyyah-pejuang-pendidikan-kaum-wanita/ |archive-date=16 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Doorn-Harder |first1=Nelly van |url=https://archive.org/details/womenshapingisla0000door/page/172/mode/2up?q=Yunusiyah |title=Women shaping Islam : Indonesian women reading the Qurʼan |date=2006 |isbn=9780252030772 |location=Urbana |page=173}}</ref> The school gained considerable popularity and by the end of the 1930s had as many as five hundred students.<ref name="tirto bio"/><ref name="Johns 1989">{{cite book |last1=Johns |first1=A. H. |title=The Religious traditions of Asia |date=1989 |publisher=Macmillan Pub. Co. |isbn=9780028972114 |editor1-last=Kitagawa |editor1-first=Joseph M. |location=New York |page=175 |language=en |chapter=7. Islam in Southeast Asia |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/religioustraditi00kita/page/175/mode/1up?q=Yunusiyah}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Srimulyani |first=Eka |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/34531 |title=Women from Traditional Islamic Educational Institutions in Indonesia : Negotiating Public Spaces |date=2012 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |hdl=20.500.12657/34531 |isbn=978-90-8964-421-3 |language=English |access-date=2022-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323050823/https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/34531 |archive-date=2022-03-23 |url-status=live}}</ref> The scholar Audrey Kahin calls ''Diniyah Putri'' "one of the most successful and influential of the schools for women" in pre-independence Indonesia.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Kahin |first=Audrey |title=Historical Dictionary of Indonesia |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2015 |isbn=9780810874565 |pages=505}}</ref>

While madrasas continue to play a pivotal role in the education of many, including young girls, there are still some cultural norms that find their way into the hallways and classrooms of these institutions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Borker|first=Hem|date=2021-06-01|title=Inside a Residential Girls' Madrasa in India|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/714346|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=62|issue=3|pages=363–372|doi=10.1086/714346|s2cid=234864708|issn=0011-3204|access-date=2021-11-22|archive-date=2021-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122045445/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/714346|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In article from 2021, [[Hem Borker]], a professor at [[Jamia Millia Islamia]], had the opportunity to travel to India and see the daily life of girls at a residential madrasa. In these madrasas in Northern India, young girls have the ability to receive an education, however, many of the practices within these institutions can be seen as very restrictive or at least by Western standards. Many madrasas that enroll girls act as "purdah institutions." In Persian, purdah translates to curtain or cover. With respect to these madrasas in Northern India, a purdah institution is an institution in which there are several guidelines female students must adhere to as a way to cover themselves both physically and culturally, These restrictions are based on the students' gender and create a segregation of sorts. Girls are expected to wear veils over their faces and cover their entire bodies as a means of dressing modestly by cultural standards. In addition to the clothes that these girls wear, the physical building itself also adheres to the ideals of a purdah institution. Classrooms and hallways are separated by gender in order to prevent fraternization. Within many of these madrasas, even the windows are lined with metal grills in order to prevent students from looking to the outside as well as to prevent people on the outside to look inward. In addition to the physical layout of the building, there are a series of rules female students must adhere to. Some of these rules include girls must lower their head and their voice when addressing their male counterparts. As they pass windows, even with barriers blocking most of their view to the outside and blocking the view of those on the outside, they are expected to lower their gaze. Going back to the idea of clothing, they must wear a [[niqāb]] in order to go outside. Within a cultural context, these rules are very appropriate. In addition to teaching specific subject academic content, institutions such as these purdah madrasas are also incorporating appropriate cultural and societal behavior outside the walls of the building.

== Architecture ==
{{See also|Islamic architecture}}

=== Architectural origins ===
Madrasas were generally centered around an interior courtyard and the classical madrasa form generally featured four [[iwan]]s (vaulted chambers open on one side) arranged symmetrically around the courtyard. The origin of this architectural model may have been [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[Vihāra|monasteries]] in [[Transoxiana]] ([[Central Asia]]), of which some early surviving remains demonstrate this type of layout.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> Another possible origin may have been domestic houses in the region of [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> Practically none of the first madrasas founded under Nizam al-Mulk (Seljuk vizier between 1064 and 1092) have survived, though partial remains of one madrasa in [[Khar Gerd|Khargerd]], Iran, include an iwan and an inscription attributing it to Nizam al-Mulk. Nonetheless, it is clear that the Seljuks constructed many madrasas across their empire within a relatively short period of time, thus spreading both the idea of this institution and the architectural models on which later examples were based.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" />

=== Evolution and spread across different regions ===
==== Seljuk Anatolia ====
[[File:Ince Minareli Medrese 01.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Ince Minaret Medrese]] (13th century) in [[Konya]], now housing the Museum of Stone and Wood Art]]
In contrast to early Iranian Seljuk madrasas, a large number of madrasas from the Anatolian Seljuk Empire (between 1077 and 1308) have survived, and are the closest examples we have of Iranian-influenced early madrasa architecture.<ref name=":0" /> However, though each usually included a large central courtyard, their overall layouts were more variable and may have reflected more multi-purpose functions, often with an attached mausoleum, a minaret, and an ornate entrance portal. The courtyards were sometimes covered by a large dome (as with the [[Karatay Madrasa, Konya|Karatay Madrasa]], founded in 1279, and other madrasas in [[Konya]]), reflecting an ongoing transition to domed Islamic buildings in Anatolia and later [[Ottoman architecture]].<ref name=":5" />

==== Syria and Egypt ====

In Syria and the surrounding region, the earliest madrasas were often relatively small buildings, the earliest example of which is one in [[Bosra]] founded in 1136–37.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> Madrasa architecture in this region appears to have evolved out of Seljuk prototypes.<ref name=":0" /> Another early important example is the [[Nur al-Din Madrasa|Madrasa of Nur al-Din]] from 1167.<ref name=":0" /> Under the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] madrasas began to take on added importance, with the first madrasa in Egypt (no longer extant) being built by [[Saladin|Salah ad-Din]] (Saladin) in 1180 next to the [[Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i]] in Cairo's [[City of the Dead (Cairo)|Qarafa Cemetery]]. As with the earlier Seljuk madrasas, it is likely that these foundations were motivated by a desire to counteract the influence of [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] [[proselytism]] and propaganda during the [[Fatimid Caliphate]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":04">{{Cite book|last1=El Kadi|first1=Galila|title=Architecture for the Dead: Cairo's Medieval Necropolis|last2=Bonnamy|first2=Alain|publisher=The American University in Cairo Press|year=2007|location=Cairo}}</ref><ref name=":03" /><ref name=":0" /> Among the surviving Ayyubid madrasas in Egypt are the remains of the Madrasa of al-Kamil (founded by Sultan [[Al-Kamil|al-Kamil Ayyub]] in 1229) and the more important [[Salihiyya Madrasa|Madrasa al-Salihiyya]] founded by Sultan [[As-Salih Ayyub|al-Salih Ayyub]] founded in 1242, to which was later attached al-Salih's mausoleum.<ref name=":03" /> In Syria, an exceptional example of a monumental madrasa from this period is the [[al-Firdaws Madrasa]] in [[Aleppo]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> Many more examples from this period, however, have not survived.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Sultan-Hassan-Moschee 2015-11-14zc.jpg|thumb|Interior of the [[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan|Madrasa-Mosque of Sultan Hasan]] (14th century) in [[Cairo]]|alt=]]After the faltering of the Ayyubid dynasty and the transition to the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] around 1250, the [[Mamluk]]s became eager patrons of architecture. Many of their projects involved the construction of madrasas as part of larger multi-functional religious complexes, usually attached to their personal mausoleums, which provided services to the general population while also promoting their own prestige and pious reputations.<ref name=":2" /> In Egyptian [[Mamluk architecture]], which largely used stone, the madrasa layout generally had two prominent iwans which were aligned to the ''[[qibla]]'' and faced each other across a central courtyard, while two "lateral" iwans faced each across each on the other two sides of the courtyard. Prominent examples of these include the madrasa of the [[Qalawun complex|Sultan Qalawun complex]] (built in 1284–1285) and the neighbouring [[Madrassa of Al-Nasir Muhammad|complex of his son al-Nasir Muhammad]] (finished in 1304).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":03" /> One exceptional madrasa, which also served as a mosque and was easily one of the most massive structures of its time, was the monumental [[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan|Madrasa-Mosque of Sultan Hasan]] (built from 1356 to 1363), with a large central courtyard surrounded by four enormous iwans. While the unique Madrasa of Sultan Hasan provided instruction in all four Sunni [[Madhhab|legal schools of thought]], most madrasas and mosques in Egypt followed the [[Shafi‘i school|Shafi'i]] school. Moreover, due to the already dense urban fabric of Cairo, Mamluk architectural complexes adopted increasingly irregular and creatively designed floor plans to compensate for limited space while simultaneously attempting to maximize their prominence and visibility from the street.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":03" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":22">{{Cite book|last=O'Kane|first=Bernard|title=The Mosques of Egypt|publisher=The American University in Cairo Press|year=2016|location=Cairo}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Raymond|first=André|title=Le Caire|publisher=Fayard|year=1993|isbn=2213029830|pages=139, 240}}</ref>

While Mamluk architecture outside Cairo was generally of lesser quality and craftsmanship, there were nonetheless many examples. The [[Al-Zahiriyah Library|Madrasa al-Zahiriyya]] in [[Damascus]], which contains the mausoleum of Sultan [[Baibars|Baybars I]], is still essentially Ayyubid in style.<ref name=":0" /> The city of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] in [[Lebanon]] also holds a concentration of Mamluk-era architecture, including madrasas. However, the most significant Mamluk architectural patronage outside of Cairo is likely in Jerusalem, as with the example of the major [[Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya|al-Ashrafiyya Madrasa]] on the [[Temple Mount]] (''Haram al-Sharif''), which was rebuilt in its current form by Sultan [[Qaitbay|Qaytbay]] in the late 15th century.<ref name=":0" />

{{anchor|four-iwan madrasa|cruciform madrasa}}
Cruciform madrasas, which have a [[four-iwan plan]], came to prominence in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Creswell |first=K.A.C. |author-link=K.A.C. Creswell |title=The Muslim Architecture of Egypt: Ayyūbids and early Baḥrite Mamlūks |date=1978 |publisher=Hacker Art Books |isbn=978-0-87817-175-0 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLlIAQAAIAAJ |quote=Having come to the conclusion that the cruciform madrasa was Egyptian in origin, I shall […] show that its influence on Syria was almost nil. Only two madrasas, one built by an Egyptian sultan and the other by an Egyptian emīr, show signs of this influence, (a) the Madrasa of Malik aẓ-Ẓāhir Bibars at Damascus, and (b) the Tankizīya, at Jerusalem. |access-date=2022-06-21 |archive-date=2023-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132433/https://books.google.com/books?id=NLlIAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> They also appeared in [[Syria (region)|Syria-Palestine]], e.g., Jerusalem's [[Tankiziyya]], [[:commons:Category:Al-Arghuniyya|Arghūniyya]], [[:commons:Category:Tashtamuriyya|Ṭashtamuriyya]], [[:commons:Category:Al-Muzhiriyya|Muzhiriyya]],<ref name="Berchem">{{cite book|title=Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. 2e partie. Syrie du Sud. Tome 1er. Jérusalem "Ville" |url=https://archive.org/details/MIFAO43/page/n145/mode/1up?view=theater&q=cruciforme |first=M.|last=Berchem, van|author-link=Max van Berchem |year=1922|volume =| publisher=Impr. de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale |location=Cairo|language=Fr }}</ref> and Damascus's [[al-Zahiriyah Library|Ẓāhirīyah]].

==== Maghreb (North Africa) ====
[[File:Coranic School (106589859).jpeg|thumb|Courtyard of the [[Ben Youssef Madrasa]] (16th century) in [[Marrakesh]]]]
In northwestern Africa (the ''Maghrib'' or [[Maghreb]]), including Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, madrasas began to be constructed in the 13th century under the [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid]] and [[Hafsid dynasty|Hafsid]] dynasties.<ref name=":022" /><ref name=":0" /> In Tunisia (or [[Ifriqiya]]), the earliest Hafsid madrasa was the [[Madrasa Ech Chamaiya|Madrasa al-Shamma'iyya]] founded in 1238<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":5" />{{Rp|209}} (or in 1249 according to some sources<ref name=":244" /><ref name=":022" />{{Rp|296}}). In Morocco, the first madrasa was the [[Saffarin Madrasa|Madrasa as-Saffarin]] built in Fes in 1271, followed by many others constructed around the country. The main architectural highlights among these are the [[Sahrij Madrasa|Madrasa as-Sahrij]] (built in 1321–1328), the [[Al-Attarine Madrasa|Madrasa al-Attarin]] (built in 1323–1325), and the [[Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan|Madrasa of Salé]] (completed in 1341), all of which are lavishly decorated with sculpted wood, carved [[stucco]], and ''[[zellij]]'' mosaic tilework.<ref name=":1223" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" />  The [[Bou Inania Madrasa]] in Fes, built in 1350–1355, distinguished itself from other madrasas by its size and by being the only madrasa which also officially functioned as a public [[Jama masjid|Friday mosque]].<ref name=":032" /><ref name=":022" /> The Marinids also built madrasas in Algeria, particularly in [[Tlemcen]].<ref name=":022" />

In Morocco, madrasas were generally built in brick and wood and were still centered around a main internal courtyard with a central fountain or water basin, around which student dorms were distributed across one or two floors. A prayer hall or mosque chamber usually stood opposite the entrance on one side of the courtyard. The Bou Inania Madrasa in Fes also contained two side-chambers opening off the lateral sides of its courtyard, which may reflect an influence of the older four-iwan layout.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|293}} However, most other Moroccan madrasas did not have this feature and the courtyards were instead flanked by ornate galleries. By contrast with Mamluk structures to the east, Moroccan and Maghrebi madrasas were not prominently distinguishable from the outside except for an ornate entrance portal decorated with carved wood and stucco. This model continued to be found in later madrasas like the [[Ben Youssef Madrasa]] of the 16th century in [[Marrakesh]].<ref name=":022" /><ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2020}}</ref><ref name=":1223" />

==== Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia ====
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=500|caption_align=center
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| caption1 = Ilkhanid-period [[Imami Madrasa]] in Isfahan (1325)
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| caption2 = Courtyard of the [[Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand|Ulugh Beg Madrasa]] in [[Samarkand]] (15th century)
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Very few if any formal madrasas from before the [[Mongol invasion of Iran|Mongol invasions]] have survived in Iran.<ref name=":0" /> One exception is the [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Mustansiriyya Madrasa]] in [[Baghdad]], which dates from 1227 and is also the earliest "universal" madrasa, which is to say the first madrasa that taught all four Sunni ''[[Madhhab|maddhab]]''s (legal schools of thought).<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|title=Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya|url=https://archnet.org/sites/3836|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Archnet|archive-date=2020-08-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808070657/http://archnet.org/sites/3836|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Later, the Mongol [[Ilkhanate|Ilkhanid]] dynasty and the many dynasties that followed them (e.g. the [[Timurid dynasty|Timurids]] and [[Safavid Iran|Safavids]]) nonetheless built numerous monumental madrasas, many of which are excellent examples of [[Iranian architecture|Iranian Islamic architecture]].<ref name=":5" /> In some cases, these madrasas were directly attached and integrated into larger mosques, as with those attached to the [[Shah Mosque (Isfahan)|Shah Mosque]] in [[Isfahan]] (17th century). In other cases they were built as more or less separate entities, such as with the [[Chaharbagh School|Chahar Bagh Madrasa]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Madrasah-i Madar-i Shah|url=https://archnet.org/sites/1620|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Archnet|archive-date=2020-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724043538/http://archnet.org/sites/1620|url-status=live}}</ref> (also in Isfahan, 17th-18th centuries), or the 15th-century Timurid [[Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand|Ulugh Beg Madrasa]] and two other monumental 17th-century madrasas at the [[Registan]] complex in [[Samarkand]].<ref name=":5" />

The form of the madrasa does not appear to have changed significantly over time in this region. The Timurid period (late 14th and 15th century), however, was a "golden age" of Iranian madrasas, during which the four-iwan model was made much larger and more monumental, on a par with major mosques, thanks to intense patronage from [[Timur]] and his successors.<ref name=":0" /> Madrasas in the Iranian architectural tradition continued to be centered around a large square or rectangular courtyard with a central water basin and surrounded by a one or two-story [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]]. Either two or four large iwans stood at the ends of the central axes of the courtyard.<ref name=":5" />

==== Ottoman Empire ====
[[File:Suleymaniye kulliyesi medrese i salis 11 05 30 810000.jpeg|thumb|The Salis Medrese, part of the [[Süleymaniye Mosque|Süleymaniye complex]] (16th century) in [[Istanbul]]]]
[[Ottoman architecture]] evolved out of its Anatolian Seljuk predecessors into a particular style. In the classical Ottoman period (15th-16th centuries), the typical form of the madrasa had become a large courtyard surrounded by an arched gallery covered by a series of domes, similar to the ''[[sahn]]'' (courtyard) of imperial mosques. Madrasas were generally limited to a main ground floor, and were often built as auxiliary buildings to a central mosque which anchored a ''[[külliye]]'' or charitable complex.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Kuban|first=Doğan|title=Ottoman Architecture|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=2010}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> This marked a certain departure from other madrasa styles as it emphasized the feeling of space for its own sake instead of focusing on the practical function of housing as many students as possible within a small area.<ref name=":0" /> This is evident in the ''külliye'' complex of [[Muhammad the Conqueror|Mehmet II Fatih]], which included 16 madrasa buildings arranged symmetrically around the [[Fatih Mosque, Istanbul|Fatih Mosque]]. The [[Süleymaniye Mosque|Süleymaniye complex]], often considered the apogee of Ottoman architecture, included four madrasas as part of a vast and carefully designed architectural ensemble at the top of one of [[Istanbul]]'s highest hills.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Sumner-Boyd|first1=Hilary|title=Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City|last2=Freely|first2=John|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2010|edition=Revised}}</ref>

==Madrasas by region==
===Ottoman Empire===
[[File:Şemsi_Pasha_Mosque-madrasa.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Şemsi Pasha Mosque]] and medrese (1580) in [[Üsküdar]], [[Istanbul]]]]{{Original research|section|date=December 2023|reason=It cites sources in support of certain statements and quotes, but these are used as arguments leading to conclusions with no supporting citations. (See also [[WP:NOTESSAY]].)}}
"The first Ottoman Medrese was created in İznik in 1331 and most Ottoman medreses followed the traditions of Sunni Islam."<ref name="Ottoman" /> "When an Ottoman sultan established a new medrese, he would invite scholars from the Islamic world—for example, [[Murad II]] brought scholars from Persia, such as ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn and Fakhr al-Dīn who helped enhance the reputation of the Ottoman medrese".<ref name="Ottoman" /> This reveals that the Islamic world was interconnected in the early modern period as they travelled around to other Islamic states exchanging knowledge. This sense that the Ottoman Empire was becoming modernised through [[globalization]] is also recognised by Hamadeh who says: "Change in the eighteenth century as the beginning of a long and unilinear march toward westernisation reflects the two centuries of reformation in sovereign identity."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hamadeh | first1 = Shirine | year = 2004 | title = Ottoman Expressions of Early Modernity and the 'Inevitable' Question of Westernization | journal = The Journal of Architectural Historians | volume = 63 | issue = 1| pages = 32–51 | doi=10.2307/4127991| jstor = 4127991 }}</ref>
İnalcık also mentions that while scholars from for example Persia travelled to the Ottomans in order to share their knowledge, Ottomans travelled as well to receive education from scholars of these Islamic lands, such as Egypt, Persia and Turkestan.<ref name="Ottoman" /> Hence, this reveals that similar to today's modern world, individuals from the early modern society travelled abroad to receive education and share knowledge and that the world was more interconnected than it seems. Also, it reveals how the system of "schooling" was also similar to today's modern world where students travel abroad to different countries for studies. Examples of Ottoman madrasas are the ones built by [[Muhammad the Conqueror]]. He built eight madrasas that were built "on either side of the mosque where there were eight higher madrasas for specialised studies and eight lower medreses, which prepared students for these."<ref name="Ottoman" /> The fact that they were built around, or near mosques reveals the religious impulses behind madrasa building and it reveals the interconnectedness between institutions of learning and religion. The students who completed their education in the lower medreses became known as danismends.<ref name="Ottoman" /> This reveals that similar to the education system today, the Ottomans' educational system involved different kinds of schools attached to different kinds of levels. For example, there were lower madrasas and specialised ones, and for one to get into the specialised area meant that he had to complete the classes in the lower one in order to adequately prepare himself for higher learning.<ref name="Ottoman" />

This is the rank of madrasas in the Ottoman Empire from the highest ranking to the lowest: (From İnalcık, 167).<ref name="Ottoman" />
# Semniye
# Darulhadis
# Madrasas built by earlier sultans in Bursa.
# Madrasas endowed by great men of state.

Although Ottoman madrasas had a number of different branches of study, such as calligraphic sciences, oral sciences, and intellectual sciences, they primarily served the function of an Islamic centre for spiritual learning. Often mentioned by critics that madrasas did not include a variety of natural sciences during the time of the Ottoman Empire, madrasas included curriculums that included a wide range of natural sciences. There were many well-known Muslim scholars, mathematicians, and scientists that all worked to teach high-ranking families and children of the sciences.{{sfn|Brentjes|2018|p=36-37}} it known that  "The goal of all knowledge and in particular, of the spiritual sciences is knowledge of God."<ref name="Ottoman" /> Religion, for the most part, determines the significance and importance of each science. As İnalcık mentions: "Those which aid religion are good and sciences like astrology are bad."<ref name="Ottoman" />
However, even though mathematics, or studies in logic were part of the madrasa's curriculum, they were all primarily concerned with religion. Even mathematics had a religious impulse behind its teachings. "The Ulema of the Ottoman medreses held the view that hostility to logic and mathematics was futile since these accustomed the mind to correct thinking and thus helped to reveal divine truths"<ref name="Ottoman" /> – key word being "divine". İnalcık also mentions that even philosophy was only allowed to be studied so that it helped to confirm the doctrines of Islam."<ref name="Ottoman" /> Hence, madrasas – schools were basically religious centres for religious teachings and learning in the Ottoman world. Although scholars such as Goffman have argued that the Ottomans were highly tolerant and lived in a pluralistic society, it seems that schools that were the main centres for learning were in fact heavily religious and were not religiously pluralistic, but rather Islamic in nature. Similarly, in Europe "Jewish children learned the Hebrew letters and texts of basic prayers at home, and then attended a school organised by the synagogue to study the Torah."<ref name="WH">Wiesner-Hanks, E. Merry. ''Early Modern Europe 1450–1789''. New York: U of Cambridge P, 2006.</ref> Wiesner-Hanks also says that Protestants also wanted to teach "proper religious values."<ref name="WH" /> This shows that in the early modern period, Ottomans and Europeans were similar in their ideas about how schools should be managed and what they should be primarily focused on. Thus, Ottoman madrasas were very similar to present day schools in the sense that they offered a wide range of studies; however, these studies, in their ultimate objective, aimed to further solidify and consolidate Islamic practices and theories.

====Curricula====
As is previously mentioned, religion dominated much of the knowledge and teachings that were endowed upon students. "Religious learning as the only true science, whose sole aim was the understanding of God's word."<ref name="Ottoman" />

The following is taken from İnalcık.<ref name="Ottoman" />
<blockquote>
* A) Calligraphic sciences—such as styles of writing.
* B) Oral sciences—such as Arabic language, grammar and syntax.
* C) Intellectual sciences—logic in Islamic philosophy.
* D) Spiritual sciences—theoretical, such as Islamic theology and mathematics; and practical, such as Islamic ethics and politics.
</blockquote>

====Social life and the medrese====
As with any other country during the Early Modern Period, such as Italy and Spain in Europe, the Ottoman social life was interconnected with the medrese. Medreses were built in as part of a mosque complex where many programmes, such as aid to the poor through soup kitchens, were held under the infrastructure of a mosque, which reveals the interconnectedness of religion and social life during this period. "The mosques to which medreses were attached, dominated the social life in Ottoman cities."<ref name="Goffman">Goffman, Daniel. ''The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe''. United Kingdom: U of Cambridge P, 2002.</ref> Social life was not dominated by religion only in the Muslim world of the Ottoman Empire; it was also quite similar to the social life of Europe during this period. As Goffman says: "Just as mosques dominated social life for the Ottomans, churches and synagogues dominated life for the Christians and Jews as well."<ref name="Goffman" /> Hence, social life and the medrese were closely linked, since medreses taught many curricula, such as religion, which highly governed social life in terms of establishing orthodoxy. "They tried moving their developing state toward Islamic orthodoxy."<ref name="Goffman" /> Overall, the fact that mosques contained medreses comes to show the relevance of education to religion in the sense that education took place within the framework of religion and religion established social life by trying to create a common religious orthodoxy. Hence, medreses were simply part of the social life of society as students came to learn the fundamentals of their societal values and beliefs.

=== Maghreb ===
[[File:Madrasa Bou Inania (3045670870).jpg|thumb|Courtyard of the [[Bou Inania Madrasa]] in [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]]]]
In northwestern Africa (the ''Maghrib'' or [[Maghreb]]), including [[Morocco]], [[Algeria]], and [[Tunisia]], the appearance of madrasas was delayed until after the fall of the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad dynasty]], who espoused a [[Almohad reforms|reformist doctrine]] generally considered unorthodox by other Sunnis. As such, it only came to flourish in the region in the 13th century, under the [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid]] and [[Hafsid dynasty|Hafsid]] dynasties which succeeded them.<ref name=":022" /><ref name=":0" /> In Tunisia (or [[Ifriqiya]]), the earliest Hafsid madrasa was the ''Madrasat al-Ma'raḍ'', founded in Tunis in 1252 and followed by many others.<ref name=":0" /> In Morocco, the first madrasa was the [[Saffarin Madrasa|Madrasa as-Saffarin]] built in Fes in 1271, followed by many others constructed around the country.<ref name=":1223">Kubisch, Natascha (2011). "Maghreb - Architecture" in Hattstein, Markus and Delius, Peter (eds.) ''Islam: Art and Architecture''. h.f.ullmann.</ref><ref name=":13" /> The Marinids also built madrasas in Algeria, particularly in [[Tlemcen]].<ref name=":022" />

As elsewhere, rulers in the Maghreb built madrasas to bolster their political legitimacy and that of their dynasty. The Marinids used their patronage of madrasas to cultivate the loyalty of Morocco's influential but independent religious elites and also to portray themselves to the general population as protectors and promoters of orthodox Sunni Islam.<ref name=":022" /><ref name=":13" /> Madrasas also served to train the scholars and educated elites who generally operated the state bureaucracy.<ref name=":13" /> A number of madrasas also played a supporting role to major learning institutions like the older [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|Qarawiyyin Mosque-University]] and the [[Andalusian Mosque|al-Andalusiyyin Mosque]] (both located in Fes) because they provided accommodations for students coming from other cities.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book|last=Parker|first=Richard|title=A practical guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco|publisher=The Baraka Press|year=1981|location=Charlottesville, VA}}</ref>{{Rp|137}}<ref name=":62">{{Cite book|last=Gaudio|first=Attilio|title=Fès: Joyau de la civilisation islamique|publisher=Les Presse de l'UNESCO: Nouvelles Éditions Latines|year=1982|isbn=2723301591|location=Paris}}</ref>{{Rp|110}} Many of these students were poor, seeking sufficient education to gain a higher position in their home towns, and the madrasas provided them with basic necessities such as lodging and bread.<ref name=":032">{{Cite book|last=Le Tourneau|first=Roger|title=Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman|publisher=Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition|year=1949|location=Casablanca}}</ref>{{Rp|463}} However, the madrasas were also teaching institutions in their own right and offered their own courses, but usually with much narrower and more limited curriculums than the Qarawiyyin.<ref name=":62" />{{Rp|141}}<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Irwin|first=Robert|title=Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2019|pages=29–30}}</ref> The [[Bou Inania Madrasa]] in Fes, distinguished itself from other madrasas by its size and by being the only madrasa which also officially functioned as a public [[Jama masjid|Friday mosque]].<ref name=":032" /><ref name=":022" />

While some historical madrasas in Morocco remained in use well into the 20th century, most are no longer used for their original purpose following the reorganization of the Moroccan education system under [[French Protectorate in Morocco|French colonial rule]] and in the period following independence in 1956.<ref name=":122" /><ref name="Métalsi 2003">{{Cite book|last=Métalsi|first=Mohamed|title=Fès: La ville essentielle|publisher=ACR Édition Internationale|year=2003|isbn=978-2867701528|location=Paris}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite book|last1=Touri|first1=Abdelaziz|title=Le Maroc andalou : à la découverte d'un art de vivre|last2=Benaboud|first2=Mhammad|last3=Boujibar El-Khatib|first3=Naïma|last4=Lakhdar|first4=Kamal|last5=Mezzine|first5=Mohamed|publisher=Ministère des Affaires Culturelles du Royaume du Maroc & Museum With No Frontiers|year=2010|isbn=978-3902782311|edition=2}}</ref> Likewise, while some madrasas are still used for learning in Tunisia, many have since been converted to other uses in modern times.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last1=Binous|first1=Jamila|title=Ifriqiya: Thirteen Centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia|last2=Baklouti|first2=Naceur|last3=Ben Tanfous|first3=Aziza|last4=Bouteraa|first4=Kadri|last5=Rammah|first5=Mourad|last6=Zouari|first6=Ali|publisher=Museum With No Frontiers & Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Heritage, Tunis|year=2010|series=Islamic Art in the Mediterranean}}</ref>

===Iran===
[[Twelver Shi'ism]] has been the official religion of Iran since the [[Safavid]]s declared it to be at the beginning of the 16th century, and the number of Shiʿite madrasas in Iran (or Persia) grew rapidly from that time on.
Since 1979, the [[History of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]], the head of state ("[[Supreme Leader of Iran|Supreme Leader]]"), has been a Twelver Shi'i [[faqih]] [[Shia clergy#Twelver|cleric]]. ("The vast majority" of the population is Twelver Shia Muslim.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |title=Religion of Iran |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/Religion |website=Britannica |access-date=5 September 2023}}</ref>) 
There are nearly three hundred thousand clerics in Iran's seminaries.<ref name="C&S">[http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=12421&pageid=20&pagename=Security A History of Tension between Iran's Clerics and the State], Mehdi Khalaji 26 July 2010 Washington Institute</ref>

====20th century====
Historically, its estimated that there were about 5,000 religious students in Iran/Persia in 1924–25, but, that number dropped sharply owing to the  [[anticlerical]] policy of [[Reza Shah|Reżā Shah]] (1925–41), and made a gradual comeback—though lagging behind growth of Iran's population. "Between 1920 and 1979 the Persian population tripled ... but enrollment in madrasas only doubled"—in the four decades before the revolution when his son ([[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]]) ruled.<ref name=Fischer-77>M. M. J. Fischer, Iran. From Religious Dispute to Revolution, Cambridge, Mass., 1980., p. 77; quoted in {{cite web |last1=Zaryāb |first1=ʿAbbās |title=Education v. The Madrasa in Shiʿite Persia |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/education-v-the-madrasa-in-shiite-persia |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |access-date=5 September 2023 |orig-date=15 December 1997 |date=9 December 2011}}</ref> At the biggest religious center in Iran, Qom, stipends for students came from religious taxes starting in the 1920s.<ref name=Fischer-81>M. M. J. Fischer, Iran. From Religious Dispute to Revolution, Cambridge, Mass., 1980.,  p. 81; quoted in {{cite web |last1=Zaryāb |first1=ʿAbbās |title=Education v. The Madrasa in Shiʿite Persia |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/education-v-the-madrasa-in-shiite-persia |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |access-date=5 September 2023 |orig-date=15 December 1997 |date=9 December 2011}}</ref>

=== South Asia ===
[[File:Alauddin's Madrasa, Qutb complex.jpg|thumb|[[Alauddin Khalji]]'s Madrasa, [[Qutb complex]], built in the early-14th century in [[Delhi]], India.|alt=]]
====Afghanistan====
As of early 2021, Afghanistan had some 5000 madrasas registered with the [[Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs]] (unregistered ones being uncounted) with around 250 in [[Kabul]], including the Darul-Ulom Imam [[Abu Hanifa]] which has 200 teachers and 3000 students, and in all, some 380,000 students were enrolled in these government recognized madrasas, including 55,000 girls.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rahimi|first=Zahra|date=8 January 2021|title=Govt Plans to Bring Madrassas Under State Control|url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-169095|website=[[TOLOnews]]|access-date=21 September 2021|archive-date=21 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921233859/https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-169095|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Bangladesh====
There are three different madrasa education systems in Bangladesh: the original darse nizami system, the redesigned nizami system, and the higher syllabus alia nisab. The first two categories are commonly called [[Qawmi madrasa|Qawmi]] or non-government madrasas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=ABM Saiful Islam |year=2012 |chapter=Madrasah |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Madrasah |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |access-date=2016-05-08 |archive-date=2016-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306032507/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Madrasah |url-status=live }}</ref> Amongst them the most notable are [[Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam]] in Hathazari, [[Al-Jamiah Al-Islamiah Patiya]], in Patiya, and [[Jamia Tawakkulia Renga Madrasah]] in [[Sylhet]].[[File:চিত্র ৩ লালবাগ দুর্গের দক্ষিণ পূর্ব তোরণের সম্মুখভাগ.jpg|thumb|The [[Jamia Qurania Arabia Lalbagh]] madrasa in [[Bangladesh]] lies in front of the historic [[Lalbagh Fort]] courtyard.]]In 2006 there were 15,000 registered Qawmi madrasas with the Befaqul Mudarressin of Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasah Education Board,<ref name="dstar1">{{cite news |title=Qawmi madrasas under watch |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=82099 |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=2009-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023205118/http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=82099 |archive-date=2012-10-23}}</ref> though the figure could be well over double that number if unregistered madrasas were counted.<ref name="saminaahmed2005">Ahmed, Samina. ''[http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/speeches/2005/testimony-of-samina-ahmed-to-us-senate-foreign-relations-committee.aspx Testimony of Samina Ahmed to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303083724/http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/speeches/2005/testimony-of-samina-ahmed-to-us-senate-foreign-relations-committee.aspx |date=2011-03-03 }}''. 19 Apr 2005.</ref>

The madrasas regulated by the government through the [[Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board]] are called the Alia madrasas and they number some 7,000, offering, in addition to religious instruction, subjects such as English and science, and its graduates often complete their education in secular institutions, to the extent that some 32% of the university teachers in the humanities and the social sciences are graduates of these Alia madrasas.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Anam|first=Tahmima|date=20 May 2011|title=An education: Inside Bangladesh's madrasas|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/21/inside-madrasa-for-girls-bangladesh-tahmima-anam|website=The Guardian|access-date=21 September 2021|archive-date=21 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921232155/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/21/inside-madrasa-for-girls-bangladesh-tahmima-anam|url-status=live}}</ref>

====India====
[[File:Quvvathul Islam Madrassa. , Taliparamba, Kerala, India. (4488376429).jpg|thumbnail|Quvvathul Islam Senior Madrassa, [[Taliparamba]], India ]]
[[Image:Madrasah1.jpg|thumb|This is a madarasa of the Jamia Masjid mosque in [[Srirangapatna]], India. This mosque dates back to the 1700s and is where [[Tipu Sultan]] used to pray.]]

In 2008, India's madrassas were estimated to number between 8000 and 30,000, the state of [[Uttar Pradesh]] hosting most of them, estimated by the Indian government to have 10,000 of those back then.<ref>Nair, Padmaja (2009) ''The State and Madrasas in India''. Working Paper. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, p. 18</ref>

The majority of these schools follow the [[Hanafi]] school of thought. The religious establishment forms part of the mainly two large divisions within the country, namely the Deobandis, who dominate in numbers (of whom the [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] constitutes one of the biggest madrasas) and the [[Barelvi]]s, who also make up a sizeable portion (Sufi-oriented). Some notable establishments include: [[Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah]] ([[Isma'ilism]]), [[Al Jamiatul Ashrafia]], Mubarakpur, Manzar Islam Bareilly, Jamia Nizamdina New Delhi, Jamia Nayeemia Muradabad which is one of the largest learning centres for the Barelvis. The HR{{Clarify|date=May 2010}} ministry of the government of India has recently{{When|date=June 2011}} declared that a Central Madrasa Board would be set up. This will enhance the education system of madrasas in India. Though the madrasas impart Quranic education mainly, efforts are on to include mathematics, computers, and science in the curriculum.

In July 2015, the state government of [[Maharashtra]] created a stir when it de-recognised madrasa education, receiving criticism from several political parties with the NCP accusing the ruling BJP of creating Hindu-Muslim friction in the state, and Kamal Farooqui of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board saying it was "ill-designed"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/7/3/indian-state-de-recognises-madrasa-education|title=Indian state de-recognises madrasa education|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=2022-06-10|archive-date=2022-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610234947/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/7/3/indian-state-de-recognises-madrasa-education|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/madrassaeducated-children-will-be-considered-outofschool-maharashtra-govt/article7379718.ece?homepage=true|title=In Maharashtra, students obtaining full-time religious education to be considered uneducated|first1=Alok|last1=Deshpande|first2=Omar|last2=Rashid|newspaper=The Hindu|date=3 July 2015|access-date=3 July 2015|archive-date=3 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703104732/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/madrassaeducated-children-will-be-considered-outofschool-maharashtra-govt/article7379718.ece?homepage=true|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2024, the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh declared the Madrasa Act of 2004 to be unconstitutional, according to a court order, while ordering the state government to move students enrolled in the Islamic system into mainstream schools.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mogul |first=Rhea |date=2024-03-25 |title=Court ruling effectively outlaws Islamic schools in India's most populous state |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/24/india/india-madrasa-court-ruling-uttar-pradesh-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

===== In Kerala =====
{{main|Arabic College}}

Most of the Muslims of Kerala follow the traditional [[Shafi'i|Shāfiʿī]] school of religious law (known in Kerala as the traditionalist 'Sunnis') while a large minority follow modern movements that developed within [[Sunni Islam]].<ref name="Miller12">Miller, E. Roland. "Mappila Muslim Culture" State University of New York Press, Albany (2015); p. xi.</ref><ref name="TheEncyclopediaofIslam2">Miller, R. E. "Mappila" in ''The Encyclopedia of Islam'' Volume VI. Leiden E. J. Brill 1988 p. 458-66 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SiBkMSIZ2LYC&q=editions:lTASeHyksMsC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132434/https://books.google.com/books?id=SiBkMSIZ2LYC&dq=editions:lTASeHyksMsC&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik6pvDw-vbAhWLKo8KHdNqBeUQ6AEIKzAB|date=2023-01-15}}</ref> The latter section consists of majority [[Salafi movement|Salafists (the Mujahids)]] and the minority [[Islamism|Islamists (political Islam)]].<ref name="Miller12" /><ref name="TheEncyclopediaofIslam2" />

* A 'madrasa' in Kerala refers to an extra-curricular institution where children receive basic (Islamic) religious and [[Arabic language]] instruction.<ref name=":12">OSELLA, FILIPPO, and CAROLINE OSELLA. “Islamism and Social Reform in Kerala, South India.” ''Modern Asian Studies'', vol. 42, no. 2-3, 2008, pp. 317–346., doi:10.1017/S0026749X07003198.</ref>
* The so-called '[[Arabic Colleges]]' of Kerala are the equivalent of north Indian madrasas.<ref name=":12"/>

====Pakistan====
{{Main|Madrassas in Pakistan}}It is sometimes speculated that parents send their children to madrasas in Pakistan due to the inability to afford a good education. Although Madrasas are free they do provide adequate education for their students. It is sometimes speculated that due to lower quality of education those who finish have a hard time finding employment. Those who attended Madrasas have problem finding a job soon after. The education those receive madrasas in Pakistan closely resembles public institutions in the United States.<ref name=Fair/>[[File:Mosque_And_Education_Center_Run_By_Dawat-e-Islami.jpg|thumb|Madrasa e Faizan e Madina in [[Karachi]], Pakistan]]
The madrasas rose as colleges of learning in the Islamic world in the 11th century, though there were institutions of learning earlier. They catered not only to the religious establishment, though that was the dominant influence over them, but also the secular one. To the latter they supplied physicians, administrative officials, judges and teachers. Today many registered madrasas are working effectively and coping up with modern education system such as [[Jamia-tul-Madina]], which is a chain of Islamic schools in Pakistan and in European and other countries established by [[Dawat-e-Islami]]. The Jamia-tul-Madina are also known as Faizan-e-Madina. Dawat-e-Islami has grown its network of madrasas from Pakistan to Europe. In today's time the most centralized location of madrasas is in Pakistan.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Although Pakistan hold the most Madrasas the number is still growing in many different countries.

====Nepal====
Nepal has 907 madrasas recognized on the same level as government schools but the total number in the country is around 4000.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rajbanshi|first=Arjun|date=27 October 2019|title=A madrasa blends traditional education with modern to keep up with the changing times|url=https://kathmandupost.com/province-no-1/2019/10/27/a-madrasa-blends-traditional-education-with-modern-to-keep-up-with-the-changing-times|website=[[The Kathmandu Post]]|access-date=2 May 2021|archive-date=2 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502090947/https://kathmandupost.com/province-no-1/2019/10/27/a-madrasa-blends-traditional-education-with-modern-to-keep-up-with-the-changing-times|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Southeast Asia===
In Southeast Asia, Muslim students have a choice of attending a secular government or an Islamic school. Madrasas or Islamic schools are known as ''Sekolah Agama'' ({{langx|ms|religious school}}) in Malaysia and Indonesia, โรงเรียนศาสนาอิสลาม ({{langx|th|school of Islam}}) in Thailand and ''madaris'' in the Philippines. In countries where Islam is not the majority or state religion, Islamic schools are found in regions such as southern Thailand (near the Thai-Malaysian border) and the southern Philippines in [[Mindanao]], where a significant Muslim population can be found.

====Indonesia====
{{main|Pesantren}}

The number of madrasas more than doubled from 2002/2003 to 2011/2012, going from 63,000 to 145,000, unrecognized madrasas accounting for 17% of all schools in the country while the recognized madrasas account for nearly 1/3 of the secondary schools.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Asadullah|first=M Niaz|date=6 March 2020|title=Poor Indonesian families are more likely to send their daughters to cheap Islamic schools|url=https://theconversation.com/poor-indonesian-families-are-more-likely-to-send-their-daughters-to-cheap-islamic-schools-131310|website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|access-date=1 May 2021|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501154832/https://theconversation.com/poor-indonesian-families-are-more-likely-to-send-their-daughters-to-cheap-islamic-schools-131310|url-status=live}}</ref>

The word ''madrasah'' in Indonesia is also used to refer to secular-style public and private schools with more Islamic subjects in its curriculum. There are several levels of ''madrasah'': ''Madrasah Ibtidaiyah'' (MI,  the equivalent of [[elementary school]]), ''Madrasah Tsanawiyah'' (MTs, the equivalent of [[junior high school]]), ''Madrasah Aliyah'' (MA, the equivalent of [[senior high school]]), and ''Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan'' (MAK, the equivalent of [[vocational high school]]).

====Singapore====
{{main|Madrasahs in Singapore}}
[[File:Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah Students In A Lecture.jpg|thumb|Students of Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah in [[Singapore]]]]
In Singapore, madrasahs are private schools which are overseen by [[Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura]] (MUIS, ''Islamic Religious Council of Singapore''). There are six Madrasahs in Singapore, catering to students from Primary 1 to Secondary 4 (and [[Junior college (Singapore)|junior college]] equivalent, or "Pre-U", at several schools).<ref>{{cite news|title=Contrasting views of madrasahs in multi-ethnic Singapore|url=http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090219-123165.html|publisher=[[AsiaOne]]|date=19 February 2009|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402165217/http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090219-123165.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Four Madrasahs are coeducational and two are for girls.<ref>{{cite web|title=Background of Madrasahs|url=http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/services/Madrasah_sub.aspx?id=204|publisher=[[Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura|muis.gov.sg]]|date=1994|access-date=2015-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402162046/http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/services/Madrasah_sub.aspx?id=204|archive-date=2015-04-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Students take a range of Islamic Studies subjects in addition to mainstream [[Ministry of Education (Singapore)|MOE]] curriculum subjects and sit for the [[Primary School Leaving Examination|PSLE]] and [[Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level|GCE 'O' Levels]] like their peers. In 2009, MUIS introduced the "Joint Madrasah System" (JMS), a joint collaboration of Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah primary school and secondary schools Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah (offering the ''ukhrawi'', or religious stream) and Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah (offering the academic stream).<ref>{{cite web|title=About JMS|url=http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/JMS/subpage.aspx?id=17539|publisher=[[Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura|muis.gov.sg]]|access-date=2015-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402153527/http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/JMS/subpage.aspx?id=17539|archive-date=2015-04-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> The JMS aims to introduce the [[International Baccalaureate]] (IB) programme into the Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah by 2019.<ref>{{cite web|title=JMS Timeline|url=http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/JMS/subpage.aspx?id=17587|publisher=[[Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura|muis.gov.sg]]|access-date=2015-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402151946/http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/JMS/subpage.aspx?id=17587|archive-date=2015-04-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Students attending a madrasah are required to wear the traditional Malay attire, including the [[songkok]] for boys and [[tudong]] for girls, in contrast to mainstream government schools which ban religious headgear as Singapore is officially a secular state. Students who wish to attend a mainstream school may opt to take classes on weekends at the ''madrasah'' instead of enrolling full-time.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

====Philippines====
{{Main|Education in the Philippines}}
According to a 2006 International Religious Freedom Report of the US State Department the country has some 2,000 madrasas, half of which are in Mindanao.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mogato|first=Manny|date=21 March 2007|title=Catholic Philippines teaches Islam in state schools|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-madrasa-idUSMAN5636520070321|website=[[Reuters]]|access-date=2 May 2021|archive-date=2 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502091618/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-madrasa-idUSMAN5636520070321|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2004, madrasas were mainstreamed [[Regions of the Philippines|16 Regions]] nationwide, primarily in Muslim-majority areas in [[Mindanao]] under the auspices of the [[Department of Education (Philippines)|Department of Education]] (DepEd). The DepEd adopted ''Department Order No. 51'', which instituted the Arabic-language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) curriculum for Muslim children in state schools, and authorised implementation of the Standard Madrasa Curriculum (SMC) in private madrasas. While there are state-recognised Islamic schools, such as Ibn Siena Integrated School in the [[Islamic City of Marawi]], Sarang Bangun LC in [[Zamboanga City|Zamboanga]] and SMIE in [[Jolo]], their Islamic studies programmes initially varied in application and content.

Since 2005, the [[AusAID]]-funded DepEd project Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) has assisted a group of private madrasas seeking a Permit To Operate from the government and implement the SMC. These private madrasas are found throughout [[Davao Region]], [[SOCCSKSARGEN Region|Soccsksargen]] and the [[Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao]] (ARMM).

In [[Bangsamoro]], which succeeded the ARMM, eligibility of madrasa teachers are covered by the regional education code. Prospective teachers, barring any exception, take special examinations from the regional education ministry to secure their eligibility.<ref>{{cite news |title=BARMM to grant special eligibility for Madaris teachers in new education code |url=https://bangsamoro.gov.ph/news/latest-news/barmm-to-grant-special-eligibility-for-madaris-teachers-in-new-education-code/ |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=BARMM Official Website |agency=Bangsamoro Information Office |date=2021-05-19 |archive-date=2021-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519060502/https://bangsamoro.gov.ph/news/latest-news/barmm-to-grant-special-eligibility-for-madaris-teachers-in-new-education-code/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Western countries===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}[[File:Yangzhou - Muslim kindergarten - P1130207.JPG|thumb|A [[Islam in China|Muslim]] [[kindergarten]] in [[Yangzhou]], China]]

====South Africa====
In South Africa, the madrasas also play a social and cultural role in giving after-school religious instruction to children of Muslims who attend government or private non-religious schools. However, substantial numbers of Muslim children attend fully-fledged private Islamic schools, which combine secular and religious education. Among Muslims of [[Indian South Africans|Indian]] origin, madrasas also used to provide instruction in Urdu, although this is far less common today than it used to be.

==== Canada ====

The first Madressa established in North America, [[Al-Rashid Islamic Institute]], was established in Cornwall, Ontario in 1983 and has graduates who are [[Hafiz (Quran)]] and [[Ulama]]. The seminary was established by Mazhar Alam under the direction of his teacher the leading Indian Tablighi scholar Muhammad Zakariya Kandhlawi and focuses on the Hanafi school of thought. Due to its proximity to the US border city of Messina the school has historically had a high ratio of US students. Their most prominent graduate Shaykh Muhammad Alshareef completed his Hifz in the early 1990s then went on to form the [[AlMaghrib Institute]].

====United States====
On May 26, 2012, Congressman [[André Carson]] of Indiana called for additional madrasas in the United States.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://nation.foxnews.com/andre-carson/2012/07/05/muslim-congressman-american-schools-should-be-modeled-after-madrassas-where-foundation-koran | title=Muslim Congressman: American Schools Should Be Modeled After Madrassas, 'Where The Foundation Is The Koran' | publisher=Fox News Channel | date=July 5, 2012 | access-date=November 8, 2012 | archive-date=May 20, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520081448/http://nation.foxnews.com/andre-carson/2012/07/05/muslim-congressman-american-schools-should-be-modeled-after-madrassas-where-foundation-koran | url-status=dead }}</ref> There is a madrassa in [[Woodside, Queens|Queens, NY]] called Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of New York.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sijny.org/site/docs/membership/sijny_application.pdf |title=Application for membership Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of New York |access-date=2012-11-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130301170650/http%3A//www.sijny.org/site/docs/membership/sijny_application.pdf |archive-date=2013-03-01 }}</ref>    Presently, the Darul Uloom in New York City, an affiliate of [[Darul Uloom Haqqania]] in Pakistan, also serves as a madrassa.

==Controversies and common misconceptions==
In the [[Arabic language]], the word ''madrasa'' (مدرسه) means any educational institution, of any description, (as does the term ''school'' in American English)<ref>[https://context.reverso.net/translation/arabic-english/%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%87 Translation of "مدرسه" in English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308190234/https://context.reverso.net/translation/arabic-english/%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%87 |date=2021-03-08 }} ''context.reverso.net'', accessed 11 April 2021</ref> and does not imply a political or religious affiliation, not even one as broad as Islam in the general sense. 

Controversies ignited over madrassa's sole focus on valuing religious studies over other subjects such as modern science, as practiced by the [[Taliban]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-secular-schools-converted-madrasahs-education/31914672.html | title='War on Education': Taliban Converting Secular Schools into Religious Seminaries | work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty }}</ref> However, Madrasas often included many different topics in their curriculum. Some madrasas in India, for example, have a secularised identity.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4829140.stm | work=BBC News | title=What role for madrassas that teach Hindus? | date=2006-03-31 | access-date=2010-05-12 | first=Sunita | last=Nahar | archive-date=2011-09-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923080116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4829140.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>  

Although early madrasas were founded primarily to gain "knowledge of God" they also taught subjects such as mathematics and poetry. For example, in the Ottoman Empire, "Madrasahs had seven categories of sciences that were taught, such as: styles of writing, oral sciences like the Arabic language, grammar, rhetoric, and history and intellectual sciences, such as logic."<ref name = "Ottoman"/> This is similar to the Western world, in which [[Medieval university|the evolution of universities]] began with Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools.

The [[Yale Center for the Study of Globalization]] examined bias in United States newspaper coverage of Pakistan since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], and found the term has come to contain a loaded political meaning:<ref name="YG20070621">{{cite web
 |first       = Susan
 |last        = Moeller
 |title       = Jumping on the US Bandwagon for a "War on Terror"
 |date        = 2007-06-21
 |url         = http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=9324
 |work        = [[YaleGlobal Online]]
 |publisher   = Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090505191457/http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=9324
 |archive-date = 2009-05-05
}}</ref>

<blockquote>When articles mentioned "madrassas," readers were led to infer that all schools so-named are [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American]], [[Anti-Western sentiment|anti-Western]], pro-terrorist centres having less to do with teaching basic literacy and more to do with political [[indoctrination]].</blockquote>

Various American public figures in the early 2000s used the word in a negative manner, including [[Newt Gingrich]],<ref name="YG20070621"/>
[[Donald Rumsfeld]],<ref name="Rumsfeld20031016">{{cite news
|first=Donald
|last=Rumsfeld
|title=Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo
|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm
|work=[[USA Today]]
|format=Transcript
|date=2003-10-16
|access-date=2008-01-14
|archive-date=2008-02-05
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205061500/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm
|url-status=live
}}</ref> and [[Colin Powell]].<ref name="tribind20040311">{{cite news
|title=Madrassas breeding grounds of terrorists: Powell
|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040312/world.htm#2
|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]
|date=2004-03-11
|access-date=2008-01-14
|archive-date=2017-05-04
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504131513/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040312/world.htm#2
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
''[[The New York Times]]'' published in January 2007 a correction for misusing the word "madrassa" in a way that assumed it meant a radical Islamic school. The correction stated:

<blockquote>
An article [...] about a pointed exchange [...] over a Web site report that said Senator Barack Obama had attended an Islamic school or madrassa in Indonesia as a child referred imprecisely to madrassas. While some [madrassas] teach a radical version of Islam, most historically have not.<ref name="NYTapology">{{cite news
 |author       = Bill Carter
 |date         = 2007-01-27
 |orig-year    = revised version
 |url          = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/us/politics/24obama.html
 |title        = Rivals CNN and Fox News Spar Over Obama Report
 |work         = The New York Times
 |access-date  = 2014-09-13
 |archive-date = 2015-06-05
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150605091023/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/us/politics/24obama.html
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref></blockquote>There are many other{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} instances where attempts to deem madrasas as just radical Islamic schools were made. In the year 2000, an article from ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', authored by university professor [[Jessica Stern]], claimed that specifically Pakistani madrasas were responsible for the development of thousands of jihadists/terrorists, and that they were essentially weapons of mass destruction. During the time of the article's release, videos surfaced of young boys intensely memorizing/studying the [[Quran]], thus facilitating the false stereotype that madrasas brainwash and breed children to becoming future jihadists. This stereotype was even further accentuated following the events of [[September 11 attacks|9/11]]. 

After this event, the United States implemented a plan to force Pakistan to completely shut down all madrasas that have links to militant groups, and to persuade madrasa students to instead attend secular public schools. Such a reaction and belief of the ties between Pakistan's madrasas and militancy were especially prominent during these times, and even in modern-day society to a similar extent, due to false assumptions regarding the roles of madrasas in upbringing militant groups, the prevalence of enrollment in such institutions, and more.<ref name=Fair>{{Cite journal|last=Fair|first=Christine|date=2012|title=The Enduring Madrasa Myth|journal=Current History|volume=111|issue=744|pages=135–140|doi=10.1525/curh.2012.111.744.135|jstor=45319115|doi-access=free}}</ref>  To touch more on the prevalence of enrollment in Pakistan's madrasas, a 2005 study by Andrabi and others could be looked at. According to the study's results, seventy-five percent of all households that send one child to a madrasa also tended to incorporate public and private schools for the education of the rest of their children (Those who were not sent to a madrasa). Therefore, only twenty-five percent of all households relied solely on madrasas for the education of all their children. When taking this into account, one can see that enrollment in madrasas is not as prevalent as many people would assume{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} due to parental choice being a strong deciding factor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fair|first=Christine|date=2012|title=The Enduring Madrasa Myth|journal=Current History|volume=111|issue=744|pages=136|doi=10.1525/curh.2012.111.744.135|jstor=45319115|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Education|Religion}}
{{div col}}
* [[Bias in education]]
* [[Beth midrash]], [[midrasha]], and [[Yeshiva]] – Jewish religious schooling
* [[Dars-e Nizamiyyah]]—most common madrasa curriculum in South Asia
* [[Darul uloom]]—another similar type of Islamic school
* [[Education in Mali]]
* [[Hawza]]—used in Shi'a Islam
* [[Islamic studies]]
* [[List of Islamic seminaries]]
* [[List of oldest madrasahs in continuous operation]]
* [[Zawiya (institution)|Zawiya]]
* [[Khalwa (school)]]
* [[Pesantren]]—a traditional boarding madrasah in Indonesia{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
*{{Cite book|last=Brentjes|first=Sonja|title=Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800-1700)|publisher=Brepols|year=2018|isbn=9782503574455|location=Turnhout, Belgium|pages=77–111|language=English}}
* Esplanada, Jerry E. (2009-07-20). "Mainstreaming Madrasa. The Philippine Daily Inquirer". Retrieved 2010-11-25.

==Further reading==
* Sultan Ali of Sawabi. ''Madrasah Reform and State Power in Pakistan'' (2012)
* Ali, Saleem H. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121005172705/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Education/?view=usa&ci=9780195476729 "Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan's Madrassas"], Oxford University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-19-547672-9}}
* Evans, Alexander. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090105140231/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060101facomment85102/alexander-evans/understanding-madrasahs.html "Understanding Madrasahs"], ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', Jan/Feb 2006.
* Malik, Jamal (ed.). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NVnVOGluM3UC ''Madrasas in South Asia: Teaching Terror?'']. London and New York: Routledge, 2008.
* Malik, Jamal. ''Colonialization of Islam: Dissolution of Traditional Institutions in Pakistan''. New Delhi: Manohar Publications, and Lahore: Vanguard Ltd., 1996.
* Rahman, Tariq. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qEucAAAAMAAJ ''Denizens of Alien Worlds: A Study of Education, Inequality and Polarization in Pakistan'']. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2004. Reprinted 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-19-597863-6}}. Chapter on "Madrassas".
* Tanweer, Bilal. "[http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2007-weekly/nos-06-05-2007/dia.htm#2 Revisiting the Madrasa Question]". ''[[The News International]]'', 6 May 2007. About a talk given by Dr. Nomanul Haq (University of Pennsylvania) at the [[Lahore University of Management Sciences]] (LUMS), Pakistan.
* Ziad, Waleed. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027051746/http://geocities.com/ziadnumis/thenews |date=October 27, 2009 |title="Madaris in Perspective" }}. Reprinted from ''[[The News International|The News]]'', March 21, 2004.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130224210638/http://southasiaanalysis.org/paper730 Madrasa Education in India]}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Madrasas}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline}}

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