Learning Institutes of Pre-Islam and Early Islamic Century and Their Transformation into Formal Madrasah in 11th Century

Abstract

The learning institutes and centers in the Pre-Islam and Early Islamic era were really remarkable and might be countless. This study shows the development of Madrasah in the 11th century from various learning institutes and centers in the past. The historical methodology was used in this study, where, the researcher studied the documents related to the evolution of Madrasah. This paper is an analytical study, in which the historical documents, journals, articles and publications related to this subject area were studied to develop this research paper. The current study analyses the official construction of Nizamiyyah in Baghdad and its Influence and scholarship that it provided for scholars, researchers, educationists, readers and policy makers. The main objective of this paper is to show how the various learning centers and institutes of pre-islam and early Islamic century were transformed into the formal official Madrasah on the basis of historical stand point. The result of this effort shows the growth of a formal Madrasah in the 11th century of Muslim civilization. In this regard, this paper presents different types of learning institutes and centers which later on evolved into prestigious Madrasah. Kuttab, Maktab, Halaqah, Suffah, Majlis, Jamiah, Jami Masjid and Khan Complex are among the examples.  A brief important study on the formation of Madrasah provides a solid research to inform the nations about the original history on the formation of Madrasah in 11th century. The Study demonstrated   various public education centers like Maktab, Kuttab, Halaqah, Suffah, Jami (Friday Mosque), Jami’ah (University) and libraries were the main sources of Madrasah.  Hence, An instance of growing the number of students in these centers was the main reason to establish the independent institution named Madrasah outside the mosque.