Has it ever crossed our mind, in this age of education and advancement, who were the pioneers in laying down the foundation for education?

Definitely not the Western civilization who were engulfed in the dark ages. No, in fact it was the Muslims who were at the forefront.

The very first word of the Quran revealed to our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was “Iqra” (read or recite) and with this, we see the massive upheaval in the educational foundations that now has now advanced this world.

From a society where it was common for people to be unlettered, within a matter of just few years, we see that the Muslims were the most advanced, most educated, most civilized of people. This ummah has produced unnumbered scholars, some of them being Imam al Bukhari, who alone had memorized over a quarter of million of Hadith’s. Imam Ash Shafi, who would memorize a page before going to the next so as not to mix up, a person with a photographic memory indeed. In actual fact there were many other excellent individuals too who bought laurels to the field of education.

Muslims excelled in many other fields, be it arithmetic, science….as a matter of fact, education was a point of pride and a field Muslims have always excelled in. They had built enormous and great libraries and learning centres in places such as Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo. They established the first primary school for children and universities for continuing education.

This education was not only limited to men but women too. Women were not seen incapable of attaining knowledge nor of being unable to teach others themselves, in fact, one of the leading scholars of her time was the Mother of the Believers, Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her). She was extremely intelligent and has narrated more than 2000 Hadith.

Later Islamic history shows the influence of women. They were an educated lot and played a major role as supporters of education.

• The first formal madrasa of the Muslim world, the university of Al-Karaouine in Fes was established in 859 by a wealthy merchant by the name of Fatima al-Fihri.
• The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid’s wife, Zubayda ,personally funded many construction projects for masjids, roads and Wells in the Hijaz, which greatly benefit the many students that travelled through the areas.
• The wife of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman, Hurrem Sultan, endowed numerous madrasas , in addition to her other charitable works such as hospital’s, public bath’s and soup kitchens.
• During the Ayyubid period of Damascus, 26 religious endowments (including madrasas, masjids) were built by women.

These institutions of the past has produced great scholars and people continue to derive benefit from it.

Bint hasan,
AAT writer