Education in the Abbasid Dynasty: Islam's Golden Age

Introduction: Education Before and During the Abbasid Era

Today, the majority of high school students hope to finish college one day. This is a realistic dream for many, as there is an established education system that gives students a choice of career paths and training. The modern world is full of universities and training centers. However, the world was not always like this. Many centuries ago, education was limited to the privileged, and even the privileged did not have many opportunities for learning. Today's modern educational system has been influenced by traditions of the past, particularly by the great advances that occurred during the Abbasid Dynasty in the Muslim world.

One of the achievements of Muslim culture during the Abbasid Dynasty was the widespread spread of literacy. Elementary education was almost universal, especially in the cities. Emphasis on the value of reading and writing stems from the very first revelations of the Qur'an, which describe how God revealed to humankind knowledge and the use of the pen.

The Muslims believed that every man and woman has a duty to educate themselves and their children. Therefore, the entire Muslim community had a collective responsibility to ensure that some members of society achieved the highest levels of learning, so that everyone could be taught. Muslim rulers and other wealthy individuals traditionally undertook this responsibility over time and across a wide spectrum of Muslim cultures.

From the sixth to eleventh centuries, when Western leaders were struggling to sign their own names, Muslims preserved and maintained existing knowledge in educational centers throughout the Middle East. At its peak in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Islamic educational system was a vast combination of Eastern and Western classical knowledge, combined with innovative discoveries in physics, the social sciences, and mathematics.

Before the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D., many Persian children were already attending elementary schools similar to those in Greece. In these schools, children learned basic grammar and mathematics, as well as poetry, horsemanship, and swimming. Many of these classes were taught in private homes and on private grounds.

The educational standards were greatly affected by the advancement of the Abbasid Dynasty, and a new form of elementary school system was introduced in the seventh century. The Qur'an became the central subject of education in this new school system. For a time, these two forms of elementary education existed side by side, funded by private parties.

Though it enjoyed monarchical powers and used these powers frequently in many areas of life, the medieval Islamic state initially played little role in education. The caliphs and lesser officials often generously patronized artists and scholars, yet there was no systematic government funding or operation of schools. As in Greece and Italy, education flourished regardless of government support, and a solid educational system evolved.

During its golden age in the eighth through tenth centuries, the Islamic world enjoyed a level of literacy greater than any seen before. The Muslims led the world in science, and in poetry and philosophy the era was enormously prolific.

History of the Abbasid Dynasty

The Abbasid Arab family descended from Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Abbasids held the caliphate from 749 to 1258 A.D., though they were not recognized in Spain or west of Egypt. Under the Umayyad caliphs, the Abbasids lived peacefully until they became involved in numerous disputes beginning in the eighth century. At that point, the family joined with the Shiite faction in opposing the Umayyads. In 747 A.D., Abu Muslim united the majority of the empire in revolt against the Umayyads.

The leader of the Abbasid family became caliph as Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah late in 749 A.D. The last Umayyad caliph was defeated and the Umayyad family was nearly destroyed, except for one surviving member who fled to Spain, where the Umayyads came to rule. Under the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, the capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, and Persian influence grew strong in the empire.

The early years of Abbasid rule were brilliant, rising to true splendor under Harun al-Rashid, the fifth caliph, and to educational brilliance under his son al-Mamun, the seventh caliph. However, less than a hundred years of rule led to the slow decline of the Abbasids. Long periods of disorder were marked by assassinations, depositions, control by Turks, and other disturbances. From the beginning of Abbasid reign, there were rival caliphs.

In 836 A.D., the capital was transferred to Samarra, remaining there until 892 A.D. Under the Abbasids, the power of the caliphate became chiefly spiritual. Many independent kingdoms rose and the empire split into autonomous units. The Seljuk Turks came to hold real power in Baghdad. The conquests of Genghis Khan further lowered the prestige of the Abbasids, and in 1258 A.D., Khan's grandson Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad and overthrew the Abbasid caliphate.

The 37th caliph died in the disaster, but a member of the family escaped to Cairo, where he was recognized as caliph. The Cairo line of the Abbasid caliphate, completely subordinated to the Mamluks, survived until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt.

One of the greatest contributions of the Abbasid Empire was a nation-wide increase in the pursuit of knowledge. Educational standards during the Abbasid era were high. Elementary education, for both men and women, flourished. Schools and colleges were created and maintained, and the educational reach of mosques extended outward to surrounding areas. During Abbasid times, private and public libraries were very common; a single street could contain a thousand bookstores. Paper, introduced from China, was manufactured in the provinces from vegetable fiber.

During this time, most Europeans were illiterate and even European leaders could barely read and write. The Arabs, by contrast, were undergoing a massive intellectual awakening driven by extreme mental curiosity, with language at the very center of this transformation.