Madrasa

context: Madrasa (Arabic: مدرسة‎, madrasah, pl. مدارس, madāris, Turkish: Medrese) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion). The word is variously transliterated madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa, madraza, medrese, etc. In the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. Not all students in madaris are Muslims; there is also a modern curriculum.
qas: answers: Arabic
question: What are the origins of the word madrasa?

answers: any type
question: What type of educational institution does the term madrasa refer?

answers: Islamic
question: In Western culture, the term madrasa widely refers to the practices of what religion?

answers: Not all
question: How many students enrolled in madaris are Muslim?

context: The word madrasah derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root د-ر-س D-R-S 'to learn, study', through the wazn (form/stem) مفعل(ة)‎; mafʻal(ah), meaning "a place where something is done". Therefore, madrasah literally means "a place where learning and studying take place". The word is also present as a loanword with the same innocuous meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages, such as: Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Azeri, Kurdish, Indonesian, Malay and Bosnian / Croatian. In the Arabic language, the word مدرسة madrasah simply means the same as school does in the English language, whether that is private, public or parochial school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether Muslim, non-Muslim, or secular. Unlike the use of the word school in British English, the word 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, madaris had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as danişmends. The usual Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة (jāmiʻah). The 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.
qas: answers: triconsonantal Semitic
question: What are the root origins of the word madrasah?

answers: a place where learning and studying take place
question: What is the literal translation of madrasah?

answers: same as school does in the English language
question: In Arabic, what does madarasah mean?

answers: lower schools and specialised
question: During the Ottoman Empire, what types of schools were typical?

answers: danişmends
question: What were the students in madaris called?

context: However, in English, the term madrasah usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a ḥifẓ course teaching memorization of the Qur'an (the person who commits the entire Qurʼan to memory is called a ḥāfiẓ); and an ʻālim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, tafsir (Qur'anic interpretation), sharīʻah (Islamic law), hadiths (recorded sayings and deeds of Muhammad), mantiq (logic), and Muslim history. In the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by Süleyman I. Depending on the educational demands, some madaris also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science and world history. Ottoman madaris along with religious teachings also taught "styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, and etiquette."
qas: answers: Islamic institutions
question: What is the English connotative understanding of the word madrash? 

answers: memorization of the Qur'an
question: What is taught through a hifz class or set of classes?

answers: Islamic law
question: What is shariah?

answers: logic
question: What is the discipline taught in mantiq courses?

answers: ʻālim
question: What set of courses does someone need to take for preparation to be considered as a scholar?

context: People of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams.[citation needed] The certificate of an ʻālim, for example, requires approximately twelve years of study.[citation needed] A good number of the ḥuffāẓ (plural of ḥāfiẓ) are the product of the madaris. The madaris also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes and reside in dormitories. An important function of the madaris is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madaris may enroll female students; however, they study separately from the men.[citation needed]
qas: answers: all ages
question: What age groups are usually enrolled in madaris?

answers: approximately twelve years
question: How long does someone have to be enrolled in alim courses to earn a certificate or graduate?

answers: people take evening classes and reside in dormitories
question: In what ways are madaris similar to western colleges?

answers: provide them with education and training
question: Why do madaris extend enrollment to children of less fortunate circumstances?

answers: they study separately from the men
question: What is the format for co-education for women in madaris?

context: The term "Islamic education" means education in the light of Islam itself, which is rooted in the teachings of the Quran - holy book of Muslims. Islamic education and Muslim education are not the same. Because Islamic education has epistemological integration which is founded on Tawhid - Oneness or monotheism. For details Read "A Qur’anic Methodology for Integrating Knowledge and Education: Implications for Malaysia’s Islamic Education Strategy" written Tareq M Zayed  and "Knowledge of Shariah and Knowledge to Manage ‘Self’ and ‘System’: Integration of Islamic Epistemology with the Knowledge and Education" authored by Tareq M Zayed
qas: answers: education in the light of Islam itself
question: What is the meaning of Islamic education?

answers: Quran
question: What book is the basis for education in Islamic traditions?

answers: Muslim education
question: What types of education greatly differs from Islamic education?

answers: monotheism
question: What is Islamic religion traditionally considered as far as theology is concerned?

context: The first institute of madrasa education was at the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam near a hill called Safa, where Hazrat Muhammad was the teacher and the students were some of his followers.[citation needed] After Hijrah (migration) the madrasa of "Suffa" was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque. Hazrat 'Ubada bin Samit was appointed there by Hazrat Muhammad as teacher and among the students.[citation needed] 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 were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war, handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial arts. The first part of madrasa based education is estimated from the first day of "nabuwwat" to the first portion of the "Umaiya" caliphate.[citation needed]
qas: answers: the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam
question: Where was the first madrasa located?

answers: Hazrat Muhammad
question: Who was the teacher at the first madrasa?

answers: Hazrat 'Ubada bin Samit
question: Who was named as a teacher at the second madrasa, housed in a mosque?

answers: calligraphy
question: What handwriting art form was taught in the early madaris?

answers: athletics and martial arts
question: What type of physical fitness activities were taught in the early madaris?

context: During the rule of the Fatimid and Mamluk dynasties and their successor states in the medieval Middle East, many of the ruling elite founded madaris through a religious endowment known as the waqf. Not only was the madrasa a potent symbol of status but it was an effective means of transmitting wealth and status to their descendants. Especially during the Mamlūk period, when only former slaves could assume power, the sons of the ruling Mamlūk elite were unable to inherit. Guaranteed positions within the new madaris thus allowed them to maintain status. Madaris built in this period include the Mosque-Madrasah of Sultan Ḥasan in Cairo.
qas: answers: ruling elite
question: Which class of people founded the madaris during the medieval period?

answers: through a religious endowment
question: How were the madaris funded during the medieval period?

answers: former slaves
question: What class of people inherited status during the Mamluk Period?

answers: Guaranteed positions within the new madaris
question: What allowed the ruling elite to maintain power during the Mamluk period?

answers: Cairo
question: In what city was the Mosque-Madrasah of Sultan Hasan?

context: At the beginning of the Caliphate or Islamic Empire, the reliance on courts initially confined sponsorship and scholarly activities to major centres. Within several centuries, the development of Muslim educational institutions such as the madrasah and masjid eventually introduced such activities to provincial towns and dispersed them across the Islamic legal schools and Sufi orders. In addition to religious subjects, they also taught the "rational sciences," as varied as mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, alchemy, philosophy, magic, and occultism, depending on the curriculum of the specific institution in question. The madaris, 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. During this time,[when?] the Caliphate experienced a growth in literacy, having the highest literacy rate of the Middle Ages, comparable to classical Athens' literacy in antiquity but on a much larger scale. The emergence of the maktab and madrasa institutions played a fundamental role in the relatively high literacy rates of the medieval Islamic world.
qas: answers: royal courts
question: Who traditionally paid for scholars to study natural sciences?

answers: Caliphate
question: What group of people had the highest literacy rates during the Middle Ages?

answers: maktab and madrasa institutions
question: What schools had the biggest impact on the rising literacy rates in the Caliphate?

answers: several centuries
question: How long did it take for madaris to spread to smaller cities and towns?

context: In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the 10th century. Like madaris (which referred to higher education), a maktab was often attached to an endowed mosque. In the 11th century, the famous Persian Islamic philosopher and teacher Ibn Sīnā (known as Avicenna in the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter about the maktab entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children," as a guide to teachers working at maktab schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors, and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils, as well as the usefulness of group discussions and debates. Ibn Sīnā described the curriculum of a maktab school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in a maktab school.
qas: answers: 10th century
question: When were the first recorded Islamic elementary schools?

answers: maktab
question: What term refers to Islamic elementary schools?

answers: Ibn Sīnā
question: Who wrote a training guide for Islamic maktab teachers?

answers: classes
question: What did Ibn Sina prefer over private tutors?

answers: two
question: How many component of education did Ibn Sina describe in their teachings?

context: Ibn Sīnā refers to the secondary education stage of 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, medicine, geometry, trade and commerce, 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.
qas: answers: manual skills
question: What type of skills did Ibn Sina state children should learn in secondary education?

answers: 14
question: According to Ibn Sina, at what age should children choose a direction for their education?

answers: flexibility
question: According to Ibn Sina, what is needed to support transition at the secondary stage of education?

answers: future career
question: What should secondary training provide a student in the secondary stage of school? 

context: During its formative period, the term madrasah referred to a higher education institution, whose curriculum initially included only the "religious sciences", whilst philosophy and the secular sciences were often excluded. The curriculum slowly began to diversify, with many later madaris teaching both the religious and the "secular sciences", such as logic, mathematics and philosophy. Some madaris further extended their curriculum to history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry. The curriculum of a madrasah was usually set by its founder, but most generally taught both the religious sciences and the physical sciences. Madaris were established throughout the Islamic world, examples being the 9th century University of al-Qarawiyyin, the 10th century al-Azhar University (the most famous), the 11th century Niẓāmīyah, as well as 75 madaris in Cairo, 51 in Damascus and up to 44 in Aleppo between 1155 and 1260. Many more were also established in the Andalusian cities of Córdoba, Seville, Toledo, Granada (Madrasah of Granada), Murcia, Almería, Valencia and Cádiz during the Caliphate of Córdoba.
qas: answers: religious sciences
question: What discipline was studied in traditional madrasah?

answers: philosophy and the secular sciences
question: What was traditionally left out of the madrasah curriculum?

answers: its founder
question: Who decided the content that would be delivered in a particular madrasah?

answers: al-Azhar University
question: What is the most widely known madrasah?

answers: 75
question: How many madaris have been founded in Cairo?

context: Madaris were largely centred on the study of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The 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 9th century after the formation of the madhāhib (schools of jurisprudence). George Makdisi considers the ijāzah to be the origin of the European doctorate. However, in an earlier article, he considered the 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. To obtain an 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 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 ijazas giving them the status of faqīh 'scholar of jurisprudence', muftī 'scholar competent in issuing fatwās', and mudarris 'teacher'.
qas: answers: fiqh
question: What term refers to Islamic law?

answers: 9th century
question: When did Islamic law school begin?

answers: ten or more years
question: How long did a student have to study law, in early Islamic law graduate schools, in order to graduate?

answers: European doctorate
question: What traditional schooling has been considered modeled after the traditional Islamic graduate schools?

context: The Arabic term ijāzat al-tadrīs was awarded to 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, but the underlying concept was very different. A significant difference between the 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.
qas: answers: licence to teach
question: What did earning the ijazat al-tadris award students?

answers: individual scholar-teacher
question: Who awarded a teaching license in Islamic schools?

answers: chief official of the university
question: Who awarded a teaching license in European schools?

answers: licentia docendi
question: What type of license is closely related to the ijazat al-tadris?

context: Much of the study in the 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 mustaftī, presented to a jurisconsult, called mufti, soliciting from him a response, called fatwa, a legal opinion (the religious law of Islam covers civil as well as 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 ijtihād, literally, the exertion of one's efforts to the utmost limit."
qas: answers: whether certain opinions of law were orthodox
question: What determination of the study of law was held to much debate?

answers: civil as well as religious
question: What type of matters are covered through Islamic law?

answers: fatwa
question: What is the Islamic term for issuing a legal opinion?

answers: process of scholarly research
question: What is ijtihad?

context: There is disagreement whether madaris ever became universities. Scholars like Arnold H. Green and Seyyed Hossein Nasr have argued that starting in the 10th century, some medieval Islamic madaris indeed became universities. George Makdisi and others, however, argue that the European university has no parallel in the medieval Islamic world. Darleen Pryds questions this view, pointing out that madaris 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. Other scholars regard the university as uniquely European in origin and characteristics.
qas: answers: 10th century
question: When did some madaris become considered like traditional colleges?

answers: princely patrons
question: What class of people founded both European universities and Islamic madaris

answers: further the rulers' agenda
question: What was considered to be the underlying purpose of madaris?

answers: George Makdisi
question: Who argued that European universities and Islamic madaris have very little in common?

context: al-Qarawīyīn University in Fez, Morocco is recognised by many historians as the oldest degree-granting university in the world, having been founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri. While the madrasa college could also issue degrees at all levels, the jāmiʻahs (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, madaris, and other institutions within them. Such an institution has thus been described as an "Islamic university".
qas: answers: 859
question: When was al-Qarawiyin University founded?

answers: Fatima al-Fihri
question: Who founded al-Qarawiyin University?

answers: all levels
question: What types of degrees were earned at al-Qarawiyin University?

answers: mosques
question: What religious buildings were housed inside al-Qarawiyin University?

answers: individual faculties for different subjects
question: What types of teachers were at al-Qarawiyin University?

context: Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975 by the Ismaʻīlī Shīʻī Fatimid dynasty as a jāmiʻah, had individual faculties for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy. 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." ‘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. Another early jāmiʻah was the Niẓāmīyah of Baghdād (founded 1091), which has been called the "largest university of the Medieval world." Mustansiriya University, established by the ʻAbbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir in 1233, in addition to teaching the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural sciences.
qas: answers: 975
question: When was Al-Azhar University founded?

answers: Cairo, Egypt
question: Where is Al-Azhar University located?

answers: an oral examination
question: What was required to earn a law degree at Al-Azhar University?

answers: Maimonides
question: Who was an astronomy professor at Al-Azhar University?

answers: largest university of the Medieval world
question: What is Nizamiyah of Baghdad most known for?

context: However, the classification of madaris as "universities" is disputed on the question of understanding of each institution on its own terms. In madaris, the ijāzahs were only issued in one field, the Islamic religious law of sharīʻah, and in no other field of learning. Other academic subjects, including the natural sciences, philosophy and literary studies, were only treated "ancillary" to the study of the Sharia. For example, a natural science like astronomy was only studied (if at all) to supply religious needs, like the time for prayer. This is why Ptolemaic astronomy was considered adequate, and is still taught in some modern day madaris. 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. 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".
qas: answers: Islamic religious law of sharīʻah
question: What field does the ijazah signify expertise in?

answers: supply religious needs
question: What was the purpose of studying natural sciences in madaris?

answers: the teacher
question: Who decided if a student earned a law degree in undergraduate madaris?

answers: Ptolemaic astronomy
question: What scientific discipline is still taught in modern madaris?

answers: al-Azhar
question: What is considered the most famous madrasa?

context: Medievalist specialists who define the university as a legally autonomous corporation disagree with the term "university" for the Islamic madaris and jāmi‘ahs because the medieval university (from Latin universitas) was structurally different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a waqf institution like the madrasa and jāmiʻah. Despite the many similarities, medieval specialists have coined the term "Islamic college" for madrasa and 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:
qas: answers: Medievalist specialists
question: Who argues that madaris are not the same as traditional European universities?

answers: madrasa and jāmiʻah
question: What are two examples of waqfs?

answers: Islamic college
question: What do scholars that specialize in the medieval period describe madaris as?

answers: corporate element
question: What do scholars believe is missing from madaris that prevent them from being considered universities?

context: 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 descendent), resulted in a "spurt" of establishment of madaris in the 11th and 12th centuries. However, in Western Islamic lands, where the Maliki views prohibited donors from controlling their endowment, madaris 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. The madrasa of al-Qarawīyīn, one of the two surviving madaris 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. 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. It should also be noted that many medieval universities were run for centuries as Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools prior to their formal establishment as universitas scholarium; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the university dates back to the 6th century AD, thus well preceding the earliest madaris. George Makdisi, who has published most extensively on the topic concludes in his comparison between the two institutions:
qas: answers: 11th and 12th centuries
question: When did more madaris begin to form more rapidly?

answers: Western Islamic lands
question: Where are madaris considered less desirable?

answers: 1947
question: When did the al-Qarawiyin officially become a university?

answers: the donor
question: When the madaris are considered as a charity, who controls the school?

answers: economics, engineering, medicine, and agriculture
question: What disciplines were introduced at al-Azhar in 1961?

context: 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. 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 'Chair' 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 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of aṣḥāb ('companions, as of Muhammad'), qirāʼah ('reading aloud the Qur'an') and 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." The Islamic scholarly system of fatwá and ijmāʻ, meaning opinion and 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." 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 9th 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.
qas: answers: European university
question: What institutions have been considered to take some its ideas from madaris?

answers: eighteen
question: How many corollaries dd Makdisi make between Islamic language and European educational practices?

answers: degree and doctorate
question: What Eurpoean university practices are considered to be adapted from madaris?

answers: academic
question: What freedom specifically did Makdisi believe European schools learned from Islamic traditions?

answers: wearing academic robes
question: What clothing practice did Makdisi believe European schools learned from madaris?

context: However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no tracable Islamic influence. Generally, some reviewers have pointed out the strong inclination of Makdisi of overstating his case by simply resting on "the accumulation of close parallels", but all the while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world. Norman Daniel 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 were profound. The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities. In fact, 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. Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek Organon which set the scholastic sic et non in motion. 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, a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.
qas: answers: Christian
question: What other religion was considered to share parallels in teaching styles with the Muslim faith?

answers: overstating his case
question: What was Makdisi accused of doing when evaluating the parallels between European and Islamic schools?

answers: civil law
question: What is the European version of fiqh?

answers: parallel occurrence
question: What do scholars believe is the reason for similarities between Islamic and European schools?

context: 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. al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume biographical dictionary al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʻ to female scholars, giving information on 1,075 of them. More recently, the scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi, currently a researcher from the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, has written 40 volumes on the muḥaddithāt (the women scholars of ḥadīth), and found at least 8,000 of them.
qas: answers: less than one percent
question: What percentage of Islamic women were educated before the 1200s?

answers: over 8,000
question: How many female Islamic scholars were on record after the 1400s?

answers: al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʻ
question: In what book was a section reserved for the study of Islamic female students?

answers: 1,075
question: How many female students were discussed in the al-Daw' al-Iami?

context: From around 750, during the Abbasid Caliphate, women “became renowned for their brains as well as their beauty”. In particular, many well known women of the time were trained from childhood in music, dancing and poetry. Mahbuba was one of these. Another feminine figure to be remembered for her achievements was Tawaddud, "a slave girl who was said to have been bought at great cost by Hārūn al-Rashīd because she had passed her examinations by the most eminent scholars in astronomy, medicine, law, philosophy, music, history, Arabic grammar, literature, theology and chess". 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 sack of Baghdad in 1258.
qas: answers: music, dancing and poetry
question: What disciplines were women trained in during the first century?

answers: Shuhda
question: Who was the most well known female scholar in Islamic schools?

answers: Baghdad
question: Where did Shuhda attend school?

answers: 1258
question: When was formal education for Islamic women halted?

answers: Abbasid
question: During which Caliphate did Islamic women begin attending formal school?

context: According to the Sunni scholar Ibn ʻAsākir in the 12th century, there were opportunities for female education in the medieval Islamic world, writing that women could study, earn ijazahs (academic degrees), and qualify as 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. 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 Khadijah, a successful businesswoman. According to a hadith attributed to Muhammad, he praised the women of Medina because of their desire for religious knowledge:
qas: answers: scholars and teachers
question: What titles could women earn by going to Islamic schools?

answers: learned and scholarly families
question: Who wanted to ensured that their daughters were educated in Islamic schools?

answers: their desire for religious knowledge
question: Why did the prophet Muhammad esteem women in Medina?

answers: Muhammad's wives
question: Who created a pathway for education for women in the Islamic world?

answers: Khadijah
question: Which one of Muhammad's wives had a particular impact on his view of women and education?

context: "The first Ottoman Medrese was created in İznik in 1331 and most Ottoman medreses followed the traditions of Sunni Islam." "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". 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." 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. 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 madaris are the ones built by Mehmed the Conqueror. He built eight madaris that were built "on either side of the mosque where there were eight higher madaris for specialised studies and eight lower medreses, which prepared students for these." 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. 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 madaris 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.
qas: answers: Ottomans
question: Who traveled abroad to get an education at madaris?

answers: eight
question: How many madaris were started by Mehmed the Conqueror?

answers: complete the classes in the lower one
question: How would a student matriculate to the next level of schooling in the Ottoman Empire?

answers: near mosques
question: Where were Ottoman madaris built?

answers: 1331
question: When was the first Ottoman madrasa built?

context: Although Ottoman madaris 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. "The goal of all knowledge and in particular, of the spiritual sciences is knowledge of God." 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." However, even though mathematics, or studies in logic were part of the madrasa's curriculum, they were all centred around 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" – 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." Hence, madaris – 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 heftily religious and were not religiously pluralistic, but centred around Islam. 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." Wiesner-Hanks also says that Protestants also wanted to teach "proper religious values." 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 madaris 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.
qas: answers: spiritual learning
question: What was the essential mission of Islamic schools in the Ottoman Empire?

answers: confirm the doctrines of Islam
question: Why was philosophy taught in Ottoman madaris?

answers: pluralistic
question: What type of social structure did the Ottoman Empire have?

answers: Islam
question: What religion was at the center of education in the Ottoman Empire?

answers: wide range of studies
question: What did Ottoman madaris have that was similar to modern American schools?

context: 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." 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." 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." 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.
qas: answers: aid to the poor through soup kitchens
question: What kind of social service was provided through the madaris?

answers: religion
question: What had a hold over social life in the Ottoman Empire as well as other cultures?

answers: medreses
question: Where did students learn about religious and social norms?

answers: Islamic orthodoxy
question: What practice was desired through connecting religion and schools?

context: In India 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 madaris) and the Barelvis, who also make up a sizeable portion (Sufi-oriented). Some notable establishments include: 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[clarification needed] ministry of the government of India has recently[when?] declared that a Central Madrasa Board would be set up. This will enhance the education system of madaris in India. Though the madaris 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 de-recognised madrasa education, receiving critisicm 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" 
qas: answers: Deobandis
question: What group makes up a larger percentage of people in India?

answers: Hindu-Muslim friction
question: What problems are arising due to the political conflicts over schools?

answers: Jamia Nayeemia Muradabad
question: What is the largest school for Barelvis people in India?

answers: Mathematics, Computers and science
question: What disciplines does India want to introduce to madaris?

answers: 2015
question: In what year did the Indian government begin to stop recognizing madaris as schools?

context: Today, the system of Arabic and Islamic education has grown and further integrated with Kerala government administration. In 2005, an estimated 6,000 Muslim Arabic teachers taught in Kerala government schools, with over 500,000 Muslim students. State-appointed committees, not private mosques or religious scholars outside the government, determine the curriculum and accreditation of new schools and colleges. Primary education in Arabic and Islamic studies is available to Kerala Muslims almost entirely in after-school madrasa programs - sharply unlike full-time madaris common in north India, which may replace formal schooling. Arabic colleges (over eleven of which exist within the state-run University of Calicut and the Kannur University) provide B.A. and Masters' level degrees. At all levels, instruction is co-educational, with many women instructors and professors. Islamic education boards are independently run by the following organizations, accredited by the Kerala state government: Samastha Kerala Islamic Education Board, Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.
qas: answers: over 500,000
question: How many Muslim students are there in Kerala?

answers: 6,000
question: How many Muslim teachers are there in Kerala?

answers: State-appointed committees
question: Who determines the content taught in Arabic public schools?

answers: after-school
question: What types of programs provide traditional Islamic teaching?

answers: co-educational
question: What is the format of school for girls and boys?

context: In Southeast Asia, Muslim students have a choice of attending a secular government or an Islamic school. Madaris or Islamic schools are known as Sekolah Agama (Malay: religious school) in Malaysia and Indonesia, โรงเรียนศาสนาอิสลาม (Thai: 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.
qas: answers: students
question: Who decides if Muslims attend secular schools or traditional madaris?

answers: Sekolah Agama
question: What are madaris referred to as in Indonesia and Malaysia?

answers: Mindanao
question: What region of the Philippines has a large Muslim population?

answers: southern
question: What region of Thailand has madaris?

context: In Singapore, madrasahs are private schools which are overseen by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS, English: Islamic Religious Council of Singapore). There are six Madrasahs in Singapore, catering to students from Primary 1 to Secondary 4. Four Madrasahs are coeducational and two are for girls. Students take a range of Islamic Studies subjects in addition to mainstream MOE curriculum subjects and sit for the PSLE and 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). The JMS aims to introduce the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme into the Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah by 2019. 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. For students who wish to attend a mainstream school, they may opt to take classes on weekends at the madrasah instead of enrolling full-time.
qas: answers: six
question: How many madrasahs are in Sinagapore?

answers: International Baccalaureate
question: What program is being installed in madrasahs in Singapore?

answers: 2019
question: What year is it planned for IB programs to be in place at Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah?

answers: the songkok for boys and tudong for girls
question: What will the uniform be at Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah?

context: In 2004, madaris were mainstreamed in 16 Regions nationwide, primarily in Muslim-majority areas in Mindanao under the auspices of the Department of Education (DepEd). The DepEd adopted Department Order No. 51, which instituted Arabic-language and Islamic Values instruction for Muslim children in state schools, and authorised implementation of the Standard Madrasa Curriculum (SMC) in private-run madaris. While there are state-recognised Islamic schools, such as Ibn Siena Integrated School in the Islamic City of Marawi, Sarang Bangun LC in Zamboanga and SMIE in Jolo, their Islamic studies programmes initially varied in application and content.
qas: answers: 16
question: How many regions in Singapore have widely accepted madaris?

answers: Department Order No. 51
question: What law protects the teaching of Arabic and Islamic traditions in Mindanao?

answers: Muslim
question: What religion do most people practice in Mindanao?

answers: 2004
question: When did madaris become more accepted in Mindanao?

answers: Standard Madrasa Curriculum (SMC)
question: What curriculum is used in non public madaris in Mindanao?

context: 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 traditional Hanafi school of thought and shuns Salafist / Wahabi teachings. 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 deviate from his traditional roots and form the Salafist organization the AlMaghrib Institute.
qas: answers: 1983
question: When was the first madrasa started in North America?

answers: US
question: What country has many students that attend Al-Rashid Islamic Institute?

answers: Cornwall, Ontario
question: Where is Al-Rashid Islamic Institute?

answers: AlMaghrib Institute
question: What organization did Shaykh Muhammad Alsahareef start?

context: Western commentators post-9/11 often perceive madaris as places of radical revivalism with a connotation of anti-Americanism and radical extremism, frequently associated in the Western press with Wahhabi attitudes toward non-Muslims. In Arabic the word madrasa simply means "school" and does not imply a political or religious affiliation, radical or otherwise. Madaris have varied curricula, and are not all religious. Some madaris in India, for example, have a secularised identity. Although early madaris 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." This is similar to the Western world, in which universities began as institutions of the Catholic church.
qas: answers: anti-Americanism and radical extremism
question: What is the common western perception of the teaching received at madaris?

answers: varied curricula
question: What type of content is delivered at madaris?

answers: secularised
question: What type of teaching is provided at Indian madaris?

answers: institutions of the Catholic church
question: What are the origins of western schools?

answers: seven
question: How many science disciplines were taught at madaris in the Ottoman Empire?