rajpurkar/squad huggingface dataset:
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: Who traditionally paid for scholars to study natural sciences?
Answer: royal courts

Question: What group of people had the highest literacy rates during the Middle Ages?
Answer: Caliphate

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

Question: How long did it take for madaris to spread to smaller cities and towns?
Answer: several centuries
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: When were the first recorded Islamic elementary schools?
Answer: 10th century

Question: What term refers to Islamic elementary schools?
Answer: maktab

Question: Who wrote a training guide for Islamic maktab teachers?
Answer: Ibn Sīnā

Question: What did Ibn Sina prefer over private tutors?
Answer: classes

Question: How many component of education did Ibn Sina describe in their teachings?
Answer: two
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What type of skills did Ibn Sina state children should learn in secondary education?
Answer: manual skills

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

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

Question: What should secondary training provide a student in the secondary stage of school? 
Answer: future career
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What discipline was studied in traditional madrasah?
Answer: religious sciences

Question: What was traditionally left out of the madrasah curriculum?
Answer: philosophy and the secular sciences

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

Question: What is the most widely known madrasah?
Answer: al-Azhar University

Question: How many madaris have been founded in Cairo?
Answer: 75
Title: Madrasa

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'.

Question: What term refers to Islamic law?
Answer: fiqh

Question: When did Islamic law school begin?
Answer: 9th century

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

Question: What traditional schooling has been considered modeled after the traditional Islamic graduate schools?
Answer: European doctorate
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What did earning the ijazat al-tadris award students?
Answer: licence to teach

Question: Who awarded a teaching license in Islamic schools?
Answer: individual scholar-teacher

Question: Who awarded a teaching license in European schools?
Answer: chief official of the university

Question: What type of license is closely related to the ijazat al-tadris?
Answer: licentia docendi
Title: Madrasa

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."

Question: What determination of the study of law was held to much debate?
Answer: whether certain opinions of law were orthodox

Question: What type of matters are covered through Islamic law?
Answer: civil as well as religious

Question: What is the Islamic term for issuing a legal opinion?
Answer: fatwa

Question: What is ijtihad?
Answer: process of scholarly research
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: When did some madaris become considered like traditional colleges?
Answer: 10th century

Question: What class of people founded both European universities and Islamic madaris
Answer: princely patrons

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

Question: Who argued that European universities and Islamic madaris have very little in common?
Answer: George Makdisi
Title: Madrasa

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".

Question: When was al-Qarawiyin University founded?
Answer: 859

Question: Who founded al-Qarawiyin University?
Answer: Fatima al-Fihri

Question: What types of degrees were earned at al-Qarawiyin University?
Answer: all levels

Question: What religious buildings were housed inside al-Qarawiyin University?
Answer: mosques

Question: What types of teachers were at al-Qarawiyin University?
Answer: individual faculties for different subjects
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: When was Al-Azhar University founded?
Answer: 975

Question: Where is Al-Azhar University located?
Answer: Cairo, Egypt

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

Question: Who was an astronomy professor at Al-Azhar University?
Answer: Maimonides

Question: What is Nizamiyah of Baghdad most known for?
Answer: largest university of the Medieval world
Title: Madrasa

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".

Question: What field does the ijazah signify expertise in?
Answer: Islamic religious law of sharīʻah

Question: What was the purpose of studying natural sciences in madaris?
Answer: supply religious needs

Question: Who decided if a student earned a law degree in undergraduate madaris?
Answer: the teacher

Question: What scientific discipline is still taught in modern madaris?
Answer: Ptolemaic astronomy

Question: What is considered the most famous madrasa?
Answer: al-Azhar
Title: Madrasa

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:

Question: Who argues that madaris are not the same as traditional European universities?
Answer: Medievalist specialists

Question: What are two examples of waqfs?
Answer: madrasa and jāmiʻah

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

Question: What do scholars believe is missing from madaris that prevent them from being considered universities?
Answer: corporate element
Title: Madrasa

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:

Question: When did more madaris begin to form more rapidly?
Answer: 11th and 12th centuries

Question: Where are madaris considered less desirable?
Answer: Western Islamic lands

Question: When did the al-Qarawiyin officially become a university?
Answer: 1947

Question: When the madaris are considered as a charity, who controls the school?
Answer: the donor

Question: What disciplines were introduced at al-Azhar in 1961?
Answer: economics, engineering, medicine, and agriculture
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What institutions have been considered to take some its ideas from madaris?
Answer: European university

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

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

Question: What freedom specifically did Makdisi believe European schools learned from Islamic traditions?
Answer: academic

Question: What clothing practice did Makdisi believe European schools learned from madaris?
Answer: wearing academic robes
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What other religion was considered to share parallels in teaching styles with the Muslim faith?
Answer: Christian

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

Question: What is the European version of fiqh?
Answer: civil law

Question: What do scholars believe is the reason for similarities between Islamic and European schools?
Answer: parallel occurrence
Title: Madrasa

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.

Question: What percentage of Islamic women were educated before the 1200s?
Answer: less than one percent

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

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

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