In the school....

Did you know that the Arabic word for mosque is Jami' and the Arabic for university is Jami'a? A thousand years ago the first universities emerged within mosques where religion and science sat comfortably side by side.

Did you know that between the 7th and 12th centuries, when religion dominated European culture that Muslim educational institutions led the way? As the results of their progressive education reached the West through Muslim works covering everything from medicine to history they helped encourage the revival of learning in Europe.

An important aspect of Islam is to seek knowledge which motivated and led the Muslims to develop a systematic way of teaching and spreading knowledge in purpose built structures. At first the mosque combined both religious performance and learning activities. By the tenth century, the Seljuks (ruled between 11th and early 14th centuries), introduced the first Madrassa, a proper school built independently from the mosque.

Under the Ottomans (ruled 15th-20th centuries), learning was given a new dimension as the towns of Bursa and Edirne took over as the main centres of learning. The Ottoman system of Kulliye, a building complex containing a mosque, a hospital, madrassa, and public kitchen and dining areas, was indeed revolutionary making the leaning accessible to a wider public though its free meals, health care and sometimes accommodation.

The first university was also developed from the mosque, usually of central location and of primary functional importance. Great university mosques such as al-Qarawiyyin (859 CE, Fez), Al-Azhar (956 CE, Cairo) and Cordoba (8th century) were the Oxford and Cambridge of Medieval times