Ijazah
Encyclopedia
An ijazah is a certificate used primarily by Sunni Muslims to indicate that one has been authorized by a higher authority to transmit a certain subject or text of Islamic knowledge
. This usually implies that the student has learned this knowledge through face-to-face interactions "at the feet" of the teacher.
The Ijazah qualification appeared as early as the 9th century. According to Guinness Book of World Records
, the University of Al Karaouine
in Fez, Morocco is the oldest degree
-granting institution in the world, with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri
; although its founding date as a Western-style university was as late as 1947. The Ijazah was limited to the study of Islamic law. Philosphy, natural sciences and Theology
(kalam
), were excluded.
and "A History of the University in Europe", is that the origin of the doctorate lies in European high medieval teaching with its roots going back to late antiquity
and the early days of Christian
teaching of the Bible
. This view is indirectly supported by the entry on the "Madrasa" in Encyclopedia of Islam which draws no parallels between Islamic and Christian medieval learning and does not refer to any transmission process either way.
This view is further echoed by George Makdisi in a 1970 investigation into the differences between the Christian university
and the Islamic madrasah
, where he is of the opinion that the Christian doctorate of the medieval university
was the one element in the university that was the most different from the Islamic ijazah certification.
According to a 1989 hypothesis by George Makdisi, the origins of the Christian medieval doctorate
("licentia docendi") dates back to the ijāzah al-tadrīs wa al-iftā ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal
education system
. Makdisi proposed that the ijazat attadris was the origin of the European doctorate, and went further in suggesting an influence upon the magisterium
of the Christian Church. According to the 1989 paper, the ijazat was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a guild
school of law
, usually four years for the basic undergraduate
course" and at least ten 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 disputation
s set up for the purpose" which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law
." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of faqih
(meaning "master of law"), mufti
(meaning "professor of legal opinions
") and mudarris (meaning "teacher"), which were later translated into Latin as magister
, professor
and doctor
respectively.
However, according to Norman Daniel, Makdisi relies exclusively on superficial similarities, while failing to cite any evidence for an actual transmission. The commonly held view is that all these titles were proper developments of the medieval university
in Europe and completely unrelated to the Islamic mosque schools.
It should be noted that madrasas only issued the ijazat attadris in one field, the Islamic religious law of Sharia
, 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. The Islamic law degree in Al-Azhar University
, the most prestigious madrasa, was traditionally granted without final examinations, but on the basis of the students' attentive attendance to courses. However, the postgraduate doctorate in law was only obtained after "an oral examination." In a 1999 paper, Makdisi points out that, in much the same way granting the ijazah degree was in the hands of professors, the same was true for the early period of the University of Bologna
, where degrees were originally granted by professors. He also points out that, much like the ijazat attadris was confined to law, the first degrees at Bologna were also originally confined to law, before later extending to other subjects. In a discussion of Makdisi's thesis, Toby Huff disagreed and argued that there was never any equivalent to the Bachelor's degree
or the doctorate in the Islamic madrasahs.
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
. This usually implies that the student has learned this knowledge through face-to-face interactions "at the feet" of the teacher.
Description
In a paper titled Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation, Harvard professor William A. Graham explains the ijazah system as follows:The basic system of "the journey in search of knowledge" that developed early in HadithHadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
scholarship, involved travelling to specific authorities (shaykhs), especially the oldest and most renowned of the day, to hear from their own mouths their hadiths and to obtain their authorization or "permission" (ijazah) to transmit those in their names. This ijazah system of personal rather than institutional certification has served not only for Hadith, but also for transmission of texts of any kind, from historyHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, lawFiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
, or philologyPhilologyPhilology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
to literatureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, mysticismSufismSufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
, or theologyIslamic theologyIslamic theology is a branch of Islamic studies regarding the beliefs associated with the Islamic faith. Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of aqidah. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in Islamic history and theology, denoting those...
. The isnad of a long manuscript as well as that of a short hadith ideally should reflect the oral, face-to-face, teacher-to-student transmission of the text by the teacher's ijazah, which validates the written text. In a formal, written ijazah, the teacher granting the certificate typically includes an isnad containing his or her scholarly lineage of teachers back to the ProphetMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
through CompanionsSahabaIn Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
, a later venerable shaykh, or the author of a specific book.
Degree
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
, the University of Al Karaouine
University of Al Karaouine
The University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin is a university located in Fes, Morocco which was established in 1947. Its origins date back to 859, when it was founded as a mosque school or madrasa...
in Fez, Morocco is the oldest degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
-granting institution in the world, with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri
Fatima al-fihri
Fatima al-Fihri was the daughter of Mohammed al-Fihri, with whom she migrated to Fes, Morocco from Qairawan, located in present-day Tunisia and came earlier from west Arabia of Fihrids family origin...
; although its founding date as a Western-style university was as late as 1947. The Ijazah was limited to the study of Islamic law. Philosphy, natural sciences and Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
(kalam
Kalam
ʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...
), were excluded.
Hypothesis on origins of doctorate
The view expounded by Lexikon des MittelaltersLexikon des Mittelalters
The Lexikon des Mittelalters is a German encyclopedia on the history of the Middle Ages. Written by authors from all over the world, it comprises more than 36,000 articles in 9 volumes. The first six volumes were published by Artemis , Munich and Zürich; volumes seven through nine by LexMA, Munich...
and "A History of the University in Europe", is that the origin of the doctorate lies in European high medieval teaching with its roots going back to late antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
and the early days of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
teaching of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. This view is indirectly supported by the entry on the "Madrasa" in Encyclopedia of Islam which draws no parallels between Islamic and Christian medieval learning and does not refer to any transmission process either way.
This view is further echoed by George Makdisi in a 1970 investigation into the differences between the Christian university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and the Islamic madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
, where he is of the opinion that the Christian doctorate of the medieval university
Medieval university
Medieval university is an institution of higher learning which was established during High Middle Ages period and is a corporation.The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of...
was the one element in the university that was the most different from the Islamic ijazah certification.
According to a 1989 hypothesis by George Makdisi, the origins of the Christian medieval doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
("licentia docendi") dates back to the ijāzah al-tadrīs wa al-iftā ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
education system
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
. Makdisi proposed that the ijazat attadris was the origin of the European doctorate, and went further in suggesting an influence upon the magisterium
Magisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
of the Christian Church. According to the 1989 paper, the ijazat was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
school of law
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
, usually four years for the basic undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
course" and at least ten years for a post-graduate
Postgraduate education
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...
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 disputation
Disputation
In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences...
s set up for the purpose" which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law
Legal education
Legal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law or business...
." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of faqih
Faqih
A Faqīh is an expert in fiqh, or, Islamic jurisprudence.A faqih is an expert in Islamic Law, and, as such, the word Faqih can literally be generally translated as Jurist.- The definition of Fiqh and its relation to the Faqih:...
(meaning "master of law"), mufti
Mufti
A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
(meaning "professor of legal opinions
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
") and mudarris (meaning "teacher"), which were later translated into Latin as magister
Magister (degree)
Magister is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education.-Argentina:...
, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and doctor
Doctor (title)
Doctor, as a title, originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb docēre . It has been used as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread...
respectively.
However, according to Norman Daniel, Makdisi relies exclusively on superficial similarities, while failing to cite any evidence for an actual transmission. The commonly held view is that all these titles were proper developments of the medieval university
Medieval university
Medieval university is an institution of higher learning which was established during High Middle Ages period and is a corporation.The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of...
in Europe and completely unrelated to the Islamic mosque schools.
It should be noted that madrasas only issued the ijazat attadris in one field, the Islamic religious law of Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, 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. The Islamic law degree in Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
, the most prestigious madrasa, was traditionally granted without final examinations, but on the basis of the students' attentive attendance to courses. However, the postgraduate doctorate in law was only obtained after "an oral examination." In a 1999 paper, Makdisi points out that, in much the same way granting the ijazah degree was in the hands of professors, the same was true for the early period of the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, where degrees were originally granted by professors. He also points out that, much like the ijazat attadris was confined to law, the first degrees at Bologna were also originally confined to law, before later extending to other subjects. In a discussion of Makdisi's thesis, Toby Huff disagreed and argued that there was never any equivalent to the Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
or the doctorate in the Islamic madrasahs.