Nizamiyya Madrasa Network

Timeline

1. 1065–1067Baghdad · BaghdadVizier Nizam al-Mulk established the first Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad, setting the paradigm of the religious school through state funding, a fixed curriculum, and the waqf system, aiming to consolidate Sunni orthodoxy and train bureaucrats and religious scholars.
2. c. 1070–1200Nishapur · NishapurUnder Seljuk rule, the Nizamiyya model was replicated in Khurasan, Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia, forming an interconnected network of madrasas that became the core institutions for training Sunni scholars and jurists.
3. c. 1241–1250Damascus · DamascusIn the 1240s, the Nizamiyya madrasa network still maintained the academic institutions of the Seljuk period, but political fragmentation and the Mongol threat intensified; madrasas in Syria and elsewhere continued teaching, yet the network as a whole stood on the eve of decline.