Nizamiyya

A Nizamiyya was a type of institution of higher education established by the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk in the 11th century across the Seljuk Empire, named for its founder. These Sunni theological schools are considered among the first well-organized institutions of higher learning in the world and models for later Islamic universities, supported financially and politically by the royal establishment and renowned in Europe as well as the Islamic world. The most celebrated Nizamiyya was the Nizamiyya of Baghdad, established in 1065, where Nizam al-Mulk appointed the philosopher and theologian al-Ghazali as a professor; other Nizamiyyas were located in Nishapur, Amol, Balkh, Herat and Isfahan. Their curriculum initially focused on religious studies, Islamic law, Arabic literature and arithmetic, later extending to history, mathematics, the physical sciences and music.