Madrasa system spreads under Nizam al-Mulk

1063

The Persian vizier founded state-sponsored theological colleges in Baghdad, Nishapur, and other major cities to train a loyal Sunni bureaucracy. The Nizamiyya schools reshaped Islamic scholarship by formalizing curricula and providing stipends for students. They became the model for Islamic higher education down to modern times, and their emphasis on systematic study influenced the founding of European universities in the following century.