Education in the Ottoman State: A Study of Madrasas’ Role Since the Rise of the State until the Death of Sultan Suleiman Al-Qanooni

The Ottoman State had a significant undeniable influence on the history of Muslims. The Ottoman madrasa played a prominent role in establishing the state culturally, through which the civilizational dimension of sultans and governors was demonstrated. Since its rise until Sultan Al-Qanooni, madrasas provided the state with scholars, judges and officials who had a great effect on managing the affairs of the state and tightening its control over vast areas of the world. Thus, scientific and administrative life in the Ottoman State was closely related to madrasas. Only madrasa alumni were allowed to take over scientific and judicial positions in the state.

This book – which is a PhD thesis in the first place – provides an unbiased conscious study of the history of the Ottoman madrasas, their administrative and scientific systems, their effects, the factors of their renaissance, and the reasons for their decline, to know to what extent education had a role in that period. Further, was it open to civilizations and different cultures or only limited to heritage books and religious education?

The book consists of three chapters, the first tackles “Ottoman madrasas from the rise of the state until the end of Fatih’s reign”. The emergence of Ottoman madrasas was at that time limited to religious education. The matter then developed quickly as the Ottomans established between the years 732 – 855 AH eighty-two madrasas, which – until the era of Sultan Fatih – were not limited to capitals and big cities like Iznik, Bursa and Edirne. Rather, a number of madrasas were established in other Ottoman cities. The period when Sultan Fatih governed the state was considered a period of prosperity and tangible progress for the scientific and educational movement in the state.

While the second chapter handles “Ottoman madrasas from the death of Sultan Fatih until the end of Sultan Al-Qanooni’s reign”. The chapter referred to the madrasas built by Sultan Bayezid, in addition to the establishment of several other madrasas by senior statesmen.

It is worth mentioning that madrasas played an important role in the reign of Sultan Selim I in confronting the Shiite threat. Scholars and teachers were given titles that demonstrated the extent of the high respect they received during the reign of Sultan Al-Qanooni. For instance: “the honorable religious pontiff, the one with utmost wisdom, the key to the treasures of facts, the scout of the symbols of precise issues, the pure pious, the working scholar and the righteous intelligent.”

However, the last quarter of the sixteenth century has constituted the starting point for the rapid decline of madrasas in terms of quantity and quality, as a result of breaching the old laws that were applicable until Al-Qanooni’s reign and not giving them the proper consideration. The economic changes that occured in the Ottoman State also contributed to the negative impact on the scientific life in the state, and this was represented in expediting the graduation of students from different Ottoman madrasas, which caused weakness in the educational level, and then led to a backwardness of the educational system in madrasas.

As for the third and final chapter, it relates to the “civilization role of Ottoman madrasas”, where it addresses the teaching places for students that were not confined in the Ottoman society to madrasas and formal institutions only, yet there were other educational and cultural centers as well, generally represented in mosques, hospices, libraries, and in the houses of the wealthy and scholars.

The author confirms that Ottoman madrasas in particular, and the intellectual and scientific life in general have been unable to anticipate a renaissance that commensurate with the level of prosperity achieved by the Ottomans themselves in other fields, who were dominated by imitation and lack of innovation. They merely explained and annotated the old Islamic books. Hence, science in the state suffered from backwardness and deterioration.

The author concludes his book by explaining the role of endowments in the Ottoman State, as it played a prominent role in giving the madrasa a strong impetus, and constituted one of the basic sources of the financial support necessary and supportive of the educational process, which made education free in Ottoman madrasas.