A reflection on the issue of Muhammad Ghazali's withdrawal from teaching at the Baghdad Nizamiyya

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under (CC BY-NC 4.0) license

Author

PhD of History, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

The network of Nizamiyah schools was one of the coherent educational structures founded by Khaja Nizam al-Mulk and played an important role in the cultural arena of the Seljuk period,. Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali was appointed as the head of that Nizamiyah in 484 by Khaja Nizam al-Mulk, and during the turbulent cultural periods and challenged the authority of the Abbasid Caliphate. During this time, as an official jurist assigned to the caliphate and monarchy, Ghazali theorized in various fields of knowledge, but after four years in that position, he left the Nizamiyah of Baghdad . There have been many opinions and views that why this hesitation occurred, and some highlight Ghazali's personal emphasis on the overcoming of "doubt", while other researchers consider political factors to be involved in this matter. This article examines the dimensions of this issue and discusses the question of what factor or factors were effective in Ghazali's abandonment of Nizamiyya and to what extent the role of political factors was influential in this. The research hypothesis is based on the role and importance of political issues or developments in this decision, and from this perspective, the issue has been addressed and the conclusion has been reached that political factors played an important role in this decision.

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Publisher: University of Tabriz       Copyright © The Authors   

   

 

This is an open access article distributed under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Iranian History of Culture
Volume 2, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
March 2025
Pages 49-64

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 January 2025
  • Revise Date: 19 February 2025
  • Accept Date: 19 February 2025
  • Publish Date: 21 March 2025

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