Tarikh al-Madaris al-Waqfiyya fi al-Madina al-Munawwara
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- The Islamic University of Madinah
Tarikh al-Madaris al-Waqfiyya fi al-Madina al-Munawwara (The History of Endowment Schools in Medina) is a historical study of charitable educational institutions (waqf schools) in Medina by Tariq bin Abd Allah Hajar, published in 1423 AH / 2003 CE in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah.
Purpose and Scope
The study investigates the extinct endowment schools of Medina from the 6th century AH until prior to 1340 AH (covering the Mamluk and Ottoman eras up to the end of the rule of the Sharifs). Its stated objective is to highlight the educational and developmental role of endowments under Islamic law and provide a comprehensive survey of these vanished institutions. Methodologically, the work employs a descriptive-historical approach, gathering and synthesizing dispersed references from classical chronicles and modern studies.
Structure and Historical Content
The treatise draws upon classical Medina local histories, noting that the earliest chronicler found to record these madrasas by name was Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Matari (d. 741 AH), followed by Zayn al-Din Abu Bakr al-Maraghi (728–816 AH), Abd Allah ibn Muhammad Farhun al-Maliki (693–769 AH), al-Samhudi (844–911 AH), and al-Sakhawi. For later periods, it references Ottoman-era accounts such as the treatise of Ali ibn Musa (1303 AH), which recorded ten madrasas, and Ibrahim Rif'at Pasha (1318 AH), who listed seventeen.
The author surveys these institutions chronologically by century, documenting each school's founder, founding date, location, layout, and endowment provisions:
- 6th Century AH: Examines early precursors, such as the hospice (ribāṭ) established in 577 AH by Fakhr al-Din Uthman ibn al-Zanjibili.
- 11th Century AH: Includes the Madrasat Qarahbash, founded in 1031 AH by an Ottoman judge in the Dharwan quarter south of the Prophet's Mosque; the Madrasat al-Khiyari, affiliated with the scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali al-Khiyari (d. 1083 AH) with revenues from Egypt; and the Madrasat Muhammad Agha Dar al-Sa'adah.
- 12th Century AH and later: Includes the Madrasat al-Shifa', established in 1112 AH in the Shawna–Dharwan quarter by Shaykh al-Islam Fayd Allah al-Hindi, which contained twenty-one rooms, a mosque, a kitchen, and a library.
Typology and Fate of the Schools
The work classifies the naming conventions of Medina's endowment schools into five categories: descriptive titles (such as al-Nizamiyya), names of founders (such as al-Saqizli), names of scholars who taught from their private homes (such as Madrasat al-Shaykh al-Basiti), names denoting regional or geographic origin (such as al-Kashmiriyya), or specific occasions (such as Madrasat al-Shifa', founded following recovery from an illness).
The author notes that all the historical schools surveyed eventually ceased to exist in their original form due to institutional mergers, administrative repurposing, the demise of patrons, or shifts in political authority. Surviving structures were either converted into residential hospices (rubuṭ) for the indigent or repurposed as modern Quran memorization schools under the supervision of the Charitable Society for the Memorization of the Holy Quran in Medina.
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