The Curriculum Formation of the Nizhamiyah Madrasah Baghdad: Power Relations, Sunni Orthodoxy, and the Production of Islamic Knowledge in the 11th Century

Mu’amar Aziz; Arna  Saskia; Jamaludin  HS; Febrita Febrita; Fadriati Fadriati

doi:10.63922/ijevss.v5i04.4605

Mu’amar Aziz Mahmud Yunus Batusangkar State Islamic University, Indonesia
Arna Saskia STAI Solok Nan Indah, Indonesia
Jamaludin HS Institut Agama Islam Abuya Salek Sarolangun, Indonesia
Febrita Febrita Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 Solok, Indonesia
Fadriati Fadriati Mahmud Yunus Batusangkar State Islamic University, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63922/ijevss.v5i04.4605

Keywords: Islamic Curriculum, Knowledge Production, Nizhamiyah Madrasa, Power Relations, Sunni Orthodoxy

Abstract

This article examines the formation of the curriculum of the Nizhamiyah Madrasa in Baghdad in relation to power relations, Sunni orthodoxy, and the production of Islamic knowledge in the eleventh century. The study departs from the argument that curriculum is not a neutral pedagogical arrangement but a historical construction shaped by political patronage, institutional selection, and configurations of scholarly authority. Using qualitative library research and an intellectual-history approach, this article analyzes classical and modern sources on the Seljuq polity, Nizam al-Mulk, the madrasa institution, and the development of Islamic learning in medieval Baghdad. The findings indicate that the Nizhamiyah of Baghdad, founded under the patronage of Nizam al-Mulk in 1065 and inaugurated in 1067, functioned not merely as a center of instruction but also as a strategic institution for consolidating Sunni orthodoxy, especially Shafi'i jurisprudence and Ash'ari theology. Its curriculum privileged legal-religious sciences while subordinating other branches of knowledge, thereby shaping legitimate knowledge, stabilizing doctrinal authority, and reproducing scholarly elites aligned with the Seljuq-Abbasid political order. The article argues that the curriculum of classical Islamic education should be read as an arena in which pedagogy, political authority, and the production of religious legitimacy intersect.

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