Understanding Madrasas: Architecture, Evolution, and Significance

Posted on Feb 12, 2025 in Social sciences

  • An Iwan is a hall that is open entirely to the courtyard.

A Madhab: A set of rules

  • They needed to study the 4 interpretations of Shari’aa, or the 4 madhabs.
  • There is Sunni and Shi’ite, where there are 4 madhabs.
  • In Morocco, we teach the Maliki Madhab.

Definition and Early Evolution

Madrasa/Jami‘/Kuttab

  • The Madrasa (Medersa): is an institution of higher education in which religious sciences are taught, such as fiqh (jurisprudence), tafsir (Quran exegesis), and hadith (Traditions). The madrasa was originally built to train the religious apparatus of the state (‘Ulama). E.g., the Qarawiyyin in Fez
  • The madrasa as an educational institution developed at a relatively later date compared to other religious institutions.

Masjid

  1. Masjid-Khan
  2. Madrasa
  • The madrasa represents the last stage in the evolution of the Islamic educational institutions.
  • At first, religious studies were conducted in the masjid. The mosque of the Prophet can be considered as the first educational center in Islam; the Prophet and his Companions gathered in the mosque to pray but also to recite Quran, study its meanings, and discuss matters of belief and conduct. The Prophet also taught hadiths to his Companions.
  • The best examples of mosques as centers of higher learning are the Qarawiyyin (A.D. 859), al-Azhar (A.D. 972), and the Zaytuna in Tunis (A.D. 732).


  • At first, each madrasa was founded for one madhhab (School of Islamic Law). Later madrasas were founded for two, three, or even the four madhhabs. There was, however, a separation of students taught different madhhabs. Students of each madhhab were gathered in each of the four iwans opening onto the madrasa’s central courtyard (e.g., The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, AD 1356 and 1363).

The flourishing of madrasas in the Islamic world was the result of an ambitious architectural program initiated by Nizam al-Mulk (bio. A.D. 1018-1092) (career: A.D. 1064-1092), a Saljuk vizier, who built several madrasas including the celebrated Madrasa Nizamiyya in Baghdad (A.D. 1067).

Maghribi Madrasas

  • In the Maghrib, it was not until the Marinid period that the first madrasas were built. In fact, the foundation of madrasas is the hallmark of Marinid art and architecture.
  • The first madrasa in the Maghrib is Madrasa al-Saffarin (metal-workers) in Fas built in A.D. 1271 (A.D. 1285?) by Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub b. ‘Abd al-Haq. Most Maghribi madrasas were built in Fas by Marinid sultans between A.D. 1271 and A.D. 1356.
  • A classic plan of a Maghribi madrasa includes:
  1. A bent-axis entryway: a feature borrowed from domestic architecture. In madrasa architecture, the length of the corridor allows the visitor time to adjust from the bustle of street life to the quiet of a place of learning and worship.
  2. A central courtyard with a fountain or a pool in the middle, for fresh air, ventilation, and noise reduction.
  3. A mosque along the main axis of the courtyard; it functioned as a lecture-hall outside regular prayer hours. Axiality was a major concern since the prayer hall was kept along the main axis of the building even if it runs counter the correct orientation of the qibla (see Attarin madrasa ‘perfumers’ where the main axis of the prayer hall is perpendicular to that of the building; axiality was maintained by placing the entrance to the prayer hall to the left of the mihrab).
  4. Two, three, or four lateral galleries surrounding the courtyard and delimited by panels of lattice woodwork (mashrabiyas).
  5. Student cells opening onto the lateral galleries and/or overlooking the courtyard for cells located on the upper floors. Student accommodations are sealed off the courtyard by screens of lattice woodwork. At the small end of the scale, some student cells measure 1.50 m x 2 m barely big enough for one or at most two students.
  6. Ablution facilities and latrines: a series of cubicles surrounding an auxiliary courtyard with a fountain in the middle.
  7. In some cases, the right and left corridors branched off the main entrance gives access respectively to a minaret (Saffarin and Bu ‘Inaniyya’) and a staircase leading to an upper floor.