What it was
Founded in 1065, the network opened its flagship, the Nizamiyya of Baghdad, in 1067, with sister colleges in Nishapur, Isfahan, and other cities. Professors were salaried, and students were supported by waqf endowments.
Role
Its purpose was the state-sponsored training of Sunni scholars and administrators of the Shafi’i school, often described as a response to Fatimid Ismaili missionary activity. Al-Ghazali, the era’s dominant theologian, taught at the Baghdad Nizamiyya from 1091 to 1095 before his famous crisis and retreat, and the poet Saadi later studied there. The model — an endowed college with salaried chairs and dormitories — spread across the Islamic world and is often compared to the early European college, though whether it influenced it remains debated.
Fate
The network faded after the Seljuks, and the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 ended its flagship’s great age. Traces of the institution continued after, however.