An ''ijazah'' (, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such authority. It is particularly associated with transmission of Islamic religious knowledge. The license usually implies that the student has acquired this knowledge from the issuer of the ''ijaza'' through first-hand oral instruction, although this requirement came to be relaxed over time. An ''ijaza'' providing a chain of authorized transmitters going back to the original author often accompanied texts of ''

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

'', ''

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

'' and ''

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

''; but also appeared in mystical, historical, and philological works, as well as literary collections. While the ''ijaza'' is primarily associated with

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

, the concept also appears in the hadith traditions of

Twelver Shia Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the largest branch of Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as th ...

George Makdisi George Abraham Makdisi was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 15, 1920. He died in Media, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 2002. He was a professor of oriental studies. He studied first in the United States, and later in Lebanon. He then graduated in ...

, professor of oriental studies, theorized that the ''ijazah'' was the origin of the university

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

as well as the

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. Professor of Arabic,

Alfred Guillaume Alfred Guillaume (8 November 1888 – 30 November 1965) was a British Christian Arabist, scholar of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament and Islam. Career Guillaume was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, the son of Alfred Guillaume. He took up Arabi ...

(SOAS); Professor of Sociology,

Syed Farid al-Attas Syed Farid Alatas ( ) is a Malaysian author and educator, serving as a professor in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore.National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

) Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Devin J. Stewart (

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

) agree that there is a resemblance between the ''ijazah'' and the university degree. However,

Toby Huff Toby E. Huff (born April 24, 1942) is an American academic and emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He was born in Portland, Maine. He was trained as a sociologist but has research interests in the history, philosophy ...

and others reject Makdisi's theory. Devin J. Stewart notes a difference in the granting authority (individual professor for the ''ijazah'' and a corporate entity in the case of the university).

Description

In a paper titled ''Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation'',

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

professor William A. Graham explains the ijazah system as follows:

The basic system of "the journey in search of knowledge" that developed early in
Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
scholarship, involved travelling to specific authorities (''
shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
s''), especially the oldest and most renowned of the day, to hear from their own mouths their hadiths and to obtain their authorization or "permission" (''ijazah'') to transmit those in their names. This ijazah system of personal rather than institutional certification has served not only for Hadith, but also for transmission of texts of any kind, from
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, or
philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
to
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
,
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
, or
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
. The ''isnad'' of a long manuscript as well as that of a short hadith ideally should reflect the oral, face-to-face, teacher-to-student transmission of the text by the teacher's ijazah, which validates the written text. In a formal, written ijazah, the teacher granting the certificate typically includes an isnad containing his or her scholarly lineage of teachers back to the
Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...
through Companions, a later venerable shaykh, or the author of a specific book.

Hypothesis on origins of doctorate

According to the '' Lexikon des Mittelalters'' and ''

A History of the University in Europe ''A History of the University in Europe'' is a four-volume book series on the history and development of the European university from the medieval origins of the institution until the present day. The series was directed by the European Univ ...

'', the origin of the European

lies in high medieval teaching with its roots going back to

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

and the early days of

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

teaching of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

.Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: '' A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. XIX: "No other European institution has spread over the entire world in the way in which the traditional form of the European university has done. The degrees awarded by European universities – the bachelor's degree, the licentiate, the master's degree, and the doctorate – have been adopted in the most diverse societies throughout the world." This view does not suggest any link between the ''ijazah'' and the doctorate.

has instead stated that the ''ijazah'' was a type of

issued in medieval

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning ...

s, similar to that which later appeared in European

medieval universities A medieval university was a Corporation#History, corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be University, universities were established in p ...

. Devin J. Stewart also sees a parallel, and asserts that "the license to teach law and issue legal opinions was clearly an actual document of official or legal standing," while also noting a difference in the granting authority (individual professor for the ''ijzazah'' and a corporate entity in the case of the university). The theory of an Islamic origin of the degree was originally proposed in the 1930s by

, who cited the ''ijazah'' as a precursor to the ''licentia docendi'', which

Syed Farid al-Attas Syed Farid Alatas ( ) is a Malaysian author and educator, serving as a professor in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. Makdisi, in a 1970 investigation into the differences between the Christian

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and the Islamic

, was initially of the opinion that the Christian doctorate of the

medieval university A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy, including the K ...

was the one element in the university that was the most different from the Islamic ''ijazah'' certification. In 1989, though, he said that the origins of the Christian medieval doctorate ("licentia docendi") date to the ''ijāzah al-tadrīs wa al-iftā ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

. Makdisi proposed that the ''ijazat attadris'' was the origin of the European doctorate, and went further in suggesting an influence upon the

magisterium The magisterium of the Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition". According to the 1992 ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' ...

of the Christian Church. According to the 1989 paper, the ''ijazat'' was equivalent to the

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

qualification and was developed during the ninth century after the formation of the ''

Madh'hab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...

'' legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

school of law, usually four years for the basic

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

course" and at least ten years for a

post-graduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

course. The "doctorate was obtained after an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's

theses A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

," and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in

disputation Disputation is a genre of literature involving two contenders who seek to establish a resolution to a problem or establish the superiority of something. An example of the latter is in Sumerian disputation poems. In the scholastic system of e ...

s set up for the purpose" which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of '' faqih'' (meaning " master of law"), ''

mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

'' (meaning "professor of

legal opinions In law, a legal opinion is in certain jurisdictions a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling. Opinions are in those jurisdict ...

") and ''mudarris'' (meaning "teacher"), which were later translated into Latin as '' magister'', ''

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

'' and ''

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' respectively. Madrasas issued the ''ijazat attadris'' in the Islamic religious law of

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

, mathematics, astrology, medicine, pharmacology, and philosophy. Though Sharia Law was the major subject at most of these madrasas the sciences were treated with the same value in Islamicate society, as many discoveries were made in fields such as medicine where the first hospital was invented and pulmonary blood flow was discovered. The Islamic law degree in

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

, the most prestigious madrasa, was traditionally granted without final examinations, but on the basis of the students' attentive attendance to courses. However, the postgraduate doctorate in law was only obtained after "an oral examination." In a 1999 paper, Makdisi points out that, in much the same way granting the ''ijazah'' degree was in the hands of professors, the same was true for the early period of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, where degrees were originally granted by professors. He also points out that, much like the ''ijazat attadris'' was confined to law, the first degrees at Bologna were also originally confined to law, before later extending to other subjects. However, several other scholars have criticized Makdisi's work. Norman Daniel, in a 1984 paper, criticized an earlier work of Makdisi for relying on similarities between the two education systems rather than citing historical evidence for a transmission. He stated that Makdisi "does not seriously consider the spontaneous recurrence of phenomena", and notes that similarities between two systems do not automatically imply that one has created the other. He further states that there is a lack of evidence for schools in the short-lived Arab settlements of France and mainland Italy, which Makdisi argues may have been links between the Islamic and European educational systems, as well as a lack of evidence of the alleged transmission of scholastic ideas between the two systems altogether.Norman Daniel: Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. – Sep., 1984), pp. 586–588 (587) In a discussion of Makdisi's 1989 thesis,

argued that there was never any equivalent to the

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or doctorate in the Islamic madrasahs, owing to the lack of a faculty teaching a unified curriculum.

Differences Between an Ijazah and a Diploma

The Western form of education is widely what is adapted today and used throughout the globe. This education system draws particular attention to a formal educational institution – the university. Groups of individuals are taught by a faculty composed of many professors, each recognized as experts in their respective fields, and upon completion of a curriculum students receive a diploma. The diploma is documentation verifying that the university institution as a whole recognizes a certain individual's knowledge and capabilities within a particular field of study. On the other hand, the Ijazah forums has a much different approach in spreading knowledge. Emphasis is placed on one to one instruction rather than the institution as a whole. With the emphasis being on the relationship between student and the instructor the location is not necessarily of significant importance; much of where the education is being attained depends on the subject matter being taught, religious matters were largely taught in mosques, medicine in hospitals, while other subjects may have been taught t in madrasas or other locations. Another distinction of an ijazah is that they could be more focused on a singular subject than a college diploma, where the student takes classes on a variety of subjects in order to become a more rounded scholar, an ijazah could be given to a student on a single book or the student could be given a general ijazah. Upon completion of education in a subject a student would be examined orally by their instructor, much like students are to present a thesis in the modern-day education system. If a student successfully completed examination, they were to receive certification stating the subject in which they had expertise through their individual instructor; this documentation was referred to as an Ijazah and unlike the diploma it was not associated with the institution it was attained but rather solely with the instructor.

Different types of Ijazahs

Students could receive a number of different types of ijazahs based on what they were studying. The six different kinds of ijazahs were specific, non-specific, general, an ijazah on a book, ijazah by correspondence and an honorific ijazah. The specific ijazah was considered the highest form of an ijazah a student could receive because it stated that a specific student was permitted to teach a specific field by a specific teacher. The non-specific form stated the student and teachers name without giving the subject matter learned. The general ijazah only gave the teachers name and listed the students a group. An ijazah given over a certain book portrayed that the student had studied the book under the author and was able to recite the book by memory. An ijazah given by correspondence occurred whenever a teacher wrote down and sent a text to their students and gave them permission to teach only what they had written down. Finally an honorific ijazah was given as a form of respect to a prominent person, these however did not hold much weight in regards to allowing said person to teach the subject material.

Demographics of students

Students that attained ijazahs came from all walks of life, and access to knowledge was not known to be limited by age, gender, or race. While the majority of students earned ijazahs in their thirties or forties, there were many notable exceptions to this social norm. One example of these exceptions is children of wealthy families would oftentimes be awarded ijazahs for the social status that it would bring. These children who were much too young to comprehend the subjects they were being given, if they attempted to learn the subject matter at all, and sometimes ijazahs were given out from a request by letter. Ijazahs related to hadith transmission were not limited to men. Female hadith scholars like Zaynab bint al-Kamal were known to not only earn ijazahs, but also to instruct other students.

Ijazahs issued to a scribe vs a student

Ijazahs were not only given to students as a form of "diploma" to acknowledge that a student fully understood the teachings of his/her teacher. They were also given to scribes as a form of permission to transmit a book from the author. An ijazah given to a scribe by an author was basically a stamp of approval from the author that the scribe could replicate the work in order to share and preserve knowledge. The process for transmitting an authors book started with the author reciting his rough draft to the scribe with the scribe writing it down, after this was finished the scribe would then read what he had written back to the author, the author would then comment on what changes he/she wanted to make and then once the author was satisfied with the final work that is when an Ijazah was given to the scribe. This process varies highly from what a student would go through in order to receive an ijazah, this process consisted of the student being selected by the teacher to learn under them then he/she would learn from the teacher for a number of years before taking a test where the student would have to recite all of the teaching they had learned and comment on them concurrently and if the teacher felt as if the student fully understood their teaching they would award an ijazah to the student which meant they not only understood the teaching but they themselves could teach other students.

Example of a Quran Ijazah

For example, the famous reciter of the Quran in our modern era: Sheikh Ra'ad bin Mohammad Al-Kurdi, from his teacher Sheikh Sherzad Abdulrahman bin Tahir, and his Ijazah is as follows: The example of the following Quran Ijazah has the chain of Quran recitation ( Qi'raa of Hafs) from the present day tracing all the way back to the prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 Hadith Hadith studies Islamic education Law degrees Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Arab inventions Islamic jurisprudence