In the year 400A.

In the year 400A.H., Hakem, the Fatimi Caliph, established a large college in Egypt, dedicating many books and he also appointed a group of jurisprudents and professors for lecturing. King Mahmud of Ghaznavi dedicated a substantial portion of his wealth to the establishment of a magnificient university and built a great library filled with valuable books. He paid for its daily expenses and endowed many acres of land and villages.

In history it can also be found that while Baghdad was waiting for the great honour of the inauguration of its university by Nizam al-Mulk in the city of Nayshabur, great colleges and universities were established, including Saiedieh College and Bayhaghieh, which Imam Ghazali graduated from.

From what has been said so far, it can be concluded that before Nizamiyyah, there were several colleges and universities in existence, yet the fame of Nizamiyyah was so great that it overshadowed all the other scientific and educational centres. How Nizamiyyah Was Established Nizam al-Mulk at-Tusi, the Minister of Alb Arsalan and Shah Malik, was determined to spread knowledge among the people.

He did a lot towards fulfilling his aim and built several schools in villages in which he spent six thousand gold dinars and also endowed a tenth of his wealth for establishing libraries and colleges and most important of all, was the establishment of Nizamiyyah in Baghdad. The foundation of Nizamiyyah was laid in 487 A.H., at a cost of two hundred thousand golden dinars, and it was completed in the year 489 A.H.

It was inaugurated with a magnificient ceremony and if what has been written in history is true, all the people in Baghdad and the royal family hastened to attend the ceremony, which illustrated the Muslims' enthusiasm towards the development of knowledge. Abu Ishaq, head lecturer, was nominated for rectorship in the university. He finally accepted after twenty days of insistence.

As long as the Baghdad caliphate was in power, the Nizamiyyah was glorious and many famous scholars graduated from this university. Sa'adi, the famous poet, was one of them. For the scholars and scientists of that time, there was no greater honour than being a lecturer at Nizamiyyah. For 200 years, no one was appointed to that position unless he was the most knowledgeable in related subjects.

Abu Zakaria Tabrizi, a well-known writer of that era, was the director of the central library of Nizamiyyah.