2.Kufa Kufa came after Yathrib in its importance. The great...

2.Kufa Kufa came after Yathrib in its importance. The great mosque in Kufa was one of the most important Islamic institutes and schools. Many seminars were held in this mosque. The general sphere of study was on the Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, tafsir (interpretation of the Qur’an), Hadith and other branches. Kufa had adopted the Alawite doctrine and its school was interested in the knowledge of Ahlul Bayt (a.s).

Al-Hasan bin Ali al-Washsha’ said, ‘I have seen in this mosque (the mosque of Kufa) nine hundred sheiks each saying: Ja’far bin Muhammad (as-Sadiq) has told me so- and-so…’[^2] It was not only jurisprudence that was dealt with in the school of Kufa, but also grammar was studied and taught. In Kufa, a school of grammarians had been established. From the famous scholars of this school was al-Kisa’iy, whom ar-Rasheed (the Abbasid caliph) had entrusted to teach his two sons al-Ameen and al-Ma’moon.

Worth mentioning is that grammar has been established by Imam Ali (a.s). It was he who had classified the bases and rules of Arabic grammar. 3.Basra Basra was a very important center of grammar. The first one who had established the base of the school of Basra was Abul Aswad ad- Du’ali, the disciple of Imam Ali (a.s). This school competed with the school of Kufa. The grammarians of Basra were called (people of logic) to be distinguished from the grammarians of Kufa.

One of the most prominent scholars of this school of grammar was Seebwayh the Persian who had written a book called “the book of Seebwayh” that is the maturest book in Arabic. De Beaur[^3] says, ‘If we look at the book of Seebwayh, we shall find it a mature work and a great effort.

Later scholars have said it must be a fruit of cooperative efforts of scientists like the Canon of Avicenna.’[^4] As Basra was a field for grammar it was a school of Tafsir, one of whose prominent ulama was Abu Amr bin al-Ala’. It was also a school of prosody whose bases had been established by al-Khalil bin Ahmed the author of “al-Ayn” which was the first dictionary in the Arabic language. 4. Baghdad Baghdad had flourished with many scientific and cultural movements.

Institutes and schools had spread everywhere and nothing was easier than knowledge which had been at hand to everyone. Baghdad had not specialized in a certain branch of knowledge like the other Islamic centers, but it had all sciences besides all kinds of arts. Baghdad had been the greatest scientific center in that age.