The way the assembly of knowledge settled in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, the term most commonly used to identify the Ilmi Majlis, or gathering of knowledge, was 'Majlis'. The Majlis was named after the person to whom a Majlis was held. For example, 'Majalise Mahamili' can be mentioned. It was held at Mahamili's residence and mainly discussed fiqh and theology. The meeting was held at Shafi'i Bagh-e-Mansour in Baghdad. (Date Baghdad: 9/394) The second term used to denote the meaning of ilmi majlis or assembly of knowledge is 'halaka' (reading cycle).

The word probably originated from the idea of ​​sitting neatly in the darse. The students sat in a circle, but it was desirable to sit in front of the teacher. When Imam Shafi'i visited Baghdad, it was mentioned that there were about 40 to 50 halaqas in Jame Mansour. In 327 AH, there were 15 Halaqas of the Mali Amreki Madhhab, 14 of the Shafi'i Madhhab and three of the Hanafi Madhhab in Cairo. (Al-Mughrib fi Hulal Maghrib, page 24)

Regular meetings in Cairo and Damascus were called 'Az-Zabia'. Shafi'i in Jabiya, where he gave physical darsa, was known by that name for generations. The Azhar and Jame Mamur mosques in Cairo, also known as the Grand Mosque in Damascus, had eight 'jabia' each.Abu Bakr Najjad, a famous jurist and muhaddith of the Hanbali school, used to organize two halakars in Jame Mansur. One is for fiqh masala before Friday prayers, and the other is for narrating hadith after Friday prayers. (Dated Baghdad: 4/190)

Another halaqa of Hadith students used to sit in Jame Rusafat of the same city. The famous theologian Abul Hasan Ali bin Ismail Ashari used to give dars here every Friday. In fact, in a halaka, some masters used to give daras, but it is also possible that some masters used to participate in a few different halakas. There was a difference between Majlis and Halakar, but both had chairs in the name of the deceased teacher.

Generally all the dars were open for the students. The exceptions were those that took a long time to learn. In these cases the teacher himself would select some students and allow them to sit in the classroom. And according to the subject being taught, the size of the class would be small or big. As a result, the number of students in fiqh or grammar classes was very limited. But the number of attendees in the hadith classes was sometimes so high that the teacher had to hire a narration assistant (Mustamali) to narrate the hadith, who would repeat the teacher's words to the very back rows, from where the teacher's words might not be heard properly. In Cairo's Jame Amre, Abu Bakr Niall's halaka was so large that students sat across the 16 pillars of the mosque. (Suyuti, Husnul Muhajara: 2/91)

There was no set age for completing Hadith lessons. Whether students continue compiling for long periods of time or stop early depends on their surroundings and personal skills. However, in the case of some scriptures, a different picture could be seen. Students of Linguistics and Fiqh used to take lessons under a certain teacher for a long time. It is said that Abu Musa al-Hamez, one of the disciples of Ahmad bin Yahya Salab, acquired knowledge from him for 40 years. A teacher of Tafsir taught his book for six years.

The eminent Hanafi jurist Abu Yusuf has been sitting in the court of his master Abu Hanifa for 18 years. Abu Hanifa himself has learned from his master Hammad bin Abu Sulaiman for 10 years. By the time madrassas were finally established in Baghdad and elsewhere, jurisprudence had taken the form of a standard four-year course.

The pre-madrasa education system was such that there was no age limit for students and teachers. One could continue studying as long as he wanted. Again, when he considered himself worthy and the students accepted him as a master, he started giving darsas. An 18-year-old man convened a meeting to narrate the hadith.

Another was 18, when the students of Hadith asked him to give a lecture. However, this was not the general picture. Waqi ibn Jarrah started narrating hadith at the age of 33. Thus, when Ibn Mahdi first taught, he was not even 35 years old. (Dated Baghdad, 13/48)