The Scientific Establishment in the Era of the Zengid State

Abstract

The numerous brilliant achievements of the Zengid state institution, especially during the reign of Sultan Nour elDin Mahmoud, were the pillars of the renaissance of the nation. The religious sciences were greatly served, as Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi (408-45 AH) - may God have mercy on him - did in his Formal Schools. It is worth noting and considering that Nour el-Din achieved these achievements in the face of extremely difficult circumstances, represented by the Shiite intellectual invasion that controlled the minds of most of the people of Sham, on the one hand, and the ongoing state of war with the Frankish invaders, on the other. The impact of the educational institution, especially the schools, was clear and significant in guiding society and worked with the rest of the institutions within a reform plan that combined three matters: attention to religious sciences in order to refute heresies and manifest the true religion, scientific through the dissemination of knowledge and the transition of people from the darkness of ignorance and illiteracy to the light of knowledge and certainty, and the third of these matters is the reform of society.