Dr. Bakr Abdul Latif Al-Haboub

Since the mid-10th century AH (mid-16th century AD), the outlines of a scientific renaissance in Al-Ahsa began to crystallize, reaching its peak during the 11th and 12th centuries AH, when it established itself on the map of the Arabian Gulf as a hub for knowledge production, competing with centers of learning in Iraq, the Levant, Egypt, and Yemen.

This system was reinforced by a degree of relative political stability and an active economic movement, fueled by the expansion of trade across wide parts of the Arabian Gulf during the era of Bani Khalid. Thus, Al-Ahsa became entrenched as a regional center where the paths of goods and ideas converged.

Al-Ahsa was not merely an oasis producing dates; it was a vibrant economy that attracted migrations and exported talent. Thanks to this dynamism, a diverse society formed in its origins and cultures, with an expanded space for coexistence among sects and schools of jurisprudence. Urban and Bedouin communities interacted within a single social fabric, making difference a source of enrichment. This environment was strengthened by scholarly families who inherited positions of judiciary, imamate, teaching, and fatwa, transmitting knowledge and experience from one generation to the next, until it became a deep-rooted part of the community’s identity, not a transient activity tied to individuals or a specific era.

However, the cornerstone that ensured the sustainability of this system was the endowment (waqf) in both its familial and charitable forms. It was not merely a charitable act but an economic and knowledge institution; palm groves, springs, and properties were bequeathed to provide a permanent source of income for teachers’ salaries, book purchases, maintenance of schools, and student welfare. When the Ottomans entered Al-Ahsa in 1550 AD, they imposed stricter administrative organization on the endowments, and subsequent rulers continued to develop them until they became one of the most mature endowment models in the eastern Islamic world.

Because education had its own independent source of funding, the scholarly movement remained insulated from political fluctuations. The teacher no longer depended on official handouts, nor was the student preoccupied with seeking a livelihood. Instead, the endowment provided financial independence that translated into intellectual freedom, leading to a flourishing of authorship, teaching, and ijtihad, and solidifying schools and mosques as stable academic institutions. In this climate, the sciences of jurisprudence, hadith, and exegesis thrived, alongside language, medicine, astronomy, and arithmetic.

The strength of this system is evident in its outcomes: documented biographies of Al-Ahsa’s scholars over approximately two centuries exceed 500 entries—a figure that gains significance when compared to the oasis’s size and population at the time, revealing an exceptional capacity for producing scholars and sustaining knowledge. Furthermore, hundreds of endowments, mosques, and kuttabs (elementary schools), along with dozens of schools, lodges, and libraries spread across the region, confirming the existence of an integrated academic system that maintained its vitality generation after generation.

Thus, Al-Ahsa’s radiance transcended its geographical borders. Lorimer described it in the Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf as a scholarly center frequented by students from various parts of the Arabian Gulf. It was one of the most prominent destinations for students of knowledge from Najd, including Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who received his education there for about two years starting from 1725. For this reason, Fuad Hamza described it in his book Heart of Arabia as the "University of the Gulf."

Its impact was not limited to its regional surroundings but extended to the Islamic world. One of its scholars, Sheikh Ahmad ibn Muthayyan, assumed the position of head of Hanbali jurisprudence at Al-Azhar in 1833, and among his students was Abbas Hilmi Pasha, who later became Khedive of Egypt—testament to the stature achieved by the Al-Ahsa school among the centers of learning in the Islamic world.

When comparing educational experiences built on endowments and institutional independence, Al-Ahsa appears as the closest historical model to Harvard University. Both flourished in similar eras, relied on endowments to ensure financial independence, attracted students from beyond their immediate surroundings, and built their reputations on the independence and sustainability of the educational institution rather than on its ties to political authority.

After four centuries, Harvard’s endowment value has exceeded $56.9 billion—a testament to what endowment sustainability can achieve when accumulated over time. As for Al-Ahsa, its endowments played the same role during its golden age; they were the capital on which its scientific renaissance was built. Perhaps the difference between the two experiences lies not in the idea but in the continuity of the institution: where the endowment persisted, the university thrived; where the endowment weakened, the scholarly system lost one of its most crucial elements of sustainability.

If Harvard represents the model of an endowed university in the West, then Al-Ahsa created, in the eastern Islamic world, an experience worthy of the title "Harvard of the East," demonstrating the endowment’s capacity to build an independent and sustainable scholarly system. Al-Ahsa’s experience remains a testament that the flourishing of knowledge does not begin with curricula or buildings, but with the institutions that ensure its continuity, foremost among which is the endowment.

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