1. Baghdad
Baghdad was one of the cities of knowledge in Islamic world. for it was the capital of the supreme authority and of knowledge; various kinds of culture dominated it; in it spread institutes, schools, the Depository of Wisdom, public and private libraries.
2. Yathrib
As for Yathrib (Medina), it was the most important scientific center in Islamic world, for the school of the members of the House (Ahl-ul-Bayt), peace be on them, was established wherein, and it included the leading jurists and religious scholars who took care of recording the traditions of the Imams of guidance, peace be on them, especially as it concerns their traditions on jurisprudence, which is the most perfect system in Islam. The school of the next generation (tabiin) was also established therein; it was the school which took great care of the jurisprudence which was narrated on the authority of the companions (of the Prophet).
3. Kufa
Kufa was more important than Yathrib, for in it was the greatest mosque (al-jam‘ al-A‘zam) which was a public center for Islamic studies and, in addition, there were seminars including hundreds of students who studied under professors specialist in Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, the interpretation of the Qur'an, the hadith (tradition), and Arabic. The school of Kufa objectively took care of the sciences of the members of the House (Ahl-ul-Bayt), peace be on them. Al-Hassan bin ‘Ali al-Washsha reported, saying: "I met nine hundred shaykhs in this mosque (i.e. the mosque of Kufa) and all of them said: ‘Jafar bin Muhammad related to me (traditions).'(13)
Important families of knowledge graduated from the mosque of Kufa. They are as follows: the family of Hayyan al-Taghlubi, the family of A‘yun, the children of ‘Atiya, the house of the children of Darrajj, and others. (14)
A grammar school was established in Kufa; one of its prominent teachers was al-Kisa'i, whom (Harun) al-Rashid entrusted with teaching his two sons, al-Amin and al-Mamoon. (15)
4. Basrah
As for Basrah, it was an important center of grammar. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, the student of Imam ‘Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, was the first to establish this school. This school competed with the school of Kufa (for Arabic Grammar). The Basran grammarians were called the men of logic in order to distinguish them from the Kufans grammarians. Among the leading grammarians of this school was Sibawayh, who compiled Kitab Sibawayh (the Book of Sibawayh) in grammar, which is the ripest of Arabic books and the best of them in depth and originality. Daybur said: "If we look at the book of Sibawayh, we will find it a ripe work and great effort to the extent that the later authors said: ‘The book must be the fruit of cooperating efforts of many scholars just like the Law (qanun) of Ibn Sina.' (16)
imam reza (a.s)
Basrah was not only an important center of grammar but also was a school of the science of interpreting the Holy Qur'an. Among the prominent scholars in this science was Abu ‘Amru bin al-‘Ala'. Besides Basrah was the school of prosody and linguistics. Among the specialists in these two sciences was al-Khalïl bin Ahmad, the author of the book al-‘Ayn, which is the first linguistic dictionary written in Arabic. (17)
These are some aspects of the cultural and scientific life of that time; generally speaking, Imam Reza, peace be on him, was the first pioneer of the scientific movement, for the scholars and the jurists gathered around him in order to study his pure sciences, as well as sessions were held in the ‘Abbasid palace including the great scholars whom al-Mamoon summoned in order to test Imam Reza, peace be on him, but they went out of the palace and announced the Imam's excellence and mentioned with admiration his many scientific abilities.
Sources:
(13) Hayat al-Imam Musa bin Jafar, vol. 1, p. 82.
(14) Tarikh al-Islam, vol. 2, p. 338.
(15) Hayat al-Imam Muhammad al-Jawad, p. 191.
(16) Tarikh al-Falsafa fi al-Islam, p. 39.
(17) Hayat al-Imam Muhammad al-Jawad, p. 192.
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