1. According to Webster's, the term medieval, or mediaeval, means ‘like the Middle Ages’. It also defined the Middle Ages as ‘the period of European history between about AD 500 and 1500’. Webster's Reference Library, Concise Edition English Dictionary, 204, 207. The term also has certain negative connotations in European history that equate it to backwardness and even barbarianism. Religion, the bastion of sociopolitical power, was seen as the impediment to progress, which led to the separation of religion and state. This is not what I mean when I use ‘medieval’ in relation to Muslim scholars and Muslim civilisation. For ease of reference, an expression such as ‘medieval Muslim scholars’ here refers to Muslim scholars who lived in a time that fell within the Middle Ages.

2. Nakosteen, History of Islamic Origins of Western Education, vii. The acclaimed work of Pulitzer Prize winner David Levering Lewis, God's Crucible, is another important reference.

3. See Ab’ Lw, Ulu-l-Tarbiya al-Islmiyya, 276.

4. Not to be confused with ‘Abd al-‘Azz b. ‘Uthmn al-Qabs (d. 356/967), or Alcabitius, the famous astrologer of Mawsil (Mosul). The difference in the Arabic spelling of their names is evident in the transliteration.

5. The term adab is used in several different senses in this book. Here it refers to literary writings, such as belles lettres. It is sometimes used to connote general conduct, such as the conduct of teachers (Adabu-l-Mu‘allimn), writers (Adabu-l-Ktib), and the courts and courtiers (such as Al-Adab al-Kabr and Al-Adab al-aghr of Ibn al-Muqaff’ [d. 139/756–757]). There are also meanings of adab that relate more to knowledge and education, hence the word ta'db, which refers to instilling adab. Usually, the context will clarify which adab is meant, or I will provide the intended meaning in parentheses.

6. I have used classical interchangeably with medieval for Muslim writings and historical accounts from 750 to 1400 CE. It is unnecessary to distinguish between these terms given the period of time being looked at and the nature of the primary sources. Note, however, that classical in this book is used to connote a time period, not an approach to scholarship that transcends the barriers of time.