Education and the exact sciences

Under Temur and the Timurids the madrasa served as a centre of higher education. Madrasas were built with state money and money of rich people, and teachers were paid separately. Besides religious learning, jurisprudence, logic, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, medicine, history, geography, literature and poetry were taught. In 1404 Saray Mulk Khanum had a madrasa built in Samarkand; the Herat area is said to have had 36 madrasas. By Ulugh Beg’s decree madrasas arose in Bukhara (1417), Samarkand (1420) and Gijduvan (1433). The Ulugh Beg Madrasa in Samarkand had two floors and, according to the book, about fifty cells; Shamsuddin Muhammad Khavafi, Qadi-zada Rumi, Jamshid Kashani, Ali Qushchi and Ulugh Beg himself taught there. A student who mastered the course and passed the examinations received a certificate. Rich court libraries also worked in Samarkand and Herat.