KEMUNDURAN PENDIDIKAN ISLAM PADA AKHIR DINASTI ABBASYIAH: ANALISIS FAKTOR INTERNAL DAN EKSTERNAL

Abstract

This study critically analyzes the determinants of the decline of Islamic education during the late Abbasid Dynasty. Using a qualitative library research method with a historical approach, the study challenges the reductionist view that attributes the collapse of Islamic civilization solely to the 1258 Mongol invasion. Data were drawn from primary historical sources and authoritative secondary literature, and analyzed through content and causal analysis. The findings reveal that the decline was a cumulative result of two multidimensional factors. Internally, the educational system was weakened by political disintegration, which severed state patronage for science; sectarian conflicts that transformed madrasas into tools of political propaganda; the corruption of Waqf funds; and epistemological stagnation, characterized by the dominance of Taqlid (blind imitation) over critical inquiry. Externally, the civilization faced gradual erosion from the Crusades, which drained economic resources, culminating in the catastrophic Mongol invasion. This invasion caused the total physical destruction of the intellectual infrastructure, symbolized by the burning of the Bayt al-Hikmah, and severed the chain of knowledge transmission (sanad) through the mass slaughter of scholars. The study concludes that internal systemic fragility had occurred prior to the external attacks, rendering the educational system unable to withstand the final military blow.