hence of the early Arabic literature. Theology came to involve metaphysical and logical studies. Canon law required arithmetic and mensuration, practical astronomy, &c. But these last were strictly ancillary; the object of the instruction was primarily to give knowledge of value for the life of the next world, and, secondarily, to turn out theologians and lawyers. Medicine was in Jewish and Christian hands; engineering, architecture, &c., with their mathematical bases, were crafts. Then this instruction was gradually subsidized and organized by the state, or endowed by individuals. How early this took place is uncertain. But the individual teacher, with his certificate, remained the object of the student; there was nothing corresponding to our general degrees. Thirdly, educational institutions came to be equipped with scholarships of money or in kind for the students. The first instance of this is generally ascribed to Nishapur (Naisabur) in 1066; but it soon became general in the system and afforded a means of control and centralization. A final, and most important, characteristic was the wide journeying of the students "in search of knowledge." Aided by Arabic as the universal language of learning, students journeyed from teacher to teacher, and from Samarkand to the Atlantic, gathering on their way hundreds of personal certificates. Scholars were thus kept in touch all over the Moslem world, and intellectual unity was maintained. The Sayyids. To the democratic equality of Islam, in which the slave of to-day may be the prime minister of to-morrow, there is one outstanding exception. The descendants of the Prophet and of his relatives (the family of Hashim) formed and form a special class, held in social reverence, and guarded from contamination and injury. These are the _sayyids_ (lords), and genealogical registers of them are carefully preserved. They are of all degrees of wealth and poverty, but are guarded legally from _mésalliances_ with persons of ignoble origin or equivocal occupation. Their influence is very great, and in some parts of the Moslem world they have the standing and reverence of saints. See Von Kremer, _Culturgeschichte des Orients_, based largely on Mawardi's _Ahkam_, trans. in part by Ostrorog; McG. de Slane's trans. of Ibn Khaldun, _Prolégomènes_; Lane, _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_; R. F. Burton, _Pilgrimage to Mekka_; Snouck Hurgronje, _Mekka_; Hughes, _Dictionary of Islam_; Juynboll, _De Mohammedaansche Wet_; Macdonald, _Development of Muslim Theology_, &c. For women in Islam, see HAREM. (D. B. Ma.)