The Nizamiyya of Baghdad was established in 1065 under the patronage of the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk. It became one of the most celebrated madrasas of the medieval Islamic world. Its curriculum and prestige helped institutionalise Sunni learning in a major urban centre.

Madrasas such as the Nizamiyya shaped Arabic prose, theology, jurisprudence, and the adab culture of educated elites. The institution also influenced Persian literary life, since later poets and scholars moved through networks of learning, patronage, and debate linked to such schools.