Analyzing the Phenomenon of Expansion of Madrasahs in Damascus and Aleppo with Emphasis on the Zengid Dynasty Period: Based on Bourdieu's Capital Theory

In the 6th and 7th centuries AH, nearly forty Madrasahs were established in the two important cities of Damascus and Aleppo. This number of Madrasahs in only two cities, when compared from a quantitative point of view to the number of previous Madrasahs in Islamic civilization, especially the Nizamiyyah Madrasahs in a significantly higher number of Islamic cities, shows the significant point of the importance of the phenomenon of Madrasahs of Damascus and Aleppo. This phenomenon has become worthy of study in terms of motivations and effective factors in the construction of these Madrasahs. The present research has obtained the descriptive-historical information of these Madrasahs by examining the most important historical sources of this field with a library method; Then, by using Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital, with the method of qualitative analysis, it tried to match the phenomenon of Madrasahs with the principles of this theory; Based on this theory, Madrasahs as cultural capitals are supposed as the appearance of institutionalized cultural capital to play a role in the development of the social field of the religious discourse of the Shafi'i and Hanafi sects, a factor for attracting respect towards the Zengi rulers and as a result, the development of their symbolic capital by which the continuity and increasing of their soft legitimacy have been recognized in the society.