Hm - Now I'll have to investigate further. I enjoy "But.."
   because I always learn something and I'm always prepared to be
   mistaken.

   This was one of those "just woke up with this concept" thoughts
   and while I'm aware of the arabic schools, I was always under
   the impression that the Arabic schools were Byzantine schools,
   which were Greek in origin and, fundamentally Greek in origin,
   adopted by the Islamic scholars in turn.

   But I will investigate further - thank you for the challenge
   smile emoticon I find this part of history fascinating, mostly
   because of my ongoing shock at the tremendous gaps in what I was
   taught in school, particularly Western Civ, compared to what I
   learned as an adult.

   There's one Islamic scholar I found that supports your claim,
   and it's certainly possible, although at present, it seems to
   have been primarily influenced by
   [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_university - which
   was part of the ongoing Greek Rhetoric tradition. [a Wester Civ.
   myth is that Education went away after the fall of the Roman
   Empire and then resurfaced around the beginnings of the 11th
   century in England, the founding of the University of Paris and
   such... but that view of history entirely neglects the ongoing
   Byzantine tradition which continued unabated through entire
   time].

   I'll keep searching Oh exactly. And there's undoubtedly
   influence from the Far East as well that I haven't seen yet,
   because Constantinople was *the* Gateway and from reputation,
   there isn't much you couldn't buy there.

   We get to hear about Marco Polo which is nice and all that, but
   there's certainly must be more to the story, as he wasn't
   unwelcomed in China from what I remember. China has always been
   an excellent sea trader throughout its history and I'm sure a
   prick beneath the Internet surface will show a
   China/Constantiple trade route.

   With economic trade comes cultural trade.

   While this isn't DIRECTLY related,
   [2]http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7053 is a really nice
   viewpoint of history from a perspective we don't often get to
   see. If you can get past the flowery "Greeks are Awesomer than
   the rest of the world" language, it helps show the Greek-Slav
   connection, something I don't think we _ever_ get to learn in
   our Western Civ classes, even *though* they're ALL a part of
   Western Civ.. or should be. I love filling in knowledge gaps.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FByzantine_university&h=-AQHVG1bV
   2. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goarch.org%2Fourfaith%2Fourfaith7053&h=fAQGLj3VI