- Baghdad
- Baghdad, the Abbasid caliphs' seat and centuries of learning's centre
- Cordoba
- Cordoba, al-Andalus's capital and Europe's beacon of learning
- Cairo
- Cairo, founded by the Fatimids and led by Mamluks and Ottomans
- Timbuktu
- Timbuktu, the desert city of book markets and scholars
- the House of Wisdom
- Baghdad's House of Wisdom, home of translation and the sciences
- the Great Mosque
- Cordoba's Great Mosque, pride of Umayyad architecture
- al-Azhar
- al-Azhar, founded by the Fatimids and still teaching today
- Sankore
- Sankore, Timbuktu's school and university among the sands
- desert routes
- the desert routes carrying caravans of gold, salt and books
- shared living
- the shared living of Muslims and others under one city's roof
- 1500
- around the year 1500, the four cities' rough peak
- the beacons
- the four beacons: Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo and Timbuktu
