Medievalist specialists who define the university as a legally autonomous corporation disagree with the term "university" for the Islamic madaris and jāmi‘ahs because the medieval university (from Latin universitas) was structurally different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a waqf institution like the madrasa and jāmiʻah. Despite the many similarities, medieval specialists have coined the term "<answer>Islamic college</answer>" for madrasa and jāmiʻah to differentiate them from the legally autonomous corporations that the medieval European universities were. In a sense, the madrasa resembles a university college in that it has most of the features of a university, but lacks the corporate element. Toby Huff summarises the difference as follows:
What do scholars that specialize in the medieval period describe madaris as?
Islamic college