Encyclopedia of Islam

soul and spirit

  

633  J

---

Spain

  See a

ndalusia

.

stoning

  See 

crime

 

and

 

punishment

.

student

The acquisition of knowledge is considered a 

religious duty in i

slam

. A famous 

hadith

 states 

“seek knowledge even in China,” which means 

seek knowledge throughout the world. This duty 

is also evidenced by the Arabic word for student, 

talib, which means a person who requests.

A well-developed educational system was an 

integral part of Islamic civilization from very 

early in its history. In primary schools, known 

as 

kuttab

, students were taught basic literacy 

and memorized the q

Uran

. Physical beatings 

were used to keep order and discourage laziness. 

Talented students were encouraged to continue 

their 

edUcation

 at 

mosqUe

 schools and the col-

leges of Islamic law, the 

madrasa

, and were often 

supported by stipends provided by a waqf, or 

charitable endowments. Classes at these centers 

were organized in teaching circles, known as 

the  halqa. As a student advanced in the system 

the curriculum increasingly included analysis 

of the material discussed, though mastery and 

memorization of classic texts remained the foun-

dation of an Islamic education. The system was 

built around personal relationships to individual 

mentors and lines of scholarly descent. Once a 

student had mastered a text, he was said to have 

received an ijaza, or authorization to teach the 

text to others. Students might travel thousands of 

miles to study with a famous scholar or to attend 

a well-known school like 

al

-a

zhar

 in e

gypt

  or 

z

aytUna

 m

osqUe

 in Tunisia.

This well-developed system was thrown into 

decline as the result of changes and reforms 

adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries. If the 

education of the traditional Islamic world had been 

focused on religious knowledge, during this period 

students began to be perceived as opportunities 

to create future model subjects. In the context of 

colonialism

, educational opportunities for students 

were shaped to suit the needs of the colonizer. For 

example, the Dutch East Indies government began 

to offer education to Indonesian 

children

 only 

in the 1850s after they determined that educated 

Indonesians could administer the colony more 

cheaply for the Dutch. Under the French regime 

in North Africa limits were placed on education as 

seen in the program of acculturation that denied to 

Algerian students instruction in Arabic or Islamic 

subjects. As early as 1839, the Ottoman Empire 

was sending students to new Western-style schools 

to create efficient bureaucrats and teach Ottoman 

values, which included loyalty to the state. Simi-

larly, newly independent states in Muslim lands 

saw students as future model citizens, and scholars 

built on the foundations of mass education systems 

left to them by the colonizers.

However, states are not always successful in 

their efforts to shape their citizenry. As is the case 

all over the world, students have played an impor-

tant part in public demonstrations and political 

uprisings. Iranian students were very active par-

ticipants in the i

ranian

  r

evolUtion

 

oF

 1978–

1979. In Egypt, student activists from various 

organizations regularly demonstrate for a variety 

of causes from protesting 

hUman

 

rights

 abuses to 

demanding increased Islamization of government. 

Despite regional differences, students in many 

Muslim countries continue to play an important 

role in religious, social, and political affairs.

See also  a

ligarh

;  d

eoband

; 

reneWal

 

and

reForm

 

movements

; t

aliban

.

Shauna Huffaker