Spain See andalusia.
stoning See crime and punishment.
student
The acquisition of knowledge is considered a
religious duty in islam. 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 qUran. 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-azhar in egypt or
zay tUna mosqUe 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 iranian revolUtion oF 1978–- 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 aligarh; deoband; reneWal and
reForm movements; taliban.
Shauna Huffaker
Further reading: Afshin Matin-Asgari, Iranian Student
Opposition to the Shah (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Pub-
lishers, 2001); George Makdisi, The Rise of the Colleges
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981); Selcuk
Aksin Somel, The Modernization of Public Education in
the Ottoman Empire 1839–1908: Islamization, Autocracy
and Discipline (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001); Bill William-
son, Education and Social Change in Egypt and Turkey
(London: Macmillan Press, 1986).subha See prayer beads.
K 634 Spain