The Instruction of Children

Instructing children in the Qur’an is a symbol of Islam.

Muslims have, and practice, such instruction in all their cities. This is because it imbues hearts with a firm belief in Islam and its articles of faith, which are (derived) from the verses of the Qur’an and certain Prophetic traditions.

The Qur’an has become the basis of instruction, the foundation for all habits that may be acquired later on.

This is because the things taught in one’s youth take root more deeply than anything else. They are the basis of all later knowledge.

The first impression the heart receives is, in a way, the foundation of all scholarly habits.

The character of the foundation determines the condition of the building. The methods of instructing children in the Qur’an differ according to differences of opinion as to the habits that are to result from that instruction.

The Maghribi method

The Maghribi method is to restrict the education of children to instruction in the Qur’an and to practice, during the course (of instruction), in Qur’an orthography and its problems and the differences among Qur’an experts on this score.

The Maghribis do not bring up any other subjects in their classes, such as traditions, jurisprudence, poetry, or Arabic philology, until the pupil is skilled in the Qur’an, or drops out before becoming skilled in it.

In the latter case, it means, as a rule, that he will not learn anything.

This is the method the urban population in the Maghrib and the native Berber Qur’an teachers who follow their (urban compatriots), use in educating their children up to the age of manhood.

They use it also with old people who study the Qur’an after part of their life has passed. Consequently, (Maghribis) know the orthography of the Qur’an, and know it by heart, better than any other Muslim group.

The Spanish Method

The Spanish method is instruction in reading and writing as such. That is what they pay attention to in the instruction of children.

However, since the Qur’an is the basis and foundation of all that and the source of Islam and all the sciences, they make it the basis of instruction. But they do not restrict their instruction of children exclusively to the Qur’an.

They also bring in other subjects, mainly poetry and composition. They give the children an expert knowledge of Arabic and teach them a good handwriting.

They do not stress teaching of the Qur’an more than the other subjects. In fact, they are more concerned with teaching handwriting than any other subject, until the child reaches manhood.

He then has some experience and knowledge of the Arabic language and poetry.

He has an excellent knowledge of handwriting, and he would have a thorough acquaintance with scholarship in general, if the tradition of scholarly instruction still existed in Spain, but he does not, because the tradition no longer exists there.

Thus, presentday Spanish children obtain no further knowledge than what their primary instruction provides. It is enough for those whom God guides.

It prepares them for further studies, in the event that a teacher can be found.

The Ifriqiyah Method

The people of Ifriqiyah combine the instruction of children in the Qur’an, usually, with the teaching of traditions.

They also teach basic scientific norms and certain scientific problems. However, they stress giving their children a good knowledge of the Qur’an and acquainting them with its various recensions andreadings more than anything else.

Next, they stress handwriting. In general, their method of instruction in the Qur’an is closer to the Spanish method than to Maghribi or Eastern methods. This is because their educational tradition derives from the Spanish shaykhs who crossed over when the Christians conquered Spain, and asked for hospitality in Tunis.

From that time on, they were the teachers of (Tunisian) children.

The people of the East likewise have a mixed curriculum.

I do not know what subjects they stress primarily. We have been told that they are concerned with teaching the Qur’an and the works and basic norms of religious scholarship once the children are grown up.

They do not combine instruction in the Qur’an with instruction in handwriting.

They have special rules for teaching it. There are special teachers for it, just like any other craft which is taught separately and not included in the school curriculum for children.

The children’s slates on which they practice exhibit an inferior form of handwriting.

Those who want to learn a good handwriting may do so later on in their lives from professional calligraphers, to the extent of their interest in it and desire.

The people of Ifriqiyah and the Maghrib restrict themselves to the Qur’an. This makes them incapable of mastering the linguistic habit.

As a rule, no scholarly habit can originate from the study of the Qur’an. This is because no human being can produce anything like it.

Thus, human beings are unable to employ or imitate its ways. They also can form no habit in any other respect.

Consequently, a person who knows the Qur’an does not acquire the habit of the Arabic language. It will be his lot to be awkward in expression and to have little fluency in speaking.

This situation is not quite so pronounced among the people of Ifriqiyah as among the Maghribis because the former combine instruction in the Qur’an with instruction in the terminology of Scientific terms.

Thus, they get some practice and have some examples to imitate. However, their habit in this respect does not amount to a good style (eloquence), because their knowledge mostly consists of scholarly terminology which falls short of good style, as will be mentioned in the proper section.

As for the Spaniards, their varied curriculum with its great amount of instruction in poetry, composition, and Arabic philology gave them, from their early years on, a habit providing for a better acquaintance with the Arabic language.

They were less proficient in all the other religious sciences because they were little familiar with study of the Qur’an and the traditions that are the basis and foundation of the religious sciences.

Thus, they knew how to write and had a literary education that was either excellent or deficient, depending on the secondary education they received after their childhood education.

In his Rihlah, Judge Abu Bakr b. al-‘Arabi made a remarkable statement about instruction, which retains (the best of) the old, and presents (some good) new features.

He placed instruction in Arabic and poetry ahead of all the other sciences, as in the Spanish method, since, he said:

“poetry is the archive of the Arabs. Poetry and Arabic philology should be taught first because of the existing corruption of the language. From there, the student should go on to arithmetic and study it assiduously, until he knows its basic norms. He should then go on to the study of the Qur’an, because with his (previous) preparation, it will be easy for him.

How thoughtless are our compatriots in that they teach children the Qur’an when they are first starting out. They read things they do not understand and work hard at something that is not as important for them as other matters.

The student should study successively theprinciples of Islam, the principles of jurisprudence, disputation, and then the Prophetic traditions and the sciences connected with them.”

He also forbade teaching 2 disciplines at the same time, save to the student with a good mind and sufficient energy.

This is Judge Abu Bakr’s advice. It is a good method.

However, accepted custom is not favorable to it. Custom has greater power over anything else. Accepted custom gives preference to the teaching of the Qur’an.

The reason is the desire for the blessing and reward (in the other world resulting from knowledge of the Qur’an) and a fear of the things that might affect children in “the folly of youth” 1189 and harm them and keep them from acquiring knowledge. They might miss the chance to learn the Qur’an.

As long as they remain at home, they are amenable to authority.

When they have grown up and shaken off the yoke of authority, the tempests of young manhood often cast them upon the shores of wrongdoing.

Therefore, while the children are still at home and under the yoke of authority, one seizes the opportunity to teach them the Qur’an, so that they will not remain without knowledge of it. If one could be certain that a child would continue to study and accept instruction (when he has grown up), the method mentioned by the Judge would be the most suitable one ever devised in East or West.