Abstract
Islamic education in Egypt thrived during the seventh to tenth centuries when Islamic schools were established both as primary kuttāb and subsequently advanced to al-Azhar system. Kuttāb as educational institutions emerged as natural, and spontaneous product of the Muslim society at grassroots level, often connected with a mosque, Islamic education was built around an individual rather than an institution, and this helped the spread of education in the Muslim world. While al-Azhar built by Ismā‘ilī Shī‘ite Fāṭimīds in Egypt to confront the hostile ‘Abbāsīds of Baghdad, it ultimately held strong religious and political directions based on Sunnī Islam. Al-Azhar with its vast endowed residential facilities fostered training of generations of learned class of ‘ulamā’. Female students had access to education where a series of facilities and classes were devoted to them.
Driven from Islamic dogma, the al-Azhar developed the curriculum based on theology, grammar, and rhetoric through memorization, with the intention to foster a sense of religious obedience among students and to reinforce teachings of Sunnī Islam. The educational target is to achieve independent judgment on various issues concerning the Muslim society.
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Arjmand, R. (2018). Islamic Education in Egypt. In: Daun, H., Arjmand, R. (eds) Handbook of Islamic Education. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64683-1_35
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