INDIVIDUALISM AND CONFORMITY IN MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT: SOME NOTES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ELEMENTARY EDUCATION *

In medieval Islamic societies, cultural conventions and social rules played a significant role in education, but Muslim thinkers also paid attention to the differences between individual pupils and students and to the need to adjust teaching contents as well as educational methods to their backgrounds and personal abilities, their inclinations and aspirations. This may well have been not only because of heritage of the "pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabs" as suggested by S. D. Goitein, but also because of the foreign (Greek, for example) cultural influences, particularly in the context of educational thought. The kuttab was less likely than other early Islamic institutions of leaming to supply its young pupils with individual attention. Nevertheless, 'ulamà\ on the whole, had the individual pupil in mind when they discussed questions of elementary education, such as the curriculum, the child age of admission, selecting appropriate educational methods, children's games, the company of other children, selecting a profession for the child and the father's involvement in the formal education within the kuttab.

Both latter citations should remind us that Islamic ethical thought, including theories of JS-Î^/T training, was inspired by Greek ethics which underlines the connection between soul and body; moral defects are described as an "illness of the heart" (a concept which is also developed in early Islamic sources, for instance, Qur'an 2/10; 5/52) ^ and educators/mentors are regarded as the healers of the soul.^ As such, the methods they adopt should be similar to those used by physicians.Muslim physicians, again under the influence of Greek medical thought, were well aware of individual differences, for instance, in child development, in physical reaction to medical treatment, etc., as we can see in Ibn al-Jazzár al-Qayrawání's pediatric treatise, Siyasat al-sibyàn wa-tadbïruhum from the fourth/tenth century.^ As he regarded body and soul as a whole, Ibn al-Jazzár concludes his pediatric treatise, not surprisingly, with a chapter on child education.^ The simile of the teacher as the physician of the soul appears also in Islamic writings in the context of religious-orthodox "higher education".Í0 The teacher in the madrasa and in similar institutions was expected to take into account the aspirations and abilities of every single student when he came to determine teaching materials and methods.^^ Inspired by early ethical mfi thought, Abu Hámid Muhammad al-Ghazalï, in the fifth-sixth/eleventh-twelfth centuries, sees the college teacher as a spiritual father (fa-awwal warn'if al-mu 'allim an yajriya al-muta 'allim minhu majra bunayhi) ^^ and among his duties includes the moral improvement of his students ^ Sherif, M. A., Ghazali's Theory of Virtue, Albany, 1975, 33-34.For illness (especially of the heart) as a moral defect in the Qur'an see al-Ràghib al-Isfahânî, Mu'jam mufradât alfâz al-Qur'ân (éd.Ibrâhïm Shams al-Dîn), Beirut, 1997, s.v. m.r.d.^ See, for instance, Abu 'Abd al-Rahmân al-Sulamï, Minhâj al-'ârijïn (éd.E. Kohlberg), Jerusalem Studies in Arabie and Islam 1(1979), 25 (on the 5^t^ mentorshaykh -as a physician), and in many places in the last two quarters of al-Ghazâlï's Ihyà ' ulüm al-dîn, Cairo, 1967, e.g., m, 63, 76, 79, 80, 82;IV, 63, 105. Cf. Abu Hámid Muhammad al-Ghazálí, Mïzàn al-'amal, Cairo, 1973, 72-73; Abu Hámid Muhammad al-Ghazâlî, aUMunqidh min al-dalál (eds.J. Salíbá and K. 'Ayyád), Beirut, 1967, 115-116. ^ Giladi, A., Children of Islam: Concepts of Childhood in Medieval Muslim Society, Houndmills andLondon, 1992, 6. ^ Ibn al-Jazzâr al-Qayrawám, Siyasat al-sibyàn wa-tadbïruhum (éd.Muhammad al-Habîb al-Hïla), Tunis, 1968, Chapter 22, 134-138 (the first part of the chapter is missing).
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.esAVNER GILADl AQ, XXVI, 2005 (... anyazjura [al-mu'allim] al-muta'allim 'an siT al-akhlaq).^^ And the süji spiritual mentor himself was obviously urged to look carefully into the soul of every individual disciple and diagnose its defects, like a doctor diagnosing a physical disease in his patient, before making a decision as to what would be the appropriate educational measures to help him pave his way toward personal salvation: "Thus, the spiritual mentor (shaykh) who heals the souls of his novices and treats his disciples' hearts, as long as he does not know their moral nature and defects, should not pounce upon them with a specific system of training and imposing duties.Like the physician who would have killed most of his patients if he treated all their diseases with one medicine, the spiritual mentor would have ruined his disciples and killed their hearts had he guided them to only one manner of training" (fa-ka-dhâlika al-shaykh al-matbü' alladhïyutabbibu nufüs al-murîdîn wa-yu'âliju qulüb al-mustarshidîn, yanbaghî an làyahjuma 'alayhim bi-al-riyàda wa-al-takàlif jï fann makhsüs wa-fî tarïq makhsûs ma lam ya'rif akhlâqahum wa-amrâdahum.Wa-kamâ anna al-tabîb law 'àlaja jamV al-mardà bi-Hlâj wâhid qatala aktharahum, fa-ka-dhâlika al-shaykh law ashâra 'alâ al-murîdîn bi-namat wâhid min al-riyâda ahlakahum wa-amâta qulûbahum).^^ Compared with other early Islamic institutions of learning the kuttâb (or maktab), the popular framework of elementary education, was less likely to supply its pupils with individual attention.This was due to physical conditions -kuttâbs were sometimes overcrowded ^^ -to the emphasis put on the mechanical memorization of the Qur'án often reinforced by physical punishment, and to the low level of teaching -teachers were frequently criticized for their ignorance and for employing unqualified assistants.^^ In the eighth/fourteenth cen-'3 Al-Ghazàlî,//2j;â', 1,81.14 Al-Ghazâlî, ïhyâ', III, 79.
•^ Ibn 'Abdün of Seville, in a treatise he wrote at the beginning of the sixth/twelfth century, calls upon teachers to restrict the number of pupils in their kuttábs, arguing that personal relations between teacher and pupil are necessary from the educational point of view.See Lévi-Provençal, E., "Un document sur la vie urbaine et les corps de métiers à Seville au début du xif siècle: Le traité d'Ibn 'Abdun", Journal Asiatique avril-juin 1934, Arabie text, 23 (215).Cf a testimony from nineteenth century Damascus: Muhammad Sa'ïd al-Qâsimï, Qàmûs al-sinà 'âî al-shâmiyya, Paris, 1960, 408 where kuttâbs attended by nearly two hundred pupils are mentioned.
1^ 'Amr b.Bahr al-Jahiz (d.255/868), the well-known author of works of adab, admits kuttâb teachers play a very important role in Muslim society although he criticizes (c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.estury Ibn Klialdün laments how elementary teaching had deteriorated from what he describes idealistically as the elevated position of a religious mission at the beginning of Islam to that of no more than a craft, a means to make a living for those who practiced it, in his own time.He describes teachers as "weak, indigent, and rootless...As a result, its practitioners came to be despised by the men who controlled the group feeling and the government" (... wa-aUmu'allim mus tad % mustakin, munqati' al-jidhm... wa-sara muntahiluhu muhtaqir^'^ Hnda ahl al-'asabiyya wa-al-mulk).^^ Still, Muslim thinkers, on the whole, had the individual pupil in mind when they discussed questions of elementary education.Their writings, particularly those of such North-African Maliki jurists from the third/ninth through the tenth/sixteenth century, as Ibn Sahnün, al-Qàbisï (d. 403/1012), al-Maghráwí (d. 929/1523) and others whose fatâwâ are included in al-Wansharîsî's Mi 'yâr (compiled in Fez in the ninth/fifteenth century), reflect some common ideas and every-day practices in this domain but also, clearly, the efforts 'ulamâ ' made to improve the system.
These scholars justified the heavy emphasis on memorizing the Qur'anic text -common in the Maghrib and, according to Ibn Jubayr (the Andalusian traveller and writer of the sixth-seventh/twelfth-thirteenth centuries) also in the Eastern Mediterranean -*^ since they saw it as the core component of the curriculum.^^ They defined subjects, such as Arabic language, basic arithmetic, selected poetry, oral tradition etc. as secondary or even optional, ^o although in the eyes of other scholars they constituted a more integral part of the curriculum, ^i Pupils ought to be taught mainly so that they would be able to repeat the Qur'àn, and writing was sometimes neglected altogether at the early stage of education.22 By mastering the Qur'ánic text, even if they did not comprehend it, ^3 children were supposed to enjoy the benefit of the magical, protective power ascribed to it: "Accepted custom gives preference to the teaching of the Qur'àn.The reason is the desire for blessing and reward (wa-wajh ma ikhtassat bihi al-'awa'id min taqdïm dirüsat al-Qur'àn -îthàr aUtabarruk wa aUthawüby\ ^"^ It was exceptional to find someone express the idea, as did the Máliki qàdï Abu Bakr b. al-'Arabî of Seville (d. 543/1148), that the studies in the kuMb should, in a concrete and direct way, prepare children for worldly life by, for instance, providing them with linguistic and logical skills.^5 Vocational education of any sort was delayed to a later stage, ^6 Mamluk Sultan Faraj b.Barqûq (of the year 812/1409), memorizing the Qnr'án is always the first amongst the enumerated teaching subjects.See Haarmann, U., "Mamluk Endowment Deeds as a Source for the History of Education in Late Medieval Egypt", Al-Abhàth 28 (1980), Arabic text,43 (Line 438),45 (lines 582,584,588), 46 (lines 600, 6OÍ) (I wish to thank Prof Yaacov Lev for drawing my attention to this article).See also: Frenkel, Y., "Muslim Institutions of Education in Jerusalem in the Mamluk Period 1250-1516", in Etkes, E. and R. Feldhai (eds.).Education and History, Jerusalem, 1999, 121-125 (in Hebrew) and Raymond, "Le fonctionnement des écoles élémentaires", 279.
'^ Ibn Sahnün, Kitâb àdâb al-mu 'allimîn, 78, 79, 80, 82 (on the religious value of knowing the Qur'àn), 102, 106, 136;Abu al-Hasan al-Qâbisî, al-Risâla al-mufassila li-ahwâl al-muta 'allimîn wa-ahkâm al-mu 'allimîn wa-al-muta 'allimîn (éd. Ahmad Fu'àd al-Ahwânî), in al-Tarbiya fl al-islâm, Cairo, 1968, 294, 304-305. 20 Ibn Sahnün, Kitâb âdâb al-mu'allimîn, 102, 104, 106, 131, 136;al-Qàbisî, al-Risâla al-mufassila, 294-295, 304-305 (c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.eswhereas the years the child spent in the kuMb were devoted mainly to achieve one goal, namely, to protect him in this world while preparing him for the world to come by imbuing him with the Qur'ánic text and through it with the knowledge of the basic Islamic principles of faith and religious commandments.^7 Thus, parents were encouraged to instill in their children, through the "educational system", inert ideas that might well be totally irrelevant to their emotional and mental interests: "They [the pupils] read things they do not understand and work hard at something that is not as important for them as other matters", as Ibn al-'Arabï is said to have put it.^s This was so not only because of what Ibn Khaldûn identifies as "a fear of the things that might affect children in 'the folly of youth' and harm them and keep them fi'om acquiring knowledge" since "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".^^ Rather, as I see it, it arose out of an anxiety that children -always vulnerable in those periods of high rates of infant and child mortality -^^ should be prepared as early as possible for eternal life in the Hereafter.^^ In other words, into the sheer conformist definitions of the aims and contents of elementary education we ought to read a genuine worry for the fate of the individual child, rather than  ford, 1993, 81, where the Qur'ánic school experience in contemporary Yemen is described, moreover, as "an extended rite of passage that, for some, at least, gradually effected a social transition fi-om an undisciplined and ignorant child to an adab-íormQá youth".Cf Bouhdiba, A., "The Child and the Mother in Arab-Muslim Society", in Brown, L. C, and N. Itzkowitz (eds.).Psychological Dimensions of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton, 1977, 129 (on the education in the kuttab as significant part of the socialization process in Muslim societies).
^^ Ibn Khaldûn, al-Muqaddima, III, 263 (English translation.III, 304).Bouhdiba ("The Child and the Mother") observes that "the kuttab... does not represent a simplified form of culture for consumption by children, nor is it a microcosm of the adult society into which, for better or worse, the child will have to raise himself It is never society at large which adapts itself to the child, but rather the child who must adapt himself to it".
^* See al-Maghrâwï, Jâmi'jawàmi' al-ikhtisâr, 90 where the author warns teachers not to delay the repetition of the alphabet and the Qur'ánic text lest the pupil would die.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.essocial or other worldly considerations.What to us to-day seems to have stood in sharp contrast to the needs, interests and inclinations of the individual child was intended to achieve something far more important in the eyes of Muslims of the time: to save the child (as well as his father and teacher who were personally accountable for him) from the fires of Hell: "As much as the father shields his son from fire in this world, it is more meet for him to shield him from the fire of the world to come" (wa-mahmd kâna al-ab yasünuhu 'an nâr aUdunyà fa-bi-an yasûnahu 'an nâr al-âkhira awlâ), that is to say, by means of religious-moral education.32 As a means to protect the child, memorizing the Qur'ánthe raison d'être of the kuttab -should be regarded as a magical device similar to the ceremonial acts (of tribal, pre-Islamic origin, adapted to an Islamic way of life) that used to be performed on new-bom Muslim children: reciting into the ear of the new bom the moment it has come into this world the call-to-prayer (adhan) formula as well as the words that are chanted in the mosque at the beginning of each prayer (iqâma); the first haircut accompanied by the slaughter of a sheep or a goat {'aqîqa), on the seventh day after the birth, and by tasmiya, naming.^^ The concept of the father's religious-moral accountability coincides with that of the legal-practical responsibilities he shoulders in a patrilineal-patriarchal family.His guardianship over the child's person (wiláyat al-nafs) includes overall responsibility for physical care, socialization and education and, not least, the duty to marry the child off when the latter comes of age {wiláyat al-tazwîj).^^ This explains why fathers were called to involve themselves in various ways in the formal, elementary education within the kuttab, involvement which, again, could encourage the differentiation between individual pupils.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.es While consensus urged Muslims to grant their children (mainly sons) religious education, ^^ the decision when and by whom was, in the absence of any state educational systems, in the father's hands, and certainly depended upon economic circumstances.But not only on them.Muslim scholars emphasize the child's mental-psychological readiness as a precondition for this stage of education and count on the father to detect the first manifestations of such readiness.For instance, the moment the notion of shame becomes a central characteristic of the way he behaves, the child is considered able to distinguish between good and evil {tamyiz, discernment).^^ The emergence of "shame" signifies the end of the period during which child education is based on acquiring habits through stimulation of the senses only and introduces the next stage in which it is possible to address the child's logical abilities and direct his actions through words of censure or of praise.^'^ This is also the appropriate time to start the child's more formal, systematic education: idhà 'aqala ba'athühu ilâ al-maktab, as Abu Bakr b. al-'Arabî describes the common practice in the eastern areas of the Islamic world (the mashriq).^^ Muslim scholars were aware that just as the point of transition from childhood to puberty could not be arbitrarily fixed in all children -wa-laysa li-waqt al-ihtilàm sinn mu 'tàd ^^ ~ so too the age of tamyiz might differ from one child to another.While tamyiz was generally expected to emerge at the age of six or seven -when, according to a well-known hadïth report, the child should start his ^^ Al-Qâbisï, al-Risàla al-mufassila, 291: wa-qad madâ amr al-muslimîn annahum yu'allimüna awlàdahum al-qur'ân wa-ya'tünahum bi-al-mu'allimïn wa-yajtahidüna fl dhàlika, wa-hâdhâ mimmâ la yamtani 'u minhu wâlid li-waladihi wa-huwa yajidu ilayhi sabiF"; 296: wa-lammâ taraka a 'immat al-muslimîn al-nazarflhàdhà al-amr wa-kàna là budda minhu U-al-muslimîn an yafalûhu fî awlàdihim, wa-là tatîbu nafsuhum illà 'alà dhàlika wa-ittahadhü li-awlàdihim mu 'allim"" yakhtassu bihim.
^^ For the term tamyîz and its educational significance, see, for instance, al-Ghazâlï, Ihyà ', III,22,72, ^"^ Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Tuhfat al-mawdûd, 180.See also Motzki, H., "Volwassen worden in de vroeg-Islamitische période: maatschappelijke en juridische gevolgen", Sharqiyyàt 6/1(1994), [64][65][66].prayers '^^ -it could occur earlier, at the age of five or even less: wa-laysa lahu sinn mu'ayyan."^^ Agreements between fathers and teachers usually defined the period for which the teacher would be hired.However, because of the emphasis put on honoring individual differences among childrenikhtilàf afhâm al-sibyân -religious scholars objected to any stipulation that fixed a certain period of time for the teaching of a particular number of Qur'ànic parts."^^ Thus, the picture of pupils starting elementary education and graduating from the kuttâb at different ages, progressing at their own individual pace, "^^ here found its justification in psychological terms.
As we can learn fi'om Minhàj al-muta 'allim, a pedagogical treatise apparently dating from the tenth-eleventh/seventeenth century, "^"^ the teacher was expected to reduce the difficulties beginning pupils habitually faced by helping them adapt to the new framework, by being  Haydarábád, 1966, vol. I, 347-348 (matâyu 'mam al-sabiyy bi-al-salàt).There are reports recommending gradual training in this domain, e.g., to instruct children between the ages of seven and ten how to pray or to let children pray only four times a day (excluding, probably, either the morning prayer which takes place too early for them to wake up or the night prayer which may be too late) even if not at the exact fixed times.Other reports are even more considerate, from the child's point of view.One describes 'Umar b. al-Khattab advising a mother who was seen trying hard to wake her reluctant little son for the (morning) prayer to let him sleep."He is not obliged to pray", says 'Umar, "unless he understands the meaning of the prayer's texf (da 'îhi, fa-laysat 'alayhi hattà ya'qiluhà).Some reports insist on the appearance of signs of either physical or mental (i.e.individual) development in children as a condition for the start of regular daily prayers, e.g., the child's ability to distinguish between his/her right and left hand or to count up to twenty and shedding his/her milk teeth.
"*' Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Tuhfat al-mawdûd, 176.The anonymous author of Minhàj al-muta'allim (MS, the Library of the University of Leiden, Or. 8431) suggests (in fol.212), albeit without any explanation, that a (male) child will start his formal elementary education at the age of four years, four months and four days.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.esconsiderate, by honoring and supporting them, since, as the unknown author of the treatise puts it, "the child is like an untamed bird (ka-al-fayr al-wahsh) which becomes accustomed to someone's company only when it is shown friendliness, and learning is still a hard, tiresome, bitter experience for him".^^ Moreover, the same treatise highlights that the teacher is required to select the educational methods that are appropriate for each individual pupil after having identified his mental abilities and to separate the bright, intelligent students from the dull ones."^^ Al-Qâbisï, in the fourth/tenth century, is aware of the difference in intelligence children show -wa-al-idrâk yakhtalifu jid'^" fi al-sibyàn.'^'^ Whenever a teacher wished to impose some kind of severe corporal punishment on a particular pupil the pupil's father was supposed to be consulted, "^^ first of all because of his legal right/duty of guardianship but also, more implicitly, because the child's individual personality had to be taken into account and this was best known to the father.
In situations where an obvious gap exists between, on the one hand, the contents of education and the methods used to inculcate them, and, on the other, the child's actual interests and psychological needs, recourse to physical punishment is viewed as inevitable.^9 Muslim scholars consider such punishment as an efficient means to instill into the child the required level of intellectual aptitude and the appropriate form of behaviour.^^ Luqman, the legendary sage, is "^^ Minhdj al-muta 'allim,  •^^ Throughout history corporal punishment has constituted an important element in child education.See, for instance, DeMause, L., "The Evolution of Childhood", in, L. DeMause (éd.),The History of Childhood, New York, 1974, 40-41; Brubacher, J. S., A History of the Problems of Education, New York, 1947, 168-170; Frishtik, M., "Physical Violence by Parents Against Their Children in Jewish History and Jewish Law", The Jewish Law Annual, 10 (1992) quoted as saying: "A father's slap is to his child like fertilizer to seeds" {darb al-wâlid li-waladihi ka-al-samad li-al-zar").^^ Islamic legal writings, in their efforts to regulate and restrict corporal punishment, tell us how wide-spread and severe it was.One of the tasks of the muhtasib, the Muslim agoranomos, was to ensure the judicious use of bodily chastisement by educators; to prevent children from being flogged with heavy thongs that might fracture their bones or with lashes that could cause intense pain; to order the use of a whip made not of a thin but of a broad leather band and to limit the parts of the body that could be hit.^^ The sole of the foot was regarded as the most appropriate part of the body to apply such physical punishment.Teachers were warned against any form of punishment that might cause damage to the head, the back, the belly and the sexual organs; causing pain was allowed, but not leaving either a mark or a scar on the child's body {îlàmfaqat, duna ta 'thïrfîaU 'udw); preventing children from relieving themselves at the appropriate times was also deemed a harmfiil means of punishment and therefore condemned.^^ Inevitably, children at times suffered grievous bodily harm, or died even, at the hands of too severe a teacher.^^ North-African jurists dealing with the legal consequences of such cases have left us details of the circumstances that called for physical punishment: when a pupil was neglecting his memorization of the Qur'an, ^^ made a mistake while reading the text, ^^ laughed during prayer or neglected prayer altogether, had imbibed alcoholic drink, ^^ had thrown stones at another child or at an adult passing by the kuttáb, ^^ caused damage.played, slandered somebody, escaped from the kuttab, lied, disobeyed his parents, joined companions of bad character, etc. ^^ Al-Qábisí encourages leniency on the part of teachers.When corporal or verbal punishment proves necessary, it should be dealt out in a deliberate, restrained and gradual manner, aiming to improve the child's behaviour, not to serve as outlet for the teacher's anger; only in exceptional cases should it exceed three lashes and, again, not before the father has given his permission.Even more importantly, it should be accommodated to the child's character in general and his ability to take the punishment {idhà kàna al-sabiyy yutîqu dhàlikd), in particular.^^ This, of course, works both ways.For instance, children approaching the age of puberty are particularly difficult to educategenerally strong enough to stand a severe physical punishment in any case, not even setting the limit of as high as ten lashes may prove effective in regard to them.^^ 'All b.Muhammad al-Lakhmi, another North African Máliki jurist (d.478/1085) highlights, in one oíhisfatüwá, the great variety of educational methods (al-adab ghayr mahür), on the one hand, and the many differences there are in children's constitution (fa-Ml al-sibyàn mukhtalifa), on the other, for instance, from the point of view of their physical strength and weakness and the nature of the offences they commit.^2 Ibn al-Jazzar lists six points in which children may differ, as far as their reaction is concerned to the educational process, in general, and to rebuke and threat of physical punishment, in particular: one is how susceptible they are to training and instruction (qad najidu min al-sibyàn man yaqbalu al-adab qabül^" sahl^" wa-najidu minhum man VIII,257;81,[84][85][86] ^° Al-Qàbisï, al-Risàla al-mufassila, 313-315 (al-Qâbisî is also quoted in this regard in al-Wansharïsî's al- Mi'yâr,VIII,250,256). See also, Ibn Sahnûn, Kitâb àdàb al-mu 'allimïn,90,93,98,100,101,[117][118][131][132][133]135;78,83,85 li-al-sidq).^^ Certain influential Muslim thinkers, while not disapproving of the traditional methods of bodily chastisement altogether, prove critical of corporal punishment.^^ They accept with certain reservations the idea that physical punishment can sometimes be usefiil and may bear fruits in the long term (man addaba ibnahu saghir^" qarrat bihi 'aynuhu kabir^'K ^^) For example, al-Ghazâlî proposes that, in the context of moral education at home, the father give a more complex response to his child's behaviour.In line with the Oikonomikos of the Neo-Pythagorean philosopher Brison and its Islamic elaborations, ^^ he points to alternative educational means, such as arousing the child's fear of his father, warnings and rebukes.He also distinguishes between response in public, which is most desirable in order to rein-force good qualities but wrong in case of misconduct, and response in private, and examines the effectiveness of both in different circumstances.^'^ The chapter Ibn Khaldùn dedicates to the subject in his Muqaddima -which he called "Severity to pupils does them harm" (fi anna al-shidda 'ala al-muta'allimîn mudirra bihim -^^ reflects a more critical attitude and indicates that the disadvantages of corporal punishment were gradually recognized by Muslim thinkers.^^ Particularly interesting are his observations on the long-term psychological damage that might be caused by regular use of excessive corporal punishment: Permanent pressure and threat make children passive and induce them to cheat, lie and be dishonest in their relations with their elders in order to avoid punishment.These traits are then incorporated in their adult character: "They lose the quality that goes with social and political organization and makes people human, namely (the desire to) protect and defend themselves and their homes, and they become dependent on others".' ' ^ Another aspect of psychological understanding is reflected in Muslim sayings that view playing and physical activities as natural and typical characteristics of children.That this idea was popular we learn from a touching little story about the childhood of Dáwüd al-Tâ'î (d.165/781), one of the prominent ascetics of the early 'Abbàsid period, which can be found in the bio-hagiographical collection Kitàb anbâ' nujabâ' al-abnâ' (Anecdotes [of the Childhood] of Noble Men's Sons) by Muhammad Ibn Zafar (d.565/1170 or 568/1172-3).At the age of five, Ibn Zafar tells us, Dâwùd was already totally dedicated to the memorization of the Qur'an, so much so that he spent even his free hours at home in contemplation, speaking to himself.Worried that something might be mentally wrong with him, his mother urged him to do what she thought every normal child should do in his free time, namely, play with friends: fa-khàfat 'ala 'aqlihi fa-nâdathu: qum ya Dáwüd, fa-iVab ma'a al-sibyàn.'^^ On a more theoretical level, under Greek psychological-pedagogical influence, Muslim scholars like Abu ' AH Ahmad b. Muhammad Miskawayh (d. 421/1030) andal-Ghazâlî (d. 505/1111), recommend physical exercise so as to ensure children do not become lazy.They are fiilly aware that "preventing the child fi*om playing games and constant insistence on learning deadens his heart, blunts his wit and burdens his life; he looks for a ruse to escape them (i.e., his studies) altogether".^^ According to al-Ghazalï, games ñxlfill a role as early as the weaning stage in helping divert the child's attention away from his mother's breasts.'^^ Moreover, the child's natural tendency to play (shahwat al-la 'b), '^^ which Muslim thinkers view as the clearest sign that his perception is as yet limited, ^^ can be used in order to motivate him to study, although, again, if not supervised but left to the whim of the child itself, games become a delaying factor in learning and education.^^ Abu Bakr Muhammad b.Zakari)^á' al-Râzï, the well-known physician (d. in 313/925 or 323/935), quotes an observation found in Galen which says that from the way a child plays with friends one can tell whether he has the qualifications to become a ruler or, on the contrary, will be subservient to another's authority.^^ The company of other children is effective also from the point of view of moral and mental development of the individual child.Natural affinity between children makes understanding among them eas--^^ Al-Ghazâlî, Ihyà\ III, 94.Cf.Abu 'Alî Ahmad b. Muhammad Miskawayh, Tahdhîb al-akhlàq wa-tathïr al-a'râq, Cairo, 1911, 52;Plessner, Der Oikonomikos, 202.A hadîth encouraging a father to enable his son to play during his first seven years of life (da ' ibnaka yal 'abu sab 'sinîna) is quoted by Muhammad Ibn Bâbawayh al-Qummî, the Shfite scholar of the fourth/tenth century, in his Man la yahduruhu al-faqïh, al-Najaf, 1958-9, III, 318.See also al-Qurashî's permission given, on a pedagogical basis, to children to play (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)  ier: aUsabiyy 'an al-sabiyy afham wa-bihi ashkal, as al-Jahiz puts it.^^ This is why adults, in order to communicate with children, tend to imitate their vocabulary and pronunciation in a way that may strike outsiders as some form of madness.^^ Sharing the company of well-behaved children -which al-Ghazàlï regards as "the foundation of child education" -^^ is therefore useful for the individual child's learning and moral education.^^ Ibn Sïna, the famous philosopher and physician (d.428/1037), emphasizes the advantages the kuttàb has over private education from this point of view, singling out the opportunity to learn from each other and to be enriched by other children's experiences (the wide range of the pupils' ages should be kept in mind in this context) ^^ as well as the incentives created by competition.^3 Even the fact that the teacher has to divide his time between several children Ibn Sïnâ sees as pedagogically valuable: the space it gives the individual pupil encourages him in his studies.^"^ Illuminating further is the discussion we find, in medieval Islamic writings, of the question of adequate careers and occupations.^^ Two scholars with as different backgrounds as Ibn Sïnâ, in his Kitab al-siyasa, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d.751/1350), in his Tuhfat al-mawdüd, stress that selecting a profession for a child who has finished his elementary religious education is a crucial decision which fathers should make very carefully.They are both aware of differences in inclinations and talents which, in addition to the inspirations of both father and child, should be taken into account in order to avoid failure and frustration.^^ There are children whose clarity of thought and abil-' ^^ Al-Jàhiz, Kitàb al-mii 'allimïn, 72. ^^ Ibid. ' ' ^° Al-Ghàzalï, Ihyà\ III, 94;cf. al-Jáhiz, Kitâb al-mu'allimîn, 86. ^* Ibn Sïnâ, Kitàb al-siyâsa, 1074: wa-yanbaghî an yakûna ma'a al-sabiyy jï maktabihi sibya min awlâd al-jilla hasana âdabuhum, mardiyya 'âdatuhum, fa-inna al-sabiyy 'an al-sabiyy alqan wa-huwa 'anhu âkhadh wa-bihi ânas.
^' Written in Syria or Egypt in the seventh/thirteenth century.See "Hisba (General)", EP , III, 485-489 (CI.Cahen and M. Talbi), esp.486.Teachers for Boys and (Female) Teachers for Girls" in which the latter (i.e., mu'allimàt al-banàt) are asked to pay special attention to moral education and to avoid teaching poetry and writing (both regarded by religious scholars as morally dangerous for girls).^^ Moreover, Ibn Sahnün explicitly rejects co-education and male teachers teaching girls -^^ ^n indication that the phenomenon was not unknown -^"^ and al-Qábisí discusses the question whether or not religious education of children, males and females alike, is the duty of their fathers.^^ That women in urban centres -ninth/fifteenth-century Cairo is a remarkable example -participated in advanced religious education, particularly in transmitting and teaching hadîth, is another indication that, in certain periods and places, women certainly received elementary education.^^ However, for the majority of girls the few verses they learnt at home (in addition to other magical devices, such as amulets) were intended to protect them, as their parents saw it, from death, ilhiess and other dangers in this world and from the fire of Hell in the Hereafter and replaced the systematic memorization of the Qur'án boys went through in the kuttâb.
To sum up: Islamic sources from the Middle East, North Africa and Spain -mainly legal-ethical writings compiled throughout the Middle Ages and pre-modem times -indicate that the teaching level in institutions of elementary education was at times low, that the curriculum, with the memorization of the Qur'anic text at its heart, was limited and that the use of corporal punishment was common.These sources, as well as travelers' writings, give a clear impression that local differences were marginal in Islamic elementary education, at least in urban areas, where most scholars, the authors of the writings we used, lived.^^ Nevertheless, parents and teachers believed that by such an education they protected their children in this world as well as in the Hereafter.Moreover, as there was no state educational system, for all practical matters ~ the teacher's wages and work conditions, the child's age of admission, the period of study, the curriculum, the methods of punishment, etc. -teacher-pupil relations were legally based on a contract between the child's father or patron and the teacher.Since it was in their interest to make teachers adhere to the agreement, fathers or, in their absence, other appointed legal guardians, must have been involved, at least to a certain extent, in the ^"^ Interestingly, autobiographies and memoirs of Muslim intellectuals from the twentieth and twenty first centuries echo some aspects of the atmosphere in the kuttdbs and their teachers' practice as depicted in medieval sources.Such are the childhood chapters in Taha Husayn's al-Ayydm and Sayyid Qutb's Tifl min al-qarya (where the confrontation between the traditional Qur'án school and the newly introduced governmental modem school in the author's village is illuminating) as well as the following passage from the recently published L Islam expliqué aux enfants by Tahar Ben Jelloun, Paris, 2002, 36-37: -As-tu lu le Coran [asks the author's little daughter]?-Quand j'avais ton âge, et même avant d'aller à l'école primaire, je suis allé pendant deux ans à l'école coranique où on nous faisait apprendre le Coran par coeur.Même si je ne savais pas encore lire, j'apprenais les versets les uns après les autres.Je les récitais le lendemain; si je me trompais, je recevais un coup de bâton.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.eseducational process in the kuttàb.Thus, crowded as kuttàbs may have been, they probably never became institutions of "mass education" in which the individual student was lost in anonymity.By serving as a special institution for child education, the kuttàb moreover helped in prolonging the period of childhood for a while, particularly within prosperous urban households (for others, the rate of drop-out from Qur'ánic schools was probably high ^^).It is, by the way, the lack of the idea of education and educational institutions which Philippe Aries regarded as one of the main reasons why childhood in medieval Europe was generally very short.^^.
It is difficult to tell what impact the psychological-pedagogical observations made by prominent Muslim scholars had in every-day practice.It is reasonable to assume that they helped shape at least the legal relationships between fathers and teachers.However, the salience of those educational theories which support an individualistic attitude of teachers and parents towards children is a remarkable characteristic of medieval and pre-modem Islamic culture, interesting and important in itself S. D. Goitein points out a polarity between individualism and conformity inherent, in his view, in the very nature of Islam as a culture.This is due to four elements which he identified in medieval Islamic civilization: a. pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arab individualism rooted in the interest in personality and the faculty to observe; b.Arab conformity created by the hard exigencies of desert life and tribal warfare; c.Islamic conformity made imperative by great forces and historical situations, and d.Islamic individualism which the Prophet Muhammad inspired by emphasizing the value and responsibility of the individual before God.^^^ To these one should add foreign cultural influences, particularly in the context of educational thought, i.e., Greek psychological, ethical and medical theories that contributed to the awareness of Muslim thinkers of individual differences in humans.
In light of Goitein's observations, educational theories can be seen as a good example for the co-existence of these two seemingly contradictory tendencies in Islamic communal life: that of conformity "^^ Cf.Eickelman, Knowledge and Power in Morocco, 64-65. ^9 Aries, Ph., Centuries of Childhood, Harmondsworth, 1986, 395-396.' ^^^ Goitein, "Individualism and Conformity," 3.