The Springdale news., 1889-09-13
GARAOUIN UNIVERSITY.
An Educational In stitution in Morocco
 with seven Hundred students.

An Educational In stitutlon in Morocco
 with seven Hundred students.
 The greatest native educational cen ter in North Africa is the University of Garaouin at Fez. in Morocco. Hither flock students not only from all parts Of Morocco, but also from Algeria and Tunis, because the religious cdu- cation given in the mosques in the latter countries is n-t it. would appear. all it shoul/be, and hence students go to Fez C complete their studies. M -DaL.fhin professor of ArabIcin he University of Gran, coTnflunicates to the Revue Franchise some details respecting the lives led by Mussulman students there which were communicated to him by a native professor at the great mosque of Tlcm- cen. They number about seven hun dred, and usually devote themselves to some special subject under particular professors. or these latter there are about forty, each following daily course which might De only the com mentary on particular work on Mus sulman theology. But students come from afar to study this work, as they do to study rhetoric. dialcctics, logic, eloquence, grammar and law. Stu dents belonging to Fez live at home or in certain medersas or homes reserved for them; those who come from other places and have no friends in the town live in such medcrsas as they please, usually with druggists or vendors of copper-ware After morning prayer they all repair to the university, where they attend lectures until midday, when they re- turn for food and ablutions, resuming work at one o'clock and continuing until three or four, when they again return home. At sunset, after the usual prayer, those who are attached to the mosques as public readers of the koran repair to their duties. After this there are supplementary discourses at different mosques at which the students attend and at 9:30 they are free. Those who arc sup ported by an inhabitant of the town pay their evening visit to their patron; the rest do much as they please, but after the last meal they are not allowed to leave their medersa. The breakfasts are provided by certain mosques and are distributed by the caretaker of the medersa, who. if student is absent, casts his little loaf out into the street. On Tuesday there is no work, and the students must fast, their little allowance of food be- ing stopped on that day. But the charitable people of Fez supplement the meager official fare, happily for the students. Each one follows what course he pleases. Work be- gins at 2:30 a. m. to five d m., accord ing to the season, the. first series of lectures being devoted exclusively tc the explanation of commentators on the koran, the text of which IS al- ready known to each student. At sunrise a second batch of professors, numbering a dozen, arrive and dis course on exegesis, law and dogmas. The afternoon is given to grammar and rhetoric, the later hours to logic astronomy, arithmetic, geography, history, medicine, literature and the talismanic numbers, or the deter imitation by calculation of the influ- ences of angels, spirits and stars, of the names of the conqueror and the conquered, and of other future events. The difficulty experienced in obtain ing a "professar intimate with the principles Qf this latter science and able to impart his information is said to be incredible. The tolbas: or. students, have'no'exahination Each professor knows how to distinguish those of his hearers whose qualities render them worthy ot diplomas, which are bestowed on them in more or less eulogistic terms The diploma is very highly valued, and gives those possessing it veritable prestige in the Mussuiman world