Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-14
Copyright. 1907. by Frank c. CarrcnterD
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THAvE just returned from visit to the
biggest university OF the Mohammedan
world It has more students than any
u o. our colleges and twice as many as
either Harvard Yale or Cornell. It has
all told, over 9,c-3 and its professors num-
her 20. Its students come from every coun-
try where Mchammedans flourish. There are
hundreds here from India and some from
Malaysia and Java There Is a large number
from Morocco and also from Algeria, Tu-
n!sta and Tr!po,i. There are Nubians as
black as your hat. Syrians and Turks as
yellow rs rich Jersey cream, and boys from
SOUTHEASTERN Europe with faces as fair
or own. There are long gowncd, turbanned
Perz.aas. ferce-eyed Afghanistans and
browu-sknned men from the Sudan and
from about Kuka. Bornu and Timbuktu.
The students are Of all ages from fifteen to
ssvon;y-hvc. and some have spent their
lives IN the college.
A Mighty Mohammedan Force.
THIS university has been in existence for
almost a thousand years 1t was founded
4 u SIS, and from that time to this 1t has
been educating the followers of the Prophet
II Is today perhaps the strongest force
among these people in Egypt Nlnety-two
Per cont Of the Inhabitants Of the Nile val
ley arc MohammcIans and the most OF the
native officials have been educated here.
There are at least - 90 men in the public
ssrTi1" among Is graduates. and the judges
Of tLN villages th. teachers IN the mosque
schools and tn" Inans or priests who serve
Throughout Egypt are connected with It,
They luld the university in the highest re-
gard. and an order from its professors
would he as much II not more respected
than one from he khc3ivial government.
The education in this university is almost
a'to"Cther N.hammedau. Its curriculum
Is about the same as II was n thousand
years ago and the chief studies are the
Koran and Foranic law, together with the
sacred traditions Of the religion and per-
ha0s q little grammar, pros0dy and rhet-
oric Within the PAST few wears there have
been attempts to extend its sphere. and it
now has thirteen government professors.
but their teaching IS done outside the uni
vcrs'tv itself. 4 number Of the professors
Gr, 'is0 teaching In the government schools
connected with the mosques Of the Egyp
tau villages hut even there the Koran
takes m half tie time and religion is far
more Important than science
How Egyptians Study Their Bible.
Indeed it is wonderful how much time
these Egyptians spend on their bible. The
Koran is their primer, their first and second
reader and also their college text book. AS
soon as 4 baby is born. the call TO prayer is
shouted In its ear, and when it begins to
speak its father teaches It to say the
creed. which runs somewhat as follows: a.
There is no God but God; Mahammed is
the Apostle of Cod" and also Wherefore
exalted he God. the King, the Truth There
Is TO God hut He, The Lord of the glo-
rioUs Throne"
When the hoy reaches five or six years of
age he starts to the mosque school, and
there sJuats down. CrOsS-legged, and Sways
to and fro as he yel's aloud the texts of the
Koran. He studies the alphabet by writing
with black brush texts on a slate of wood
or tin, and he pounds away from year to year
committing the kor an to memory. There are
more than two hundred thousand pu-
pills in the Egyptian schools. Of whom ma
Jor!ty are under thirteen years of age By
a recent census 1t was found that over fifty
thousand of these boys could racite a good
part of the Mohammedan bible and that
forty-fve hundred had memorized the whole F.,
from beginning to end Another forty-fve |
hundred were able to raCite on2-half of 1t /
from memory. while thirty-eight hundred |
could correctly give three-fourths of it.
When 1t is remembered that the Koran con-
tains one hundred and fourteen divisions
and in the neighborhood of eighty thousand
words, it will be seen what this means. I
venture that there not four thousand
children in the United States who can reel
off the New Testament without looking at
the book and that with our vast population
we have not fifty thousand boys who can
recite even one book of our Bible from
memory and not m'spTonounca word.
The Mohammedans revere their bible
quite as much we do While 1t Is
being read they will not allow it to lie
upon the floor. and no may read or
touch 1t without first washing himself. It
is written in Arabic and it's style is con-
sidered model They believe that il was
revealed by God to Mohammad, and that it
Is eternal. 1t was not written at the first,
but was entirely committed to memory. and
II is in that way that II is still taught to a
large extent. l understand that the pres
ent khedive can reClte the most OF it. Dur
Ing my interview with his father, Tewfik
Pasha, he told me that he could begin at
the back and by memory alone recite the
Koran clear to the beginning The better
classes of MohammedanS have beautiful
copies of this book. They have some bound