page_title: Kuttab
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kuttab / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting atelier of the Sultan. The miniature shows the author, probably the court chronicler Talikizade, caligraphist and miniature painter working on the "Shahname" for Mehmet III (ruled 1595-1603). The painter on the left is Nakkaş Hasan, who is working on a scene of the capitulation of Eger Castle. Ottoman miniature painter. Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Istanbul (Inv. 1609/74a).
context_page_description: A kuttab is an Arabic word meaning elementary school. Though the kuttab was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, and Islamic studies, such as Qira'at, other practical and theoretical subjects were also often taught. Until the 20th century, kuttabs were the prevalent means of mass education in much of the Islamic world.
  Kuttab refers to only elementary schools in Arabic. Maktab is used in Dari Persian in Afghanistan as an equivalent term to school, including both primary and secondary schools. Avicenna used the word maktab in the same sense.
  The kuttāb represents an old-fashioned method of education in Egypt and Muslim majority countries, in which a sheikh teaches a group of students who sit in front of him on the ground. The curriculum includes Islam and Quranic Arabic, but focused mainly on memorising the Quran. With the development of modern schools, the number of kuttabs has declined. Kuttāb means "writers", plural katatīb / katātīb.
  In common Modern Arabic usage, maktab means "office" while maktabah means "library" or " study" and kuttāb is a plural word meaning "authors".
context_section_description: In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the 10th century. Like madrasahs (which referred to higher education), a maktab was often attached to a mosque. In the 16th century, the Sunni Islamic jurist Ibn Hajar al-Haytami discussed Maktab schools. In response to a petition from a retired Shia Islamic judge who ran a Madhab elementary school for orphans, al-Haytami issues a fatwa outlining a structure of maktab education that prevented any physical or economic exploitation of enrolled orphans.
  In the 11th century, the famous Persian Islamic philosopher and teacher, Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter dealing with the maktab entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children", as a guide to teachers working at maktab schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors, and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils as well as the usefulness of group discussions and debates. Ibn Sina described the curriculum of a maktab school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in a maktab school.
caption: Scholars and Students in an Ottoman Maktab.
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