TRADITIONAL ISLAMIC EDUCATION: The Difficult Transition

to Modernity
Lidia Fernndez Fonfra
lidia.fernandezf@gmail.com

1. Acknowledgements
I want to thank the organization of this program for giving me the opportunity to
present my personal contributions. I am also very grateful for the invaluable help of all
those who have devoted part of their time to read this work and have given me some
constructive suggestions and criticism.

2. Introduction
In this paper, I would like to explain the status of my research project for my
PhD.
Thanks to a grant of collaboration for students in their last year of university
studies, I had the opportunity to begin my research work. During this time, I focused my
task on the development of a database on traditional Islamic education, as my director
of the fellowship recommended me to face my Thesis project. It made me realize the
magnitude of such an extensive issue and that is why I decided to spend the following
five years studying this subject to make it the core of my Thesis.
Subsequently, I have tried to limit the research and I have focused on the
postcolonial era, as it is undeniable that the colonial encounter supposed a defining
moment regarding the conscience of Muslim identity, which has led to a crisis, still
active today, that affects Europe especially.
There is no doubt about the universality and timelessness of the subject, because
we can find in all cultures the desire to search for wisdom, which in most cases is
passed on and evolves through teaching. Islam is not an exception. From its origins, it
can be seen the great importance of knowledge by analyzing of the Koran, the Sunna,
and Islamic tradition. If we make a brief review over the history of Islam, we can say
that, until not too long ago, knowledge was based mainly on the Koran and the sacred
doctrine, so that the religious nature of knowledge was associated to the transmission of
the religion.
The fact that teaching arises from religious centers in the Islamic world is an
irrefutable evidence of it. Thus, we see that initially the mosque had an educational
function. It was the stage for oral discussions where the different points of view were
communicated and understood. It was done in outdoor patios around a teacher who
passed on his knowledge to his disciples through the commentary and analysis of
various suras and hadiths. In addition, due to this pedagogical function, it is very
common to find a good library in many of the most important mosques to go into
learning.
By mid-eleventh century in Baghdad, the great Seljuk Vizier Nizam al-Mulk1
founded the first madrasa, al-Nizamiyya2, detached from mosque while maintaining the
1

Nizam al-Mulk (aproximately 1018-1092).

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religious overtones at the same time. Its mission was to indoctrinate students in Sunni
beliefs opposite the Shiites.
George Makdisi in his Muslim Institutions of learning in Eleventh-century
Baghdad3 studied the birth of the first Muslim schools and concluded that the madrasa
was born from the religious imperialism and the controversy. Moreover, the fiqh or
jurisprudence resulting from the sum of speculation, intelligence, and logic is set as its
primary subject.
But, what is the difference between the education received in the mosque and the
one taught at the madrasa J. Pedersen4 the pointed out very sensibly that the difference
is quite slight since in the madrasa sermons were also preached. However, there were
differences between the sermons delivered in one place and the others: while the Friday
sermon (Khutba) could only take place in a large mosque, the waz could be preached in
both places, because waz was also the name of the art of preaching (Muslim oratory)
and was a discipline studied in the madrasa. We also found another big difference in the
kind of content, because in the madrasa there was a greater promotion of the scientific
and philosophical legacy of Greco-Roman world that would be sent to Western Europe
during the Middle Ages.
This situation places the Islamic cultural heritage at the vanguard of pedagogical
education in the Middle Ages. The simple fact of the founding of the Nizamiyya was
already a real revolution, since it had been teaching for 200 years before the largest and
most prestigious European universities, such as Salamanca, Oxford, or Paris. I find very
appropriate the following comment by Khalil A. Totah (1926)5: "While the Arab armies
were engaged in those bloody wars of the Crusades during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, scientists were hard at work discussing their professional education."
In 1928, Julian Ribera6 explained a series of connections between the eastern
and western universities among which include:
The state took part in all functions (regulation, economics).
Greater speed of spread: 11th century madrasas and universities in
the thirteenth century.
The practice of issuing certificates, without any previous record in
the Christian Middle Ages.
Generally, in both there was a great reverence and respect for the
teacher. Although there are many examples of this fact, I have
selected two:
Alfonso X in Act IV and VIII of The Parties (Las Partidas)
decrees that teachers must not pay taxes, they are given sir
2

Built between 457/ 1065- 10 u al-Qada 459/22 September 1067. Founded for the shfi
teacher Ab Isaq al-Shraz.
3

MAKDISI, G., Muslim institutions of learning in eleventh-century Baghdad, in Bulletin of the

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , Vol. 24, No. 1 (1961), pp. 1-56.
4

PEDERSEN, J., Some Aspects of the History of the Madrasa, in Islamic Culture, (1929), vol. 3,
pp. 525-537.
5

TOTAH, Khalil A., Contribution of the Arabs to Education, in Journal of the American
Oriental Society, Vol. 47, (1927), pp. 282-284.
6

RIBERA, J., Disertaciones y Opsculos, 2 vols., Madrid, 1928.

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treatment, judges have to pay tribute to them and not to do

a lobby and finally, that after 20 years they "have to do
honour of counts."
The Imam Burhn al-Dn7, author of Hidyah, tells that
one of the greatest imams of Bukhra used to give his
speeches sitting and occasionally stood up in the middle
of the speech. When asked why he replied: In truth, the

son of my teacher played in the street with other boys and

sometimes approached the door of the mosque. Every
time I saw him, I stood up to honour my master.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to remark that this veneration of the master was not
always so. In pre-Islamic era, in schools for children, most of teachers were Jewish, but
due to the scarcity of them and the fact that in Medina it was not so common the ability
to write as in Mecca, after the Battle Badr, many of the Meccan prisoners were
relegated to teaching and writing in Medina. At this time and according to this fact, it
was frequent that the teacher was taken in low esteem as a vestige of his slave status.
This does not mean that we cannot find distinguished scholars teaching in schools and
the proof is Dahlaq b. Muzalm, who had a school in Kufa where it is said that 3,000
children attended school and where he used to walk up and down with his pupils on a
donkey.
These three common characteristics denote the Muslim influence on European
education and reaffirm the superiority of Muslim heritage in the Middle Ages.
But, on the contrary, there are also differences between the two methodologies.
Some of the most significant are:

In the European regulations there is a greater tolerance for students customs, as

pleasant rest after the effort. Opposite, the Muslim tradition insists on
continence, avoiding satiety and long sleep, as well as talking too much about
useless issues, as Az-Zarnuj notes in Instruction of the Student:The Method of

learning8.

As a general rule, in the West it was legislated, so that what the law reflects is a
matter of state. However, Muslims treatises gave advice and compiled teaching
methodology (such as Az-Zarnuj) consistently using the Koran as a divine
source of the complete knowledge.

Another different feature is the type of language. The West used direct and
concise language to legislate, while in Muslim education treaties this brevity is
dotted with beautiful metaphors and images expressed in a more literary and
solemn tone.

Burhn al-Dn Al ibn Ab Bakr al-Marghnn (1152-1197). His work is authorized as a guide
to the fiqh for Muslims of Central Asia, Afghanistan and India, and is the basis for the biggest part of the
anglo-islamic law in India and Pakistan.
8

AZ- ZARNUJ, Burjn al-Dn, Instruccin del Estudiante. El mtodo de Aprender, Madrid,
Hiperin, 1991; AZ-ZARNUJ, B.D., Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning , Starlatch, Llc;
2nd edition ( 2001) .

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What are the ways of penetration of the abundance of Islamic culture to Europe?
We found mainly two:
The Crusades.
Alfonso X the Wise Court. It is well known the Toledo
School of Translators and the great work done by the Archbishop Don
Raimundo in the process of enriching the Western cultural heritage.
o
o

If we move forward in this small evolution of education, we notice that there

was an important change regarding the position of the Islam. Europe bloomed during
the Renaissance while the Islamic world started to decay little by little until it was able
to revive again with the Naha.
The term madrasa itself reflects the evolutionary process of education in the
Islamic world. The medieval use of the term referred to the school of jurisprudence or
fiqh in which other Islamic sciences, including literary and philosophical sciences, were
only auxiliaries. It can be even seen that the madrasa was the result of three stages in the
development of the college in Islam:
Mosque or Masjid: instructional center.
Complex Masjid- Khan: the mosque as the instructional
center but with a boarding system for students from outside the city.
o
Madrasa: based on waqf.
o
o

Despite of all that, the modern use of the term refers to an educational institution
of Islamic sciences, a school of higher education opposite the traditional elementary
school (kuttab).
On the other hand, the preservation of knowledge has been one of the cultural
foundations of Islam and it is essential to examine the transformations undergone by the
mechanisms that have ensured it. Basically, It is a chain of transmission based on
reliable teachers, whose authority relies on religion and on the concept of confidence,
since they are responsible of training the community to discern between truth and
falsehood. These teachers are qualified to distinguish the mere appearance of the real
truth since their formation, strongly individualized and essentially religious, grants them
the wisdom to interpret the steps leading to the truth. Specifically, they are the human
factor that allows the community to have access to the knowledge of the divine
participation in the Islamic law. Social and religious authorities merge in these masters.
The chain of transmission established by reliable teachers who granted the
licenciae docendi or Ijza makes it necessary to determine whether it is possible to
combine this system with an educational reform to change the traditional program
content, or to adapt them according to their own perspective. This will entail the chance
to review other issues such as:
The master-disciple relationship9: Based on the pattern of
transmission from man to man, which ultimately gives validity to any
o

See HAMMOUDI, Abdellah, Maestro y discpulo: fundamentos culturales del autoritarismo en

las sociedades rabes, Barcelona, 2007; HAMMOUDI, Abdellah , Master and Disciple: The Cultural
Foundation of Moroccan Authoritarianism ,Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997.

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truth, and on the foundation of the institutions like the madrasa, we can
distinguish two opposing attitudes. When they are in subordinate
position the submission of humble appears up to extreme limits. On the
contrary, in a control situation, they absolutely wish would be obeyed,
which prevails over any legal mediation authority. Thus, we see that the
relationship of submission is as a standby phase and the price to be pay
to achieve the control, despite being a kind of resignation of the signs of
virility, vital to the characterization of the man's identity. This system is
still the dominant model in the multiplicity of actions and speeches of
access to teaching.
o
The concept of authority. As explained above in the
master-disciple relationship, the long road to mastery is supervised by
the authority of a guide. The initiating guide produces from the initiator
this new teacher. In a first phase, the new teacher comes up attitudes that
resemble the woman, who then becomes a virile and absolute standard,
once he is free of the ties that bind him to its initiators.
This continuity of values is adapted to modern times, with modifications of
certain importance. One of them is the relegation of the mosque in urban areas as a
centre of traditional teaching, in favour of new popular schools. In these schools
subjects are taught despite the propaganda of opposing groups loyal to the most
conservative Islamic tradition - such as Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwn al-Muslimn)what has recently and often led to the construction of an important cultural centre or
library next to each mosque to be built.
3. Studies on Islamic education
In the pursuit of knowledge, you need an instruction, a methodology that points
the way to the difficult task students had in front of them, hence the need for
pedagogical treatises.
The phenomenon of research in western pedagogical methods is relatively
recent.
Khalil A. Totah in his work The Contributions of the Arabs to education, in
1926, goes against the Macdonalds theory10. Conscious of the lack of a department of
Arabic literature dealing specifically with education, says that pedagogical Arabic
literature exists, and, moreover, it is not only of great literary interest, but has also an
important historical, philosophical and sociological value. But if it exists, why are not
there any reports on it? Totah said that the difficulty of its study was rooted in the
dispersal of the manuscripts in several libraries, which the modern research is bringing
to light little by little. This researcher was able to collect a list of 42 Muslim
pedagogical literature treaties. This fact showed that it not only existed but also that a
lot had been written about the subject. These manuscripts deal with a variety of topics
and cover a chronological period ranging from half of the ninth century until the
eighteenth century. Many of them were written between the tenth and thirteenth
centuries, an early and very dark period in a big part of Western Europe.

10

MACDONALD, D.B., Aspects of Islam, Manchester, Ayer Co Pub, 1977.

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The theme appears above different points of view. The treaties may address the
teachers or students, and sometimes even both. They often chronicled the life in the
madrasas other times they were instructions to give and take notes in class. The
following are some of the recurring themes:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

The essence and value of knowledge.

Respect for the teacher
Students virtues
Duties of teachers, methods of teaching and learning
Relationships between teachers and students
Payment of teachers
Study Skills
Memory and oblivion.

In all of them, and as an indicator of Islamic identity, we find two of the main
features of Islamic literature: repetition and plagiarism.
And as far as Muslim authors who wrote about education is concerned, we may
principally distinguish two:
o
Al-Gazal (jurist, theologian and mystic) considered the
most original for its Mzn al-Amal, where mental faculties are
associated with different areas of the human brain, raised in the eleventh
century the problems that still faces todays modern neurosurgery.
o
Az-Zarnuj, (lawyer) was the most widespread author of
his time, XII-XIII century, with its al-Mutaallim Talim. Tariq alTaallum11, copied throughout the Middle Ages and translated into
practically all the languages. It is a treaty that mixes the fun and the
solemn providing an overview of student life in the thirteenth century
Islam.

Later, both Pedersen and Makdisi have done studies on the subject, among
which are:
o

Makdisi:

Muslim institutions of learning in eleventh-century

L'Enseignement en Islam et Occident au Moyen

Baghdad.12

Age, International colloid La Napoule (France). 13

The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in

Islam and the West. 14
11

Original tittle of Az-Zarnujs work, AZ- ZARNUJ, Burjn al-Dn, Instruccin del Estudiante.

El mtodo de Aprender.
12

MAKDISI, G., Muslim institutions of learning in eleventh-century Baghdad , in Bulletin of

the School of Oriental and African Studies, 24, 1961, pp. 1-56.
13

MAKDISI, G., L'Enseignement en Islam et en Occident au Moyen ge: Communications

(Colloques internationaux de La Napoule) of George Makdisi, Dominique Sourdel, Janine SourdelThomine, et Colloque international de La Napoule Islam et Occident au Moyen ge (Broch - 1978).

Traditional Islamic Education: The Difficult Transition to Modernity

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The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the

Christian West: With Special Reference to Scholasticism.15
o

Pedersen :

o
o
o
o

Some Aspects of the history of the Madrasa.16

Pedersen y Makdisi:

Madrasa, en Encyclopaedia of Islam.17

Massignon:

Les Medresehs de Bagdad. 18

Terrase:

Medersas du Maroc. 19
Eickelman:

Knowledge and power in Marocco: the education

of a twenty-century notable.20

Currently there are lines of investigation into this matter at the international
level, as the open by the professor Jackie Armijo at the University of Qatar, who is
studying "learning networks in construction and falsification of new identities in Asia."
There are also new generations of scholars who are interested in this field of
study, such as Hilary Kalmbach, University of Oxford, St. Antony's College. Her work
focuses on the changing relationship between religion and society in the 19th and 20th c.
in Egypt and Syria.
4. The case of Morocco
Later, I will explain the specific case of Morocco in the twentieth century
according to the following studies:
CHEDDADI, Abdesselam, ducation et culture au Maroc.
Le Difficile Passage la Modernit, Casablanca, Editions Le Fennec,
2003.
o
EICKELMAN, D., Knowledge and Power in Marocco: the
education of a remarkable twenty-century, Princeton, Princeton
University Press, 1985.
o

14

MAKDISI, G., The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West ,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1981.
15

MAKDISI, G., The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West: With Special
Reference to Scholasticism, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1990.
16

PEDERSEN, J., Some Aspects of the history of the Madrasa, in Islamic Culture, III, 1929, pp.

525-37.
17

PEDERSEN, J. y MAKDISI, G., Madrasa, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, V: 1123, CD Rom

edition v.1.0, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999.
MASSIGNON, L., Les Medresehs de Bagdad, in Bulletin de lInstitut Franais dArchologie
Orientale, VII, 1909, pp. 77-86.
18

19

TERRASE, C., Medersas du Maroc, Paris, 1927.

20

EICKELMAN, D., Knowledge and power in Marocco: the education of a twenty-century

notable, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1985.

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o
ZEGHAL, Malika, Islam e Islamismo en Maruecos,
Barcelona, Bellaterra, 200621.

The religious state education system, primary and secondary, in Morocco is

known as "original teaching" (al-Taalm al-Al). Guided by the Arab-Islamic
principles and ideals which gained its maximum splendour in the Middle Ages-, was
used to transmit knowledge and skills related to the Arabic language, philosophy,
Islamic thought, law, and especially Jurisprudence. In addition to these disciplines,
other areas of knowledge such as history, arts, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, etc..,
are also tangentially covered, those known as "auxiliary sciences."
The key of the continuity and survival of this type of education should be sought
in its purpose: the preservation of the Moroccan identity and the values of an ArabIslamic society, as well as the promotion and the resurgence and revitalization of
national identity, where individuals identify themselves with the Islamic Ummah
(community of believers in Islam).
Originally, original education was held in the madrassas of urban areas and
Zwyas in rural areas, creating their own academic space. Over the time, it was taught
too in higher education institutions as the University of Fez, al-Qarawiyin22.
In this way, we find that al-Madrasa al-Atiqa, or Koranic madrasa is the main
organ in the training and supplying of local imams in rural areas. These institutions do
not depend on the ministry of education, as it is maintained through charitable donations
from the population and are therefore closely linked to the waqf. They are exclusively
devoted to teach the Koran, the Islamic tradition and Arabic sciences. Students do not
have age limits, as this can range between 10 and 40, and they live in boarding schools
until the teacher, using a list that he draws up according to the merits of the students,
estimates that it is the moment to join the professional life in the mosques.
Returning to the structure of original education, we could establish three distinct
levels :
23

1. Elementary school. It consists of two cycles:

o
Four courses: the student learns the Koran (partial or
complete), regardless of age, but usually ends at the age of 12.
o
Three courses: admits students who have completed the
first cycle of the original teaching and students from general basic
education, whose access depends on passing a test.

21

ZEGHAL, Malika, Islamism in Morocco: Religion, Authoritarianism, and Electoral Politics

[Markus Wiener, 2008].
22

Founded as madrasa in 859, by Faima al-Fihriya, but not established as University until 1947.
Is important pointed that is the oldest institution of learning still active.
23

LLORENT BEDMAR, V., La educacin secundaria en el Reino de Marruecos: Realidad,

deseos y reformas, in Revista Espaola de Educacin Comparada, 7 (2001), pp. 178-179.

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2. Secondary education. Students who have completed the second cycle of

basic original education and second cycle of general education. It
provides training aimed at preparing students to continue their studies in
the faculties specializing in Koranic studies. It includes three courses and
is divided into three branches:
o
o
o

Sharia.
Arts.
Experimental Sciences.

After completing these courses the student will obtain his Bachelor or
baccalaureat. All subjects are given in Arabic, including scientific areas. The subjects
to study are:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Islamic studies.
Arabic language.
History, geography and Islamic civilization.
Philosophy and Islamic thought.
Science.
Languages.
Translation.
Physical education.

3. Higher education. Exclusive access to pupils with original education

Bachelor. The centers where the studies are carried out are Al-Qarawiyin
and Dar al-Hadith al-Hassaniyya, and other colleges of Arts and law, and
certain colleges.
Regarding the "original higher education, the mosque-university developed a
large scale in the decade of the 30s of the twentieth century, losing much of its vitality.
This can be attributed to a combination of events. The first was the French organization
in the two main institutions, al-Qarawiyyin in 1931 and the Yusufiya in 1939. These
reforms did not please the academics and intellectuals such as al-Fassi, who reported a
loss of autonomy in favour of colonial control, which made doctors into civil employees
cared by the state, and hence controlled by them. In these circumstances, while some
intellectuals were kept in these institutions with a loss of considerable popular prestige,
many others left the teaching in the country, causing a consequent exodus of teachers.
The reform of Qarawiyyin in the thirties - at the initiative of the protectorate and
a group of ulema-, was similar to the initiative in the second half of the 19th century in
the Zaytuna in Tunisia and al-Azhar in Egypt, but was held in Morocco decades later.
The aim was to rationalize and modernize the ways of transmitting knowledge and
content: programs open to scientific matters, foreign languages, imposition of standard
testings and the concession of government employee for teachers. However, in the
Sunni Muslim world as a whole, these changes affected the religious identity as it was
perceived by the traditional elites. Ulemas, in the vast majority, agreed, with difficulty,
that a minority among them, according to the settlers, promote the transformation of
their institutions and question the knowledge passed on for centuries.

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Another decisive factor in this decade was the increase in state schools run by
French who welcomed the Moroccan elite. With this manoeuvre, traditional education
became a less attractive option for Moroccan students. As a result, the original teaching
was rather relegated to the rural population with low purchasing power. This can be
seen in the number of students from rural and urban areas of the Qarawiyin: In 1924, the
number of students in Fez was 300, while that of rural students was 41924. Furthermore,
data of Yusufiyya at the same time show that of the 400 students who came to this
center, only 150 were of Marrakech25.
A third option was put forward by the Moroccan bourgeoisie, who created free
schools from French control, but which adopted the European materials and teaching
methods to provide an alternative in education, primarily in Arabic.
As it happened more or less throughout the Muslim world under the
colonization, opposite the emergence of new elites formed with education of Western
origin, the role of religion was increasingly limited.
Later, in the decade of 60s, we find a desire to modernize education and a
revival of interest in controlling the state of traditional education, recognizing the
benefits of keeping under its control this sector to consolidate their power. In December
of 1955, Mohammed al-Fassi was appointed Minister of National Education. Previously
maintained by Religious Affairs, in 1956 Qarawiyin passed by National Education,
created in his breast a specific structure to deal with religious education, the
"Directorate of the original teaching" (taalm al).
The modern sector wanted to minimize religious education areas and modernize
the whole teaching system. But, rather than being reformed, Qarawiyin University and
other primary and secondary institutes of religious education were neglected and almost
forgotten so much so that the mullahs feared that such education could disappear and
strove for recognition of their role and educational institution.
Moreover, the student strikes of the 50s and 60s show that there is a general
disappointment in the educational community to modern education. In this situation, the
government tries to expand the role of the "original education, used as standard for the
conservation of Islamic values to adapt it to new times.
The modern university in Rabat (University Mohammed V) was created between
1957 and 1959. The new generations of students preferred to enter the modern
universities before immersing in religious studies that did not provide outputs in the
labour market.
Another very important consideration in the traditional Islamic education is the
change in transmission methodologies with the advent of new technologies. Even today,
in the rural areas, religious intellectuals are deeply respected by the knowledge they
possess. In the past, the knowledge including the Islamic truths of Islamic education
24

EICKELMAN, D., Knowledge and power in Marocco: the education of a twenty-century

notable, p. 163.
25

bid.

10

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were transmitted from generation to generation through memorization and recitation,

and, currently, the intellectual reproductive technology do not have a pronounced
impact in this regard. Although changes have occurred in the religious nature of
knowledge because of new technologies, that challenge the traditional view of Islam, it
is also undeniable that it is still in the collective imagination that religious knowledge is
stored and immutable.
The number of individuals who are able to demonstrate possess these religious
knowledge is quite small. One of the main consequences is the distrust of the older
generations of religious intellectuals to the new generations who should take over.
There is a general tendency to consider them ignorant because of the limited knowledge
of Islamic law they have through the manuals bilingual in French and Arabic from the
Ministry of Justice.
This transformation of religiosity in Morocco has a recent proliferation in
partnerships organized by Islamic militants characterized themselves as "New Salafis"
and self-appointed bearers of true Islam. They usually attract people with some
education and no political affiliation, and aims to form a distinctive Islamic public
opinion. For these purposes, they can receive funds from Islamist groups settled in
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iraq. It should be noted that the new religious intellectuals
are not just characterized by the fundamentalist ideology of the new salafiyya, since
they are only a minority activist, despite its wide visibility.
Regarding the current situation of the "original teachings", it faces many
difficulties and barriers. It has not gained legitimacy and lacks the intellectual and
material media, as generally poorly trained teachers, do not have textbooks. In addition,
modern subjects play a secondary role, the small number of students has not been able
to raise the level of education, there are hardly thirty schools throughout Morocco and
the original teaching does not cover all provinces. At the same time, students enrolled in
the original teaching students tend to be rejected by the modern public school system.
Apart from this situation in the early stages of the original teaching, we find that
the Qarawiyin also feel abandoned. In the early '70s, his faculties had just less than a
thousand students, and not until the eighties and nineties when this percentage will
increase substantially (between 5000 and 7000), with 20% of this figure female
students26. Although in 1980 a Dahir (decree) reintroduced postgraduate education in
Qarawiyin, was not until almost ten years later when it began to be introduced in
different faculties. Another factor to be considered is the fact that it has produced a
proletarianization and ruralisation on the Qarawiyin, as teachers complain of non-Fez
origin of his students: "They are not from Fez. Coming from the south or the
mountains"27.
The Qarawiyin has become a student receiving facility in rural areas who seek
socially promoted through religious higher education, but this is not feasible, since it
has long ceased to be a training center of the elites. The modern and foreign faculties
have emerged as the centers chosen by the young Moroccan elites for their training,
26

Women were admitted in Qarawiyin since 1948, been the subjects mixed in the faculties.

27

ZEGHAL, M., Islam e Islamismo, p. 257.

11

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because they offer greater possibilities of integration into the labour market. It should be
noted that Dar al-Hadith has been established as the most prestigious training network
of religious elites, but also, their employment prospects of its graduates are the same job
opportunities as other graduates of other higher religious institutions.
In conclusion, the long carelessness of the power in relation to religious
education, especially which of the Qarawiyin, which has been greatly impoverished and
contributes very little to critical spirit, has not permitted the training of theologians
instructed in the art of debate, but a mass of new religious activists, some of which
reproduce consistently fundamentalist ideologies.

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