Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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In connection with all mosques of importance, in all parts of Islām whether in Turkey, Egypt, Persia, or India, there are small schools, either for the education of children, or for the training of students of divinity. The child who attends these seminaries is first taught his alphabet, which he learns from a small board, on which the letters are written by the teacher. He then becomes acquainted with the numerical value of each letter. [ABJAD.] After this he learns to write down the ninety-nine names of God, and other simple words taken from the Qurʾān. [GOD.] When he has mastered the spelling of words, he proceeds to learn the first chapter of the Qurʾān, then the last chapter, and gradually reads through the whole Qurʾān in Arabic, which he usually does without understanding a word of it. Having finished the Qurʾān, which is considered an incumbent religious duty, the pupil is instructed in the elements of grammar, and perhaps a few simple rules of arithmetic. To this is added a knowledge of one Hindustanī, or Persian book. The ability to read a single Persian book like the Gulistān or Bostān, is considered in Central Asia to be the sign of a liberal education. The ordinary schoolmaster is generally a man of little learning, the learned Maulawī usually devoting himself to the study of divinity, and not to the education of the young.