Morocco’s 14,000 Quranic Schools Teach 450,000 Students: Minister
This is according to Ahmed Toufiq, the North African country’s minister of endowment and Islamic affairs, speaking on the eve of Eid Mawlid (Holy prophet Birthday) celebration.
Toufiq highlighted the role of Quranic schools in Morocco, adding that authorizations were granted for the opening of 300 new Quranic schools, which continue to benefit from the financial and educational support to all levels.
Many Quranic schools have been rehabilitated or newly built in Morocco, he went on to say.
Brief history of M’sid in Morocco
Throughout the history of Islam, mosques have played a dual role as a place of worship and learning.
In Morocco, whenever a mosque was built, a large hall, called M’sid, was built next to it to teach the Holy Quran to children from the age of five, as well as the Arabic language, calligraphy, and other disciplines.
Quranic schools provide young children, regardless of their social background, with training based on the memorization of the Quranic verses.
At the age of 12 or 13, the most talented and deserving pupils can enter the second stage of learning in a mosque or zawiya, where they learn the fundamental principles of grammar and Islamic law, or Sharia.
A part of the Muslim culture since its genesis, Quranic schools are known by different regional names: in Libya they go under the name of zawia, while in Somalia the dox, in Senegal the daara, in Yemen the milama, in Egypt the kuttab, in Mauritania the mahadra, and elsewhere still some are known under the name of maktab or madrasa.
Classes in the Quranic school are always taught by a master called taleb, fqih, or sheikh, who leads the students in a mechanical and collective recitation of the alphabet and Quranic verses.
Today, this institution, which once had an important spiritual place among Muslims, is beginning to become marginalized and forgotten as the majority of families have opted for modern schools.
Source: Morocco World News
