Kuttab
A kuttab or maktab is a type of elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the kuttab was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, and Islamic studies, such as memorizing and reciting the Qur'an, other practical and theoretical subjects were also often taught. The kuttāb represents an old-fashioned method of education in Muslim majority countries, in which a sheikh teaches a group of students who sit in front of him on the ground. Until the 20th century, when modern schools developed, kuttabs were the prevalent means of mass education in much of the Islamic world.
Name
Kuttab refers to only elementary schools in Arabic. This institution can also be called a maktab or maktaba in Arabic—with many transliterations. In common Modern Standard Arabic usage, maktab means "office" while maktabah means "library" or " study" and kuttāb is a plural word meaning "Writers". In Morocco, this institution can be referred to as a m'siid.The Classical Persian word مکتبخانه maktabkhāna has been used in Iranian Persian as well as in Azerbaijani, in Ottoman Turkish and in Uzbek, often alongside مکتب maktab. Maktab is used in Dari Persian in Afghanistan as an equivalent term to school, including both primary and secondary schools. In Bosnian, it is called a mejtef or ''mekteb.''
History
In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the tenth century. Like madrasas, 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, 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.
File:Dharmadasa - Laylá and Majnun Fall in Love at School - Walters W62498A - Full Page.jpg|left|thumb|A Mughal maktab in Lahore. Painting by Dharmadasa 1597-1598.