An insight into Islamic pedagogy at the University of al‐Qarawiyyin

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into teaching practice of the University of al‐Qarawiyyin, Morocco, with a particular focus on Islamic pedagogy.

The authors conducted daily participant observations of “teaching circles” over a seven‐month period. The participant observation was achieved from engaging in the daily life of al‐Qarawiyyin and from developing relationships with teachers and students of the university.

The fieldwork has shown that teaching methods of particular significance are based on the characterising concepts of knowledge and the sacred; and on the development of skills such as orality (both seen as oral transmission from teacher to students and as a traditional mode for transmitting knowledge in the Arab cultures) and memorisation of the sacred text. Islamic pedagogy is understood by the way these aspects are woven together.

The paper demonstrates that what is unique to the Islamic pedagogy of al‐Qarawiyyin is the deep certainty of belief in God and this underpins the oral transmission, thus facilitating memorisation, and the didactic approach towards sacred texts.