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Concept
Kuttab
Summary
A kuttab (كُتَّاب kuttāb, plural: kataatiib, كَتاتِيبُ) or maktab (مَكْتَب) 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 (including Qira'at), 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.
Kuttab refers to only elementary schools in Arabic. This institution can also be called a maktab (مَكْتَب) or maktaba (مَكْتَبَة) in Arabic—with many transliterations. In common Modern Standard Arabic usage, maktab means "office" while maktabah means "library" or "(place of) study" and kuttāb is a plural word meaning "authors".
In Morocco, this institution can be referred to as a m'siid (مْسِيد). In Persian, it is a or Maktabkhaneh مکتبخانه. In Turkish the institution is called a mektep. 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.
In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the tenth century. Like madrasas (which referred to higher education), 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.
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