Page 181 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Four

number of boys and girls in a kultab, a Koranic school, which could
be conducled in his house or anywhere convenienl, even under a tree.
I he scarcity of copies of the Holy Book and the shortage of writing
material54 often restricted the schooling to learning by role verses of
the Koran which the teacher read or recited to the children. A child
was often considered to have completed his education only when he
could recite the entire Koran.55 In many kutlab the emphasis was
more on reading than on writing, for it was important to be able to
read the Holy Book and other religious books; but some people
regarded it as being undesirable for girls to be able to write and
thereby to communicate with the outside world by letter.
The urban surroundings of Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi since
early this century gave many families the incentive to want their
children to be taught basic mathematics so that they could later enter
the family business. Because teachers were always respected men in
the community, not only for their religious knowledge but also as
good honest citizens, therefore the pupils were expected to learn
from them adab: how to behave responsibly and to appreciate
current affairs beyond the confines of their community.
In general the teachers were not formally employed by the ruler nor
paid for by endowments of a public benevolent institution. In some
cases the mutawiva' was also the imam in a small mosque
maintained by the waqf, and as a further source of income he would
teach children in the mosque. But more frequently the teacher just
used his courtyard or gathered the children under a tree for
instruction. The teachers were quite often paid by the parents of the
pupils their previously-agreed tuition fees in kind: that is, food, cloth
or small domestic animals. As far as the author is aware there were
no purpose-built kuttab in any of the Trucial States.56 There was also
no madrasah for higher religious studies; the nearest such school for
studies of Islam and for the training of qudah was surprisingly
enough in Bukhah in the Ru’us al Jibal on the Musandam Peninsula,
and another famous one was on Qishim island.

The role of Shari ah

Sharf ah as a guide for the local Muslim’s way of life
Shari'ah is more than the instrument which enables judges to deal
with the cases which are brought to them for trial. “It comprises,
without restrictions, as an infallible doctrine of duties the whole of

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