Al-Kulliyya al-'Uthmaniyya : a 19th century Muslim experiment in modern education, 1895-1914

النوع : Mémoire

Muslim Educational institutions in late 19 Century Beirut witnessed significant changes as well as development in teaching methods and practices. While extensive research has been done on all aspects of European and American Missionary schools in the wilaya of Beirut, very little effort has been directed towards studying the educational activities among the Muslim community at that time. In an effort to correct this suite of affairs, this thesis will study al-Kultiyya al-'Uthinaniyya (the Ottoman College), as an example of the role played by a local Muslim institution in spreading modern education and in countering the rising influence of missionary education in the region.--Following a short introduction. Chapter I. in the form of a background, focuses on the foundation of missionary schools in the region, their role in diffusing a modern type of education and the reaction that this provoked at the official level and. more important, at the local Muslim one.--Chapter II. divided into two principal parts, surveys first, the biography of shaykh Ahmad 'Abbas al-Azhari. and analyzes in depth the causes for the establishment of his College and its subsequent evolution, its educational philosophy, its student and faculty composition as well as its curriculum of study.--Chapter III attempts to evaluate the impact of the school on its principal constituency, namely the Sunni community of Beirut, at the educational, social as well as the political level.--The last chapter is followed by a conclusion.