63
Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century

Lebanon

byHania Abou al-Shamat

Page 2: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Arab Region late-19th century

• Background: 19th C. Educational reform and Expansion/ Modern Education Introduced

• Puzzle: While Christians attended the new schools to receive modern education, Muslims continued to enroll in traditional Islamic schools

Page 3: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Distribution of Population and Pupils by religious communities

Year City % Population % Pupils

Muslims Non-Muslims

Muslims Non-Muslims

1882 Jerusalem 67 33 10 90

1882 Aleppo 78* 22* 21 79

1882 Beirut 31 57 21 79

1907 Egypt** 92 8 48 52

*Population percentages for Aleppo are for 1840s.** Egypt here includesSources: Bowring, John (1973). Report on the Commercial Statistics of Syria. New York: Arno Press, p. 3; Courbage, Youssef and Philippe Fargues (1997). Christians and Jews under Islam. (Translated by Judy Mabro). London: I.B.Tauris, p. 88; Diab, Henry and Lars Waehlin (1983). “The Geography of Education in Syria in 1882, with a Translation of ‘Education in Syria’ by Shahin Makarius, 1883.” Geografiska Annaler, 65 B, 2: P. 117, 120 & 121; Landau, Jacob (1969). Jews in 19 th Century Egypt. New York: New York University Press, p. 6 & 72.

Page 4: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Conventional Explanations I

1. Access to Missionaries: Genesis of Modern Education

2. Early Indigenous Christian Schools: Early attempts to spread new schools

Counterarguments for 1 & 2:- Mainly Religious, basic education

- Timing: why not pre-19th century?

**Missing: Structural Changes in the Job-market

Page 5: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Conventional Explanations II

3. ‘Ulema’s Resistance to Change: Vested Interests prevented change*Counterargument: - ‘Ulema divided front- Christian clergy resisted reform

4. State Neglect: curb Arab nationalism* Counterargument - Long history of private provision of education

- Arab nationalism: cross religious trend

According to 3 & 4: Islamic schools relied upon for elementary education

** Missing: Islamic schools were in demand

Page 6: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Conventional Explanations III

5. Christians more prone to westernize (shared same religion); Muslims were defensive

• Counterarguments:- Historical evidence: Christians equally put at defensive- Urgency to reform among Muslims

** Missing: Difference in institutions

Page 7: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

The Missing Element

• Common Elements in conventional explanations

- Top-down reform (lack of agency for individuals)

- Supply side (necessary, not sufficient)

• Missing: Demand for Education

- Evidence of active demand

- Quantitative & Qualitative impact on education

• Focus on Demand (motives and incentives)• Challenges in capturing demand • Approach: reconstruct the job-market to derive skills

needed

Page 8: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Why 19th century Lebanon?

• Geographic Area: Vilayet Beirut & Mount Lebanon

• Leader in Educational Reform• Religious Diversity – compare and contrast

educational choices• Job-market analysis extends to Egypt

(migration effect)

Page 9: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 1.2. Av erage Percentage Distribution of Population by Religion

Region Muslims Christians Druze

Beirut 37 57

Mount Lebanon 7 81 12

Tripoli 83 17 ---

Saida 87 12 ---

Source: Leila Tarazi Fawaz, Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth Century Beirut (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), ch.5; John Spagnolo, France and Ottoman Lebanon (London: Ithaca Press, 1977) p. 24; Rafiq, Muhammad and Muhammad Bahjat, Wilayat Bayrut, vol. 2 (districts of Tripoli and Latakia), 3rd edition. (Bayrut: Dar Lahd Khatir, 1987), 212; Rafiq and Bahjat, Wilayat Beirut, vol.1, 302-303.

Page 10: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 4.1: Percentage distribution of Syrian Protestant College graduates (1870-1900) by

country of migration

Region Lebanon Egypt Rest of the

Arab World

United States

Turkey Others

Percentage 35 28 45 7 8 5

Source: AUB Directory of Alumni 1870 -1952. (AUB archive). Out of 468 studen ts who graduated b etween 1870 and 1900, inform ation was available on 347. Percentages are taken from known population.

Page 11: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Lebanon Early 19th Century

• Socio-economic structure: feudal• Social stratification: kinship and landownership• Limited Social mobility• Beirut: small city• Economy: mainly agricultural• Job-market

- Administration: judges, scribers, bookkeepers, accountants

- Education: religious

- Judiciary: religious codes

- Trade: internal

- Education needed: basic and religious

Page 12: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Factors Altering the Old job market

• Socio-economic effects of the silk industry - Economy: silk cash crop, external trade- Socio-economic system: emergence of middle class- Social stratification: property, social mobility- Beirut: major port city- Job-market: External trade & New financial & Commercial services

- Muslims’ absence from (Christian dominance over) external trade & new financial services

Page 13: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Muslims’ share in external trade and related businesses

Profession Year Muslims Total Percentage

Merchants with Europe

1826 6 34 17

Merchants with

England 1848 3 29 10

Merchants 1889 12 89 13

Silk Exports

1911 5 67 7

Wool exporters

1914 29 80 36

Bankers 1889 2 13 15

Insurers 1914 7 18 38

Shipping agents

1914 3 12 25

Source: Boutros Labaki. “The Christian Communities and the Economic and Social Situation in Lebanon,” in Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of t he Future, ed. Andrea Pacini. (Oxford: Calendon Press, 1998), p . 238; Thomas Philipp, The Syrians in Egypt 1725-1975 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Ve rlag Weisbaden GMBH, 1985), 99; Leila Fawaz, Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth-Century Beirut (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), p. 97-8.

Page 14: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 4.4. Percentage of Christian Translators at Foreign consulates in Beirut and Egypt

Year Region Christians Total Christians’

% Share

1878 Beirut 54* 64 84

1889 Beirut 17 18 94

1902-1908 Beirut 10 13 77

1905 Egypt 12 16 75

Sources: Issawi, “The Transformation of the Economic Position of the Millets in the Nineteenth Century,” in Christians and Jew in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society, vol. I, ed. Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982), 278; Al-Jami’ aw Dalil Bayrut for 1889, 22; Al -Aswad, Ibrahim Bek, Dalil Lubnan (Be’abda: Al-Matba’a al-‘Uthmaniyya, 1906), 88 -89; Dalil Suriyya wa Misr al-Tijari, (1908), 19 -20; Thomas Phillip, The Syrians in Egypt, 1725-1975 (Stuttgart, 1985), 121.

Page 15: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Islamic Legal Institutions: Muslims’ Absence from (Christians’ dominance

over) external Trade I

Conventional explanations: Co-religion, and Europeans’ bias against Muslims

Factors overlooked: 1. Islamic law: higher transaction cost- Individualistic (lack of collective entities, corporations)- Dominance of oral testimony (limited transactions’ longevity)- Europeans’ avoidance of Islamic law and courts

Page 16: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Islamic Legal Institutions: Muslims’ Absence from (Christians’ dominance

over) external Trade II

2. Legal Pluralism: Choice of law- Christians’ benefits from being Protégés - Supremacy of Islamic jurisdiction lack of motives for the job

Long Term (unintended) consequences1. Statistical discrimination against Muslims2. Lost opportunities to gain new skills

Page 17: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Military Conscription

• Measures of service: Muslims’ opposition• Exemption:

- Fee payment- Attendance of Islamic Schools- Special occupations: civil servants, judges, muftis.

• Consequence: 1. Increased demand for Islamic schools 2. Limited access to higher education

Page 18: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 4.2: Distribution of major professions in 1908 Beirut

Muslims Christians Total Occupation

# % # %

Physicians 7 23 24 77 31

Pharmacists 5 20 12 70 17

Dentists 1 12 8 88 9

Lawyers 3 17 15 83 18

Bankers 2 11 16 89 18

Commissioners 4 21 15 79 19

Source: Dalil Suriyya wa Misr al-Tijari,(1908), 28-31.

Page 19: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Administration Expansion

• Attractiveness: stability, social mobility, social status and power.

• Pre-Tanzimat: - Administrative service restricted- Requirements: basic education, apprenticeship• Post-Tanzimat:- Specialization: Muslims (both ranks)

Christians higher ranks- Requirements: lower ranks basic education higher ranks new education• Muslims ‘Mixed’ education

Page 20: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Parallel Institutions

Courts

Three types of courts:

1. Shari’a:

Islamic education

2. Nizamiyyeh (later national):

old and new education

3. Mixed:

new education

Schools

• Old Education: Islamic schools, public schools, private tutoring, private Islamic new schools

• New Education: Foreign, missionary, Christian private schools, private tutoring

Page 21: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Summary

• A network of institutions rewarded Islamic education and maintained its demand by:

- Directly increasing demand for old education

- Preserving the old job market, the arena for graduates of the Islamic schools

- Creating new jobs whose required skills were met by Islamic education

- Preventing new job opportunities that feedback on new education

Page 22: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Women’s Education• Marriage institution

- Emigration & civil strive 18601. Tightened marriage market for Christians

2. Increased competition- Christians undergoing westernization- Education as social investment and positional good

• Job Market- female workers in silk factories: altering patriarchal authority - mechanization: challenging traditional female jobs- Migration and civil strife: women left behind bread winners- Education as economic investment (mainly captured by missionaries)

Page 23: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Rhetoric in Muslims’ Newspapers

• Thamara>t al-Funu>n (1870s) criticizing quality of kuttabs and madrasas, praising quality of Christians’ schools, calling for modern education for the Muslims

• al-Fajr al-S}a>diq (1879): declining conditions of Muslim schools (Compared to Christians’)

• al-Mana>r, Rashi>d Rid}a> (1890s): called upon Muslims to learn from the Syrian Protestant College example of modern education

Page 24: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Two Potential Routes to Provide new education among Muslims

1. Reform of Islamic schools: Study effect of waqf institution on Islamic education

2. Establish new schools: Compare to Christian schools to detect problems faced

Page 25: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Reform of Islamic schools

A. Effects of waqf: Static perpetuity, evidence of change

B. Approach: Analyze system’s structure, agents’ incentives to change. Agents of change: qadis (judges), muftis (jurisconsults), and teachers

C. Findings: Large scale reform hindered by: (1) Individualistic structure of Islamic institutions confined frequency & scale of change

(2) legitimacy within Islamic Institutions held reform to what existed/discouraged innovation

Page 26: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Founding new schools in the 19th century

Approach: Compare Muslim & Christian schools

Findings:(1) Limited incentives to found new charitable waqfs (2) Lack of Collective Legal entity Limited

resource pooling

(3) lack of central management lack of flexibility

Page 27: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Contributions I1. New approach to revisit an old puzzle

- Shifting focus to the individual by analyzing demand- Linking demand and supply to a network of institutions

2. Comprehensive two-sided explanation:

- At the demand side, a set of institutions kept Islamic education (Journal of Islamic Studies 20, 3 (2009): 317-351)

- At the supply side, institutions hindered Muslims’ ability for resource pooling (Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, under submission)

Page 28: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Contributions II

3. Transplanted institution does not guarantee internal demand. Institutional networks shape the dynamics of institutional transplant (Policy implication: reform comes in packages)

4. Framework of analysis useful in addressing current issues in the Arab world

Page 29: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Reframe Institutional Transplant

• Determinants of successful transplant

- Competitiveness of transplanted institution

- Compatibility with indigenous culture

- Origin of transplanted institution

- Process of the transplant

- lock-in effect cause of institutional stagnation• Implications

- Efficacious institutions will take over (not necessary)

• Missing:

- Indigenous Demand for the transplanted institution

- Role complementary institutions play

Page 30: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Effects of Legal Transplant

• “The Effects of Legal Reform on Muslims’ Commercial and Financial Performance in Egypt, 1883-1949,” Islamic Law and Society, forthcoming

• Conclusion: legal change necessary, not sufficient- Complementary changes needed- Socio-economic and political context

Page 31: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Islamic Schools in Arab and Islamic World

• Recommendations: invest in modern schools in the area

• Overlooked is internal demand and he complementary institutions that support it

• Example: Islamic schools in Lebanon/Egypt

Page 32: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat
Page 33: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Old job market

New job market

New education

Old education

Dndn Do

do

Do: Old Job market skills demandDn: New job market skills demanddo: individual’s demand for old educationdn: individual’s demand for new education

Page 34: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Schools and Students in various parts of Lebanon in 1882

Locality Schools Students population

Beirut 101 12 452

Mount Lebanon 190 5 850

Tripoli 15 1 152

Sayda 15 887

Sur 10 520

Baalbek 5 433

Source: Henry Diab and Lars Waehlin, “The Geography of Education in Syria in 1882, with a Translation of ‘Education in Syria’ by Shahin Makarius, 1883” Geografiska Annaler 65 B, 2 (1983): 126.

Page 35: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Christians’ and Muslims’ Reactions

Christians- external trade- New financial services- Administration: top ranks- Teachers: indigenous

Christian and missionary schools

- Liberal professions- Need for new education

Muslims- internal trade- Old financial services- Administration: all ranks- Teachers: Public and

Religious Schools- Old education suffices

Page 36: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 2.2: Number of Kuttabs and students by city and year

Year Area Number of Schools Number of Students

1870s Beirut 8 225

1893 Vilayet Beirut 205 ---

1917 Tripoli 37 ---

1930s Lebanese Republic 34 961

Source: Abdul Latif Tibawi. American Interests in Syria, 1800-1901: A Study of Educa tional, Literary and Religious Work (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966),181; Martin Strohmeier, “Muslim Education in the Vilayet of Beirut, 1880-1918” in Decision Making and Change in the Ottoman Empire ed. Caesar E. Farrah (Kirksville: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1993), 222; Muhammad Rafiq and Muhammad Bahjat. Wilayat Bayrut. vol. 2 (districts of Tripoli and Latakia), 3rd edition (Bayrut: Dar Lahd Khatir, 1987), 192-3; and J.A. Babikian, Civilization and Education in Syria and Lebanon (Beirut: s.n., 1936), 174. For the curriculum in these schools check Margaret Doolittle, “Moslem Religious Education in Syria,” The Moslem World XVIII, 4 (1928): 374-380.

Page 37: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 2.5: Muslim Girls’ schools and Students, numbers and Percentages

Year City Schools Students

# % # %

1882 Beirut 3 8 452 8

1882 Saida 1 20 60 25

1908 Tripoli 7 41 --- ---

1910 Beirut 5 14 --- ---

Source: Shahin Makarious, “al-Ma’aref fi Suriyya” Al-Muqtataf 7 (February 7, 1883), 291; Muhammad Rafiq and Muhammad Bahjat, Wilayat Bayrut. vol. 2 (districts of Tripoli and Latakia), 3rd edition (Bayrut: Dar Lahd Khatir, 1987), 193; and Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali, Memoirs of Muhammad Kurd ‘ Ali: A Selection, Translated by Khalil Tatah (Washington D.C.: American Council of Learned Societies, 1954), 51-52.

Page 38: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Education Providers

• Old Religious Schools: Madrasas, Kuttabs, Dayrs

• New Indigenous Schools (by sects)• Missionary Schools• Public Schools• Private Tutors

Page 39: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Islamic Schools

Madrasa: Higher education

• Origin: Formal 11th century due to: expansion of Islamic state (need to systematize Islamic law). Number of students increased ---> Khans. To ensure full time students ---> waqfs to provide for their living and accommodation

• Form and shape affected by:- Traditionalist-rationalist/ Shiite-Sunni struggle

- Job market needs: expanding administration + judicial needs ---> Law and its sciences

- 19th century: private, waqf supported, small, founder-teacher

Page 40: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Elementary Schools

• Muslims: Kuttabs: Elementary education

- mainly informal

- Expansion due to job market demand

- Waqf-founded kuttabs for poor and orphans

- 19th-20th century kuttabs

• Christians: Dayrs

- informal, basic education

- more formal at higher education, after church’s reform

Page 41: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Education Providers

• Religious schools:

- Madrasas:

• ajhflahf

Page 42: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Thesis

• While supply of new schools was necessary for educational modernization, it was not sufficient. A matching demand had to coexist for educational modernization to take place.

The relative efficiency of the new schools was not enough to create internal demand. A network of institutions shaped Muslims’ demand for old education and kept it from changing.

Page 43: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 1.1. Average Percentage Distribution of Population in Beirut by Religion and Sect, 1850-1920

Religion Sect Percentage Total Percentage

Muslim Sunni 37 37

Orthodox 28

Maronite 21 Christian

Catholics 8

57

Jews 1-3 Others

Foreigners 1-3 2-6

Source: Leila Tarazi Fawaz. Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth Century Beirut (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), ch.5

Page 44: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 2.4: Percentage share of Muslim students and schools in Beirut city

Students Schools Source Year

# % # %

Hassan Za’rour 1870 900 38 16 38

Makarious 1882 2170 32 21 32

Al-Jami’ aw Dalil Bayrut 1889 2000 23 21 32

Vital Cuinet 1896 2160 32 23 35

Heny Jessup 1909 4462 34 36 28

Moh’d Kurd ‘Ali 1910 ---- --- 25 38

Sources: Hasan Za’rur. Bayrut: al-Tarikh al-ijtima’I, 1864-1914, (Bayrut : al-Markaz al-Islami lil-I`lam wa-al-Inma, 1991), 42; Shahin Makarious, “Al-Ma’aref fi Suriyya” Al-Muqtataf 7 (February 7, 1883), 291 ; Vital Cuinet, Syrie, Liban et Palestine, Géographie Administrative, Statistique, Descriptive et Raisonnée (Paris: E. Leroux, 1896), 60; Al-Jami’ aw D alil Bayrut Li ‘am 1889. Collected by Amin al-Khouri (Bayrut: al-Matba’ah al-Adabiyyah, 1889), 31; Henry Jessup, Fifty-Three years in Syria, II, (New York : Fleming H. Revell Company, 1910), 815; and Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali, Memoirs of Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali: A Selection, Translated by Khalil Tatah (Washington D.C.: American Council of Learned Societies, 1954), 51-52.

Page 45: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Job Market: Structure and Changes

Pre-19th century

• Administration: judges, scribers, bookkeepers, accountants

• Education: religious• Judiciary: religious

codes• Trade: internal• Educational needs:

basic and religious

Since 19th century

• Enlarged administration• Education: foreign,

missionary, public• Judiciary: new ‘secular’

courts• Trade: external trade

expanding• Educational needs:

basic, higher, ‘secular’

Page 46: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Christians’ and Muslims’ Responses

Christians

- External trade- New financial services- Administration: top ranks- Teachers: indigenous

Christian and missionary schools

- Liberal professions- Need for new education

Muslims

- Internal trade- Old financial services- Administration: all

ranks- Teachers: Public and

Religious Schools- Old education suffices

Page 47: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 4.3. Distribution of Top Civil Servants in Beirut in 1908

Muslims Christians Total

Civil servants 22 41 86

Port 5 5

Investment 3 14 18

Ottoman Bank 4 4

Source: Dalil Suriyya wa Misr al-Tijari lisanat 1324 H, Al-Muwafiqa 1908 M., 15-17

Page 48: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Number of students in Maronite schools by year

School Year Number of students

‘Ain Waraqa 1736 8

‘Ain Waraqa 1858 100

Mar Maroun ~1810 10

Rayfoun ~1810 10

Each of top 4 schools 1844 25

All top 5 schools 1884 177

Source: Iliya Harik, Politics and Change in a Traditional Society Lebanon, 1711-1845. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968. P. 164-165; Salamah, Bashir. Al-Ta’adud

al-Madrasi wa Takawwun al-Mujtama’ al-Ta’ifi” ??

Page 49: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Graduates from two Maronite schools

School Years Number ofGraduates

Number ofYears

Graduates peryear

‘Ain Waraqa 1789-1818 50 29 1.7

Kfayfan 1808-1874 260 66 3.9

Source: Iliya Harik, Politics and Change in a Traditional Society Lebanon, 1711-1845. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968. P. 164-165

Page 50: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Table 2.1: Distribution of schools and pupils by sect in Beirut in 1883

Sect Boys’

schools Girls’

schools Students

boys Students

girls Students

Total % students by

religion

Muslim 21 3 2,170 452 2,622 21%

Greek Orthodox

5 3 900 500 1,400

Maronite

10 1 1,280 55 1,335

Greek Catholic

3 --- 400 400

Jesuites

4 1 690 200 890

Sisters of Charity

--- 4 --- 1,324 1,324

Nuns of Nazareth

--- 1 500 500

Mar Mansur

2 --- 250 --- 250

Capuchins

1 --- 50 --- 50

Assyrians

1 --- 70 --- 70

Italian

1 --- 50 --- 50

Protestants

12 22 671 2450 3,121

75%

Jews

5 1 350 90 440 3.5%

Total

65 36 6,881 5,571 12,450

Source: Shahin Makarious, “al-Ma’aref fi Suriyya” Al-Muqtataf 7 (February 7, 1883), 391.

Page 51: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat
Page 52: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Distribution of female pupils and their schools across religious communities in Beirut 1889.

Community Number of students Number of schools Muslims 500 3

Greek Orthodox 310 3 Maronite 55 1

Greek Catholics - - Jesuits 200 1

Nuns of Charity 2000 4 Nuns of Nazareth 500 20 (?)

Italian 120 1 Jewish 90 1

Evangelican 2390 20 Source: Boutros Labaki, Education et Mobilite Sociate Dans la Societe Multicommunataire du Liban. Deutsches Institut Fuer Internationale Paedagogische Furschung, 1988. Table 80, P. 187.

Hania Abou Al-Shamat, USCHania Abou Al-Shamat, USC

Page 53: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

The Nature of the Educational Divide

• Revisiting the existing data: InconclusiveMore Christians attended ‘modern’ schools than

Muslims did. Qualitative not necessarily quantitative difference

• Old typology: traditional vs. modern schools (criteria: religion)- Missionary schools: ‘genesis’ of modern education, yet religious- Private ‘modern’ schools: Religion and modern sciences

• New typology: old vs. new (new skills, mainly foreign languages)

Page 54: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Limited change and adaptability

• Evidence: opportunities not fully pursued (flexibility and innovations limited and dispersed)

• The process of change not built into the system, exceptionally practiced by judges and teachers to overcome inefficiencies

• Question: why small change did not accumulate into large-scale transformations?

• Approach: Analyze the system’s organization/structure and examine agents’ motives/incentives to change. Agents of change: qadis (judges), muftis (jurisconsults) and teachers

Page 55: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Effects of Waqf• Centrality of Waqf for social services: (mosques,

zawiyas, madrasas)• Static Perpetuity: Inflexibility & Stagnation

- Founder’s stipulation power of law

- Inflexibility & Stagnation

• Consequences

1. procedural stagnation ruined madrasas

2. Contextual stagnation (curriculum)

• Potential Flexibility:

- Procedural: Two legal devices to overcome inalienability: istibdal (exchange of property) & long-term leases (cases in Beirut and Sidon court records)

- Potential Contextual flexibility

Page 56: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Two Factors Limited Scale of Change within waqf

• individualistic structure of Islamic institutions

- limited impact and transmission

- Potential for dismissing innovation

• criteria of legitimacy being linked to the past

- Importance of chain of knowledge

- Reputation based on mastery of classical religious works, conformity to traditions

- Fitting changes into religious doctrine, rather than changing the doctrine

Page 57: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Founding Schools in late 19th Century

• Large-scale waqf founder’s motives altered (centralization policies)

(1) wealth shelter motive altered consequence (madrasas left with old waqfs)

- Beirut, 12 mosques and zawiyas supported by pre-19th century waqfs.

- Madrasas at the al-Mansouri mosque in Tripoli dated back to the 17th century.

(2) Political patronage decreased

• Alternative approach: resource pooling/small waqfs

• Maqased (1878) vs. Zahrat al-Ih}sa>n (1882)

Page 58: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Institutional Roots for differenceMuslims

• Lack of collective legal entity: waqfs small and atomistic- Madrasas at the Grand Mosque in Beirut (1843) supported by 203 waqfs, Fractions of apartments and revenues from small shops. - Maqa>s}id Schools (1878) small waqfs, revenue 100 qurush, fractions of apartments

• Lack of central manager

- Mosque (dependant)- lack collective flexibility

• Judicial limitations for innovative fund raising

Christians• Judicial Autonomy:

different waqf law: larger and collective waqfs- ‘Ain Waraqa school (1789) family-founded waqf- Zahrat al-Ihsan (1882) co-founders of waqf

• Central manager for community’s waqfs- Church (corporate body)- ‘Ain Waraqa (1789)- al-H}ikmih (1874)

• Innovative tools of funding

(life insurances)

Page 59: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Institutional Roots for Limited Provision of Modern Education

• Waqf Increased the cost of change, without blocking it

• Individualistic organization of Islamic Institutions confined frequency & scale of change

• Structure of legitimacy within Islamic Institutions Holding reform to what existed

• Lack of Collective Legal entity blocked resource pooling

• Central Management Lack of flexibility

Page 60: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Comprehensive two-sided explanation for an Educational discrepancy puzzle

1. At the demand side, a set of institutions rewarded Islamic education, kept it in demand (Journal of Islamic Studies 20, 3 (2009): 317-351)

1. At the supply side, Islamic institutions hindered Muslims’ ability for resource pooling, and institutional reform (Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, under submission)

Page 61: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Christians’ and Muslims’ Responses

Christians

- External trade- New financial services- Administration: top ranks- Teachers: indigenous

Christian and missionary schools

- Liberal professions- Need for new education

Muslims

- Internal trade- Old financial services- Administration: all

ranks- Teachers: Public and

Religious Schools- Old education suffices

Page 62: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Factors Affecting Muslims’ Choices

• Islamic Legal Institutions:

1. Muslims’ limited external trade

• State’s Reform policies:

2. Military conscription

3. Administration

4. Coexistence of Parallel Institutions

Page 63: Institutional Roots of Muslims’ Educational Choices in 19th Century Lebanon by Hania Abou al-Shamat

Why Study Educational Institutions & Reform in the Arab World?

• Central for economic & human development• Political indoctrination• Suggested scenarios for educational reform in the

Islamic/Arab world:

- increase funds to found new modern schools

Assumption

- transplant ‘American’ college institution

Question: Would these work?