The study of tajwid in islamic educational institutions in the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1878 to 1945

Abstract

The fundamental and most important source of Islamic learning is the Qur'an. As part of the study of the Qur'an, the study of tajwid is unavoidable as a special Islamic discipline that deals with the correct interpretation of the text of the Qur'an as the God’s final revelation. The aim of the paper is to present the study of tajwid in Islamic educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1878 to 1945. The common feature of all the tajwids created in the aforementioned period is that they were written in Arebica, i.e., the Arabic script, in the Bosnian language. Proper teaching of the Qur'an was represented in all elementary schools of that time, such as in sibjan-mektebs and mektebi-ibtidaijjas. Qirāʼah or tajwid appears as a teaching subject in the lower (Rushdie) and higher grade levels in madrasahs. The primary goal of school teaching was for children to learn to read the Qur'an correctly, to learn the basic foundations of the faith of Islam, the foundations of fiqh, Sharia regulations and ethics. In madrasahs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere throughout the Islamic world, classes were conducted in a traditional manner, and the program was adapted to the needs of that time. In some madrasahs, the program was focused on studying the interpretation of the Qur'an, in others, greatest attention was paid to the hadith, and in some madrasahs, sharia law dominated. In this paper, the work of sibjan-mektebs, mektebi-itidaijjas, rushdies and madrasahs is analyzed and reviewed with the emphasis on the presence of school subjects related to Qirāʼah or tajwid. We tried to provide an adequate and as complete as possible overview of the study of tajwid in the abovementioned Islamic educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Keywords: Qur'an, tajwid, mekteb, rushdie, madrasah, upbringing, education.