Maktab as an Institution of Elementary Islamic Education in Novi Pazar – A Historical Aspect

Abstract

causes of illiteracy and ignorance of the members of Islam should be sought in the faith of Islam, that is, in the centuries-old rule of Ottoman Turkey in our region, which, allegedly, did not, adequately, take into account the education of the population. That these claims are not true, we want to show and prove through a brief overview of the historical development  and  functioning  of the  institution of  maktab, as the primary institution of basic Islamic education in Novi Pazar,a city which was part of the Ottoman Turkey until 1912, when it  was  attached  to  the  state  of  Serbia.  From  its  founding  in  1461  until  today this  town  was populated  by  a  predominantly  Muslim  population.  In  the  conclusion  of  the  paper  we  will present  the  result of the research. The aim of this research is to confirm the initial hypothesis that  is-that during  the  Turkish rule in this area there was a solid education of the population which,  with  certain  deficiencies,  was  in  accordance with,  at that  time, level of  the state  and society  development  and  that  the  causes  of  Muslim  backwardness  in  these  areas  cannot be sought in the guilt of Ottoman Turkey, which left these areas 110 years ago.