Twilight of the Sultanate c16.s3.10

c16.s3.10

Two important points may be noted in connection with the educational system in the medieval times. The first is that there was hardly any secular approach to education. The location of Muslim and Hindu schools in masjids and temples respectively, was enough to give a religious bias to education. Hindu scholars concentrated on the study of religious books like the Vedas and Shāstras besides logic, grammar and literature. The subjects of study in Muslim schools likewise were of a religious nature. Great emphasis was laid on theological education (*manqūlāt*). Besides grammar, literature and logic, the other most important subjects were Hadīs (Tradition), Fiqh (Jurisprudence), and Tafsīr (Exegesis). In the words of Dr. Yūsuf Husain, "the institutions of higher learning in the Muslim countries, called Madrasās, had developed into centres of learning with a distinct religious bias. They were essentially schools of theology, with auxiliary linguistic studies. These Madrasās were the strongholds of orthodoxy and were subsidised by the State.⁷⁹