Chapter : | Introduction |





In Arabic, the works of the following scholars proved most useful:































These secondary sources were used in three ways. Firstly, they helped me select the appropriate primary sources. I often found myself reading medieval Muslim works on education and history only to reach a dead end or find little material on elementary education, childhood, or motivation. Secondly, they shed some light on the primary sources, which sometimes proved fuzzy. Finally, I have used them whenever the primary sources were not, or were no longer, at my disposal.