Elementary Education and Motivation in Islam: Perspectives of Med ...

most useful included al-Ji's Al-Bayn wa-l-Tabyn (also used as an educational source) and Kitbu-l-ayawn and Kitbu-l-Aghn by Ab l-Faraj al-Ifahn (283/897–356/967).

4) Works on isba

The works on isba document how social dealings were meant to be regulated by the mutasib (a government official employed for the purpose of isba). All of the isba works used in this study were written in the twelfth century CE onward, the earliest being Nihyat al-Rutba f alabi-l-isba of al-Shayzar (d. 589/1193). Another useful source was Ma‘limu-l-Qurba f Akmi-l-isba by Ibn al-Ukhuwwa al-Qurash (d. 729/1329). I have also benefited from Nihyat al-Rutba f alabi-l-isba by al-Mutasib (d. 884/1479). Although this work was written shortly after 1400 CE, its features are analogous to the earlier isba works.

By combining the four main groups of primary sources, I have been able to clarify some grey areas of understanding about elementary education and motivation in the medieval Muslim period. The sources have proved to be corroborating, owing to the high level of consistency in medieval Muslim ta'db. Educational texts on elementary education and motivation often correlate, to a high degree of chronological accuracy, with what can be found in the scholars’ narratives, biographical works, literary writings, historical compilations, and works of isba.

As far as I am aware, the topic examined in this book has not been dealt with in great detail before, so secondary sources were also scant. I have benefited most from the following works on the history, theory, and social practice of Muslim education: