Cultural Life in the Hejaz Vilayet in the Late Nineteenth Century: Mecca as a Case Study

Abstract

The Hejaz Vilayet in general, and Mecca in particular, witnessed significant cultural development during the nineteenth century owing to the region’s religious importance. The Ottoman Empire accorded the Hejaz a prominent status and regarded it as one of its privileged provinces. Accordingly, numerous official and waqf-funded schools and libraries were established, most of which were religious and jurisprudential institutions located within the Grand Mosque. Most government schools provided primary education, alongside only one Rushdiye school, while no institutions of higher education, such as Sultani schools, institutes, or universities, existed. The study focuses on comparing the curricula taught in the schools of Mecca with those prescribed in the 1900 Salname of the Ottoman Ministry of Education.

Mecca was distinguished by its cultural richness, as its students came from various parts of the Islamic world, thereby contributing to considerable cultural diversity. This diversity was also reflected among the teaching staff, some of whom came from Dagestan and Crimea. Their presence was necessitated by the fact that beginning students were often unable to understand Arabic texts on grammar and morphology and therefore required instruction and explanation in their mother tongues, creating a need for foreign teachers.

Despite the presence of foreign students, no official boarding schools were established on the model of those in Istanbul. It is likely that privately endowed schools assumed responsibility for accommodating such students. Nor were there official schools for girls; formal schooling was restricted to boys. This suggests that girls’ education during this period depended on the khawaja (“female teacher”) in private kuttab schools for girls.

Objectives:
The study aims to shed light on the development of educational institutions in the Hejaz during the Ottoman period.

Methodology:

The study employs a quantitative approach, particularly an inductive-deductive method, to analyze the events recorded in historical documents relating to the period under investigation.