There is something few people know about and thats the level of scholarship found in Mauritania. It is unparalleled anywhere in the world and its like a normal thing here. People study for their entire lives just for the sake of studying and dont even consider themselves ulama. The unique aspect found only in Mauritania is that they memorize everything. Books are written on every one of the Islamic Sciences you can think of in the form of poetry which makes the text easier to memorize. But imagine the level of understanding of a particular subject be able to condense it in to a few hundred or so lines and at the same time the mastery over the language to do so in the form of poetry. Also almost each subject has an entry level text which one would normally start with and work up towards more in depth writing all still in the form of poetry. One scholar who teaches at a Mahdharah here is known as Abdurahman only. He has memorized so many books when we asked him if he knew how many he said he doesnt know. Students meet with him on a daily basis. During the sitting 25-30 of them come in to his class where he basically relaxes on his side resting his arm on a pillow. Each student will read their next lesson to him. As the student begins to read each line before getting to the second word in the line (Bayt) the teacher completes the line from memory with a detailed explanation also found in the book, which has also been memorized. Each student takes five or six lines a day goes home, memorizes his new lesson and returns the next day for a few more lines. It takes Abdurahman about an hour to finish with all of the students. The average age of these students is about 19. Theyve all memorized Quran and this is how they continue their journey. Abdurahman is the youngest of his brothers but the one who was most keen on teaching. All of them are capable of teaching the way he does and not one of them are called Shaykh. They are the sons of Shaykh Muhammad al-Hasan al-Khadeem and he is their Shaykh.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:25:22 +0000
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