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Drinking the Word    of God Introduction The Towns of Zinder and Bondoukou • Zinder • Bondoukou The Production of Writing Water Education and Scholarship in Zinder and Bondoukou • Education • Scholarship Health, Well-Being and the Talismanic Tradition • Erasure: Writing Water • Talismans • Special Prayers Resources for Further Study Acknowledgements Comments

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Education
Qur'anic Schools


The central focus of Islamic learning is the oral and written mastery of the Qur'an and instruction in prayers for various occasions. A scholar--karamoko in Dyula, or malam in Hausa--trained in Islamic theology and history, will guide his or her students through learning first the Qur'an and later other texts. Students may range in age from four to sixteen. Since the Qur'an is written in Arabic, students also are introduced to Arabic grammar and calligraphy. A typical lesson may consist of the teacher writing the verses to be memorized on each student's writing board, which the student practices by writing or recitation exercises. The completion of each level of Qur'anic schooling often is celebrated by the community and family with a public recitation by each student.

Wood writing boards, Bondoukou.

Aboubakar Nouri and Ousmane Nadail with Qur'anic boards, Zinder.

Classroom in Bondoukou.

Young girl studying, Bondoukou.

Girls studying in the school of Karamoko Sagayere Abidi Cissé, Bondoukou.

Young women at school, Zinder.

Education . Scholarship

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