Arabic Education in the Ottoman Madrasas until the Reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror

Key Words: Ottoman Education System, Madrasas, Arabic Language Education, Teaching Methods, Arabic Grammar Books. ABSTRACT In this study, from the foundation of the Ottoman Empire prior to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, the methods and books used in the education of the Arabic language in the curriculum in the Ottoman madrasas are examined. In this context, this study also determines the position of Arabic in the education of Ottoman madrasas. The study population of this research constitutes the educational system of madrasas having been the higher education institutions during the foundation of the Ottoman Empire prior to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. Described as the part of the study population, the sample of the research is mainly composed of Arabic education in these madrasas. In this study, upon using cluster sampling from the sampling techniques, Arabic education is divided into three groups, morphology (sarf), syntax (nahiv) and rhetoric (belâgat). In this research which is a qualitative study, data acquisition methods, used in the qualitative studies as data sources, such as document collection and its analysis, the survey and the evaluation of the work pertaining to this area are applied. As the data of this research is qualitative, “documentary survey” is used as data collection techniques. Studies indicate that the Arabic language, in the Ottoman madrasas, had a position to prepare the students for the religious sciences and it was taught so as to comprehend the religious texts. In the light of this information, it is proposed that whilst carrying out the modern education methods, the classical Arabic grammar books used by the Ottoman scholars be applied