ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the intellectual and cultural state of Egypt during the eighteenth century to serve as the background for a similar study of the nineteenth century. In the kuttab, the young pupil learnt the orthography of the Arabic language mainly through memorising the Kor’an, the ideal being the recitation of the sacred verses without a single mistake in pronunciation. Education in Egypt was centred upon Cairo, since it was the college-mosque of al-Azhar, the cultural home of Islam that served as a guide to the Moslem community, who formed the major part of the population of Egypt. Practically no reference has been made to the education of the women of the Moslem community and, in fact, the authorities give very little information on the subject. The Turkish soldiery had gradually become assimilated to the Egyptian population and had taken up various trades and crafts.
