By and large this is the educational scene and stage that the Ottomans had inherited from the Seljuks, including the basic ingredients like mektep or kuttap (school and books). In the Ottoman charters for founding primary institutions they are referred to as, “mektep, mektephane, muhalimhane, darüt'talim and darül'ilm” etc, standing respectively, for school, schoolhouse, teacher(s) house, drillhouse and knowledge house. Primary or elementary institutions were generally located either in, or near the mosque of the community. People called them either "Mahalle (negihborhood)" or "Sibyan" (pupil) mektep. They were often established by a vaqf (pious foundation), willed by notables of the state or honorables (ashraph) of the local society. Expenditures, especially that of the teacher's salary were paid from the endowed income of the vaqf. In keeping with Muslim practice elsewhere, Sibyan (or parish) schools followed a single track of simply reading the Koran in the original Arabic, without translating, understanding or interpreting the text. Ibn Khaldun (1332-1405), the most African Arab historian, sociologist and a contemporary of early Ottomans had confirmed the importance of reading, revering and loving the Koran in early childhood. Arab children were, no doubt, learning the heritage of their culture, Turkish children of the same age merely learned and became hafez (deaf and mute guardians of the book).

    The charter of the Fatih (Conqueror's) Foundation prescribed the same teaching regime. Though some schools gave higher priority to orphans, others gave equal opportunity to all 5-6 year old boys and girls of the neighborhood. Until they had sufficiently mastered reading, all children shared the same classroom or space under the supervision of a single teacher (Hojha). There were no grades or levels. For Sultans' (royal) princes there were special (shehzadegan) schools within the palace compounds. Some vaqf schools, depending on the degree of affluence in the community, provided clothing, food and pocket money as well. For encouragement of learning or in compensation for the hardship that youngsters had to undergo and survive, the Sultans and high state officials would, from time to time, make token (i.e., nominal "tenpence") distributions of money. In schools, pupils sat on their knees on the floor covered with mats or kilm carpets or on seat cushions they brought from their homes. Books were placed on X-shaped low tables, called "rahle-i tedris" (study desk), for reading, repeating and memorizing the lessons assigned by the teacher. Some praying rituals were taught in Turkish. Physical punishment, slapping girls' hands and beating boys' feet, was the rule rather than exception. At the school opening ceremonies, it was a common ritual to tell the teacher, in presence of the child, "Flesh yours, bones mine!" The teacher, was thus authorized to punish the child in any way he saw fit. In his "Method of Teaching", (1453), Huseyinoglu Ali (himself a teacher), recommended beating as an effective cure for misbehaviour and laziness. He argued that "even wild animals could be trained with lashes of the whip." If not beaten that much, the Sultan's children too were threatened by the falaka (bow and rod) hanging on the wall. The bow was used for tying and holding the feet in position. The motto of the system seems in effect to have been the same "Spare the rod spoil the child" which prevailed in western schools until recent times. However, a German traveller of the l6^th century observed that physical punishment in Ottoman schools was not as harsh as in the western schools of the times. Teachers of the Sibyan schools, popularly referred to or addressed as "Hojha", were graduates of the special programs given at the Madrasa.

    Ottomans as empire builders were interested in learning the practical arts and sciences but not so much in metaphysical speculations. Scholars returning home from the well established Madrasa located in Egypt, Iran and Western Asia, brought home an old controversy that was going on among followers of Imam Ghazali and Ibn Rushd, regarding the relationship of rational thinking to faith. Specifically, could the scientific realities of life, for example, be contradictory to the truth of faith (pillars of belief or credo). In 1478, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror put this crucial question, long over-due, before a select group of Muslim scholars. After weeks of deliberations, the scholars held up Ghazali's tahafut (incompatibility) argument against the counter views held by Ibn Rushd who, by the way, had strongly influenced the Renaissance in the west. The scholarly verdict was that the human mind, vulnerable as it is, must stop right there and yield to the faith in dogma. The Sultan had apparently confirmed this proposition which thereafter became and remained the law of the land. It marked the end of all scientific enquiries and speculations that may have fallen or seemed totally contrary to the established (sunni/orthodox) faith. The Ottomans prosecuted many young and talented persons on the grounds of would-be heresy or apostacy.

    Soon after the conquest of Constantinople, the Sultan had converted eight churches, including the famous Aya (Santa) Sophia, into Madrasa. And during 1463-71 he built a new complex, still known today as the Fatih Kulliya, consisting of a central mosque surrounded by several Madrasa, an elementary school, hospital, library, public baths, guesthouses and a public kitchen. Speculations about curricula are not conclusive but initially some rational and natural sciences like math and medicine were probably taught, soon to be discontinued, however, for fear of "incompatibility" with the Sunni faith.

    Based on the prototype set by Sultan the Conqueror, Suleiman the Magnificent had his own Suleimania Kulliya, designed and built by Sinan, the chief architect and master builder of the Empire. The Suleimania complex consisted of several schools and colleges supported by hostels and services all conveniently located around the mosque court. It still stands erect as the pride of the Empire. From charters of authorisation and salaries paid to master teachers, these Ottoman Madrasa, including those built and dedicated by Sultans themselves, seem to have been established especially for the teaching of Islam. The education lasted one to two years but could be extended if necessary.

Students were classified with respect to the levels (or schools) they attended:

• Talaba, at the sibyan (or elementary school) level,
• Softa or Suhta at lower levels, in early years of Madrasa,
• Danishmand, at higher or advanced levels of Madrasa.

    The language of instruction in all levels and schools was Arabic which in the long run lead to a dichotomy of the literate (ulema, versed in Arabic) versus the illiterate (juchela, speaking Turkish) and the inevitable low status of Turk(men)s and their spoken languages. Programs of teaching or curricula seem to have been grouped under three faculties or specialties: (1) Religion and Law, (2) The Natural Sciences, (3) Instrumental (or auxiliary for other) sciences.

1. Religion or Law (the advanced knowledge of Islam) included:

1. Tafsir (the meaning and interpretations of the Koranic text),
2. Hadith (the Prophet's sayings and checking the authenticity thereof),
3. Fiqh (the systematic, historical study of Islamic law),
4. Kelam (Islamic philosophy defending faith in Tevhid/unity),

1. The Natural Sciences (rational sciences, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy),
2. The instrumental sciences (logic, rhetoric, eloquence, precis writing and esthetics).

    This last group of useful sciences may be seen as corresponding to the trivium and the quadrivium of liberal education, innovated by Byzantines (Ostrogorski) just before their fall, with the difference that the fundamentals of western (liberal) education, in addition to the 2-R's, were considered by the Ottomans as secondary. This notion of education in time lead to vitally critical consequences –as will shortly be seen.

The Sheykh'al lslam (chief mufti), who carried a wide span of responsibilities ranging from religious affairs, to education (madrasa) and culture, vaqf (pious foundations), to municipal administration and justice, held the highest office, second in rank only to the Sadrazam (Grand Vizier). Mudarris (masters) of the Madrasa who ranked just under the Sheykh'al Islam, enjoyed some degree of administrative autonomy and academic freedom or immunity; were subject to court trials but as a rule not given the death penalty. Molla Lutfi's exceptional case is perhaps comparable to Socrates'.

After 1550, at the height of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Madrasa seemed to be in a steady decline, like the state they were part of and serving. Scholars like Kochi Beg (1631), and Katip Chelebi (1656), submitted reports for an overall reform of education, but to no avail, however. The Madrasa system just could not prevent its, fall.

    Despite serious curricular shortcomings (lack of natural sciences) and anachronistic as well as obscurantist tendencies -looking back with longing rather than surging ahead-Madrasa education up to the 1600 may be given credit for

1. The high quality and standards of physical, plant and academic life around the main mosques located at the civic centrum;
2. The excellent room and board accommodation either free of charge or within easy means and reach of scholarship holders;
3. An educational philosophy comparable to "earn and learn"; students of Madrasa, who were expected to take care of themselves, often volunteered for trouble shooting assignments given by the state.

    Kâtib Chelebi, who was a self educated man of science, well ahead of his times, strove almost single handedly for an Ottoman Renaissance and Enlightenment. Among his dozens of books is Kesh-fuz Zunun, a cyclopaedic, annotated dictionary of about 15 000 titles. He distinguished between rational politics and the Sharia. He stood for a secular state but was careful not to appear anti-sharia (Islam). He emphasized the importance of the 3-R's (including math), natural history and the primacy of original sources in education. In a way reminiscent of Aristotle's "Golden rule or ratio", he recommended moderation and conciliation, rather than conflict and extremes. He was critical of Madrasa's "instrumental sciences" (i.e., the teaching of Arabic) and recommended going to the basic 3-Rs instead. In studying philosophy, one should know where to stop and not step out of bounds (Islamic teaching) -so shun him who does not know or understand. One should appear as he is and be as he appears; i.e., "Know thyself". Though others cannot duly judge, one should also believe in God. In teaching and learning sciences watch the proper order (sequence), each branch of learning may be a prerequisite for others. Ahead of his time, he was, probably, visualizing a modern "pyramid of learning" where layers rested one on another.

    Ibrahim Müteferrika, was a Hungarian prisoner of war and a unitarian turned Muslim. In 1727, he introduced and operated the first printing press in Turkey. Though the Jews (since 1492), Gregorian Armenians (since 1567) and Orthodox Greeks (since 1627) had their own printing presses, Muslims were denied the priviledge. Müteferrika (meaning "carrier of decrees"), believed that obscurantism was the main reason for this delay. After the defeat in Vienna (1689) Ottoman power was in decline and the time was up for some renovation. Müteferrika seized on this favorable spirit known as Lale Devri (the "Tulip Era"). He was the first to print Turkish Arabic dictionaries and natural and social science texts for the Madrasa student. The fact that the total number of books printed amounted merely to 180 titles in the first hundred years, will show what a remarkable fellow this prisoner of war was.

    Besides these thinkers there are two scientists. The cartographer-Admiral Piri Reis in the early l6th century drew a set of the most accurate world maps. After loosing a sea battle however, he was executed. The natural historian Ibrahim Hakki of Erzurum (1703-1780), in his Marifetname (epistemology, 1756), anticipated Darwin's evolutionary theory. Ahead of his time, he cautiously noted that "Those who refute such knowledge may actually be committing a crime against their own faith." The fact that his book was first published in Mehmet Ali Pasha's Cairo (Egypt) in 1835 shows that he had no impact of consequence on the Ottoman cosmology or Madrasa education.