634 Political and Cultural History of Islam Co-Education Under the Abbasid Caliph, the co-education system existed. The formal education started at home. As soon as one could speak, it was the duty of one’s father to teach one the basics of Islam. At the age of four, boys were sent to schools and it was the starting point of their education. Under this system, along with boys, the girls were allowed to join the schools. The girls were expected to read the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. Hitti says, ”Girls were welcome to all the religious instruction in the lower grades of which their minds were capable, but there was no special desire to guide them further along the flowery and thorny path of knowledge. For after all, was not the centre of woman’s sphere the spindle”.9 System of Tution The system of appointing the private tutors for children was in vogue among the elite class of the Abbasid society. The children of wealthy had private tutors who instructed them in religion, polite, literature and art of verification. The ideals of aristocratic education may be ascertained from the instruction given by Harun al-Rashid to the tutor of his son Amin. As Tritton given, the full detail about the position of the tutor in his book namely as, ”Materials on Muslim Education in the Middle Ages.”
