Almdrst Alqranyt Abw Bkr Alhaj Ysy

Located in the handsome Saharan gateway city of Laghouat, the Qur'anic school of Abu Bakr al Hajj Aissa offers the children of the region a loving introduction to the Book of God and to the Arabic language in which it was sent down. Laghouat lies on the northern edge of the great Algerian desert, at the foot of the Djebel Amour mountains, where palm groves watered by deep wells surround a city of whitewashed houses, narrow shaded lanes, and busy weekly markets that draw families from small settlements across the surrounding plains of the M'zab and Djelfa provinces.

Qur'anic schools of this character form the foundation of religious education across the towns and villages of Algeria and the wider Maghreb. From an early age, boys and girls attend daily classes in which they learn to recite, to write, and finally to memorise the entire Holy Qur'an, often by the age of twelve or thirteen. The older method of learning employs wooden tablets known as lawh on which students write the day's passage in reed pen ink, recite it aloud until perfectly memorised, and then wash the board clean for the next portion. The patience of generations of teachers built this tradition.

The school was endowed by Abu Bakr al Hajj Aissa, a local benefactor whose name recalls the first caliph Abu Bakr al Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, the closest friend of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. The classroom is furnished simply with low wooden desks, patterned straw mats, and bookshelves holding carefully bound copies of the Qur'an. Afternoon classes fill with the rhythmic voices of children reciting Surat Yasin, Surat al Rahman, and the shorter chapters that every Muslim child learns in the earliest years of formal religious training.

Visitors and families will find on this page accurate daily prayer times for Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha at the Laghouat school, along with its address, a location map, and helpful notes that assist residents of the southern Algerian plains, travellers crossing the desert between Algiers and the great southern oases, researchers of Qur'anic education, and parents seeking a disciplined yet gentle place in which their children may begin the lifelong journey of loving the Book of God.