Editing Madrasa (section)

==Definition==
=== Etymology ===
The word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' derives from the triconsonantal [[Semitic root]] د-ر-س ''D-R-S'' 'to learn, study', using the ''wazn'' ([[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] form or template) {{lang|ar|مفعل(ة)}}; {{transliteration|ar|ALA|mafʻal(ah)}}, meaning "a place where something is done". Thus, ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' literally means "a place where learning and studying take place" or "place of study".<ref>{{Cite web|title=madrasah - Origin and meaning of madrasah |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/madrasah|access-date=2020-08-13|website=Online Etymology Dictionary |language=en|archive-date=2020-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813174629/https://www.etymonline.com/word/madrasah|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> The word is also present as a [[loanword]] with the same general meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages, such as: [[Urdu]], [[Pashto]], [[Balochi language|Baluchi]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]], [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Somali language|Somali]] and [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hassim|first=E.|title=International Encyclopedia of Civil Society|publisher=Springer|year=2020|editor-last=List|editor-first=Regina A.|chapter=Madrassa|editor-last2=Anheier|editor-first2=Helmut K.|editor-last3=Toepler|editor-first3=Stefan}}</ref>

=== Arabic meaning ===
In the Arabic language, the word {{lang|ar|مدرسة}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' simply means the same as ''school'' does in the English language, whether that is private, public or parochial school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether [[Muslim]], non-Muslim, or secular.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/glossary-madrassa-or-madrasa-2352961|title=Alternate Spellings of Madrassa|work=ThoughtCo|access-date=2017-05-30|archive-date=2017-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014113940/https://www.thoughtco.com/glossary-madrassa-or-madrasa-2352961|url-status=live}}</ref><ref> ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Madrasah ʻāmmah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة عامة}}) translates as '[[Public school (government funded)|public school]]', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah khāṣṣah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة خاصة}}) translates as 'private school', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah dīnīyah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة دينية}}) translates as '[[Parochial school|religious school]]', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah Islāmīyah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة إسلامية}}) translates as 'Islamic school', and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah jāmiʻah}}'' ({{langx|ar|مدرسة جامعة}}) translates as 'university'.</ref> Unlike the use of the word ''school'' in British English, the word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' more closely resembles the term ''school'' in American English, in that it can refer to a university-level or post-graduate school as well as to a primary or secondary school. For example, in the [[Ottoman Empire]] during the [[Early Modern Period]], madrasas had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as ''danişmends''.<ref name="Ottoman">İnalcık, Halil. 1973. "Learning, the Medrese, and the Ulema." In ''The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600''. New York: Praeger, pp. 165–178.
</ref> In medieval usage, however, the term ''madrasah'' was usually specific to institutions of higher learning, which generally taught Islamic law and occasionally other subjects, as opposed to elementary schools or children's schools, which were usually known as ''[[Kuttab|kuttāb]]'', ''[[Khalwa (school)|khalwa]]''<ref>{{Cite book |last=McHugh |first=Neil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJVh-uUNSAkC&dq=%22Khalwa%22+school+-wikipedia&pg=PA85 |title=Holymen of the Blue Nile: The Making of an Arab-Islamic Community in the Nilotic Sudan, 1500-1850 |date=1994 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-1069-4 |language=en}}</ref> or ''maktab''.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /> The usual [[Arabic]] word for a university, however, is {{lang|ar|جامعة}} ''({{transliteration|ar|ALA|jāmiʻah}})''. The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[cognate]] ''[[midrasha]]'' also connotes the meaning of a place of learning; the related term ''[[midrash]]'' literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations.

=== Meaning and usage in English ===
In English, the term ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|madrasah}}'' or "madrasa" usually refers more narrowly to Islamic institutions of learning. Historians and other scholars also employ the term to refer to historical learning institutions throughout the [[Muslim world]], which is to say a college where [[Sharia|Islamic law]] was taught along with other secondary subjects, but not to secular science schools, modern or historical. These institutions were typically housed in specially designed buildings which were primarily devoted to this purpose. Such institutions are believed to have originated, or at least proliferated, in the region of [[Iran]] in the 11th century under [[vizier]] [[Nizam al-Mulk]] and subsequently spread to other regions of the Islamic world.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last1=Abaza|first1=Mona|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|last2=Kéchichian|first2=Joseph A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|chapter=Madrasah}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan M. |editor-link=Jonathan M. Bloom |volume=2 |pages=430–433 |language=en |chapter=Madrasa |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1 |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=Sheila S. |editor-link2=Sheila Blair}}</ref>