What is "maktab"

Maktab or Maktabeh or Maktabkhaneh (other transliterations include makteb, mekteb, mektep, meqteb, maqtab), also called a Kuttab ( ) “school” is an Arabic word meaning elementary schools. Though it was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar and Islamic studies such as Qira'at (Quranic recitation), other practical and theoretical subjects were also often taught. Until the 20th century, maktabs were the only means of mass education in much of the Islamic world.

Maktab refers to only elementary schools in Arabic. Maktab is used in Dari Persian in Afghanistan as an equivalent term to school, including both primary and secondary schools. Avicenna used the word maktab in the same sense.

Maktabs or kuttābs are an old-fashioned method of education in Egypt and Muslim majority countries, in which a sheikh teaches a group of students who sit in front of him on the ground. The curriculum includes Islam and Quranic Arabic, but focused mainly on memorising the Quran. With the development of modern schools, the number of kuttabs has declined. Kuttāb means "writers", plural / .

In common Modern Arabic usage, maktab means "office" while maktabah means "library" or "(place of) study" and kuttāb is a plural word meaning "books".