Hawza

A Hauwza, also Hawza, is a Shiite university in which the students are trained in various areas of Islam. There are first the basics and then even deeper knowledge learned in order to pass on this then can.

Origin

In the 11th century, the Sunni universities, Madrasa, professionalized. There were no comparable Shiite institutions because Shiism until 1501 was in Iran as the state religion. Shiite learning centers emerged in the 18th century in Hilla, Aleppo and Isfahan, in the 19th century in Najaf and Karbala. Today's main Shia seminars are located in Najaf and Qom. Qom was founded in 1922 by Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi Abdulkarim the most important Iranian Hawza, as a counterpart to Najaf. Furthermore, there are also universities in Lebanon, Syria and other Arab states.

Study

The basic and advanced studies usually last for ten years and include, among other things, the basics of subjects Qur'an sciences, logic, morality or law. Even after the basic training many of the students continued to participate in courses at the University and every part of her life studying and can achieve different ranks.

A student will receive at the end of his studies, a certificate ( īǧāzah ), where his teachers the ability to self- right judgments ( iǧtihād ) certifies him. Not infrequently, the students then switch to other teachers in order to gain a greater reputation.