The education and training systems in many Muslim countries have remained traditional and resistant to innovation. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has attempted to innovate whilst preserving worthwhile traditions through introducing a system of administration which combines the modern and the traditional. The attempt has been only partiy successful. This thesis attempts to throw some light on the main reasons for the technical/industrial education system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remaining weak. Chapter one looks into the historical background of education in the Arabian peninsula from the period before Islam until the emergence of Saudi Arabia. An attempt has been made to trace the main historical events which may have some significant effects on the status of the education and training system. Chapter two presents the contemporary education and training system in the country and highlights the effects of the weak relations and coordination between the various training establishments. Chapter three examines the Government's policies towards technical/industrial education through studying the five Development Plans (1970 to 1995), which explains the effects of separate planning for economy and education. Chapter four analyses the general concept of vocational education in the West as well as the Islamic notions. Some of the most important reasons for devaluation of the vocational education provision in the West and in the Islamic world have been discussed. Chapter five presents a historical sketch of the education and training system in England and extracts some lessons from its experience. Chapter six presents empirical evidence of weakness of technical/industrial education through the field work carried out in the industrial institutes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The overall summary of the thesis and the conclusions drawn from the present study are presented in chapter seven. The traditional view of education was found to be the most important among the various reasons concluded for the weakness of the education and training system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It held back the education system in isolation from social and economic developments and deprived its graduates from effective participation in the development process of the country. The thesis recommended a comprehensive and constructive integration of the modern and traditional models in the Kingdom. To achieve this comprehensive and constructive integration, extensive and broad changes of attitudes and ways of thinking are required from the policy makers of the educational system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Who were the Daughters of Allah, the three Arabian goddesses mentioned in the Qur'an and venerated by the pagan Arabs prior to the rise of Islam, and who since have vanished into obscurity? Can we reconstruct information about these goddesses by reference to earlier goddesses of the Near East? It is our intention to explore this possibility through an examination of their predecessors in view of the links between the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula. Moving back in time from the seventh century A.D. (Arabia) through the Hellenistic Period (Syro/Phoenicia 300 B.C.-A.D. 300 ) to the end of the second millennium, we shall examine those goddesses whose attributes most closely resemble the Arabian goddesses. By necessity, we will confine ourselves primarily to the goddesses of ancient Canaan¹ (Astarte) and Syria (Atargatis), compelling resemblances of these goddesses to the Arabian goddesses of the seventh century being the basis for their selection. This exploration, then, takes place in the Fertile Crescent, that region of the Near East "forming an arc between the head of the Persian Gulf and the south-east corner of the Mediterranean Sea"². These lands are a natural physical extension of the Arabian Peninsula and its inhabitants naturally migrated into these regions. As well, there is the linguistic, and, therefore, cultural, affinity of the Semitic peoples of the Fertile Crescent with those of the Arabian Peninsula, so that a search for the heritage of the Arabian goddesses would be likely to begin here. ¹Canaan (Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine) in early times extended from Hamath in the north to Gaza (Gen.10.19), and included lands east and west of the Jordan (Josh.11.3). ²Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs; From the Earliest Times to the Present, 10th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979),11. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

The ensuing study will devote itself to an analysis of the League as the first permanent attempt at institutionalizing modern Arab thought with respect to the extent of the Arab political community, its aims, and the means to be used in achieving these aims. [...]

This thesis explores the education of women in the pre-modern Middle East, particularly in legal matters. The goal of the work is to show that women in the pre-modern Middle East not only had access to education but were also learned in jurisprudence (fiqh). The work begins with a detailed discussion of the pre-modern system of learning. The first chapter explores not only the educational institutions and methods of instruction, but also the avenues and opportunities for education available to and utilized by women. The second chapter concentrates on the lives of two female jurists (faqihat). The purpose of this chapter is to explore in detail the methods by which these women acquired a legal education and obtained their status as female jurists. This work is a rudimentary effort at investigating the role of women in the pre-modern system of learning and their access to and acquisition of a legal education.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Political Science)--University of California. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 426-461).

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