This group photograph shows the cub scouts of Rawdat Al-Maaref National Islamic School in Jerusalem, pictured with their teachers, including men in religious dress alongside others in Western-style suits. The scouts’ marching band is equipped with brass instruments and drums, including a bass drum. Rawdat Al-Maaref was founded in Jerusalem in 1906 and is considered the first Islamic school in the city built around a modern national curriculum. It later operated under the support of the Supreme Muslim Council1 and became known for its student magazine and its scouting and extracurricular activities.2 School bands were common features of prominent Palestinian national schools in the late Ottoman and early Mandate periods, used for public ceremonies, national holidays, and school celebrations.
Photo
The Cub Scouts
The cub scouts at Rawdat Al-Maaref school featuring a marching-style boy band along with religious and academic teachers, early 20th century
Credit:
Rawdat Al-Maaref School and College
Notes
1
“Rawdat al-Ma‘arif al-Wataniyya (College)” [in Arabic], Encyclopedia Palestine, accessed September 28, 2026.
2
Ela Greenberg, “Majallat Rawdat al-Ma'arif: Constructing Identities within a Boys’ School Journal in Mandatory Palestine,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 35, no. 1(2008): 79–95.