In Qum, Iran, the theological center of higher learning, h&dotbelow;awzah `ilmīyah, illuminates a long tradition of scholarship and education in Shī`ī Islam. As the seat of the clerical establishment and the preeminent institution of advanced religious education, the hawzah produces Islamic scholars (`ulamā') and perpetuates a methodology of learning unique in the Muslim world. This study examines the philosophy, history and organization of the h&dotbelow;awzah `ilmīyah as a Shī`ī institution with emphasis on the teaching establishment in Qum since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

The first three chapters investigate the Shī`ī perspective on the philosophy of education, as intimated in the Qur'ān, and illustrated historically in the lives of the Prophet and Twelve Imams. Analyzing foundational religious texts, the Qur'ān and h&dotbelow;adīth literature, as well as primary sources, Nahj al-Balāghah, S&dotbelow;ah&dotbelow;īfah al-Sajjadīyah and Kitāb al-Irshād, the study draws on contributions in the Islamic sciences to understand the philosophical basis of Shī`ī education which underpins the organization of the teaching establishment.

The following three chapters identify the defining influence of individual scholars in shaping the h&dotbelow;awzah's evolution, just as the institution forms their own intellectual orientation. The early intellectual history of the `ulamā' mirrors the development of jurisprudence and its relationship to h&dotbelow;awzah curriculum and structure. The institution's social organization continues to rest on the teacher-student relationship, the critical nexus in the transmission of knowledge. Students master sequences of texts at three levels of study, relying on the dialogic tutorial system called mubāh&dotbelow;athah, a unique feature of the h&dotbelow;awzah. The study analyzes primary texts and secondary literature, examining educational change in organization, curriculum and instruction since the Islamic revolution.

Typically, historical studies of Islamic education have favored Sunnī sources, neglecting the Twelver Shī`ī contribution to the theory and practice of advanced religious learning. To date no extensive scholarly study of the function and form of the h&dotbelow;awzah `ilmīyah exists in English. This dissertation addresses those distinct features of Shī`ī methodology that influence notions of Islamic education, broadening an understanding of religious traditions in comparative education.