Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into teaching practice of the University of al-Qarawiyyin, Morocco, with a particular focus on Islamic pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted daily participant observations of "teaching circles" over a seven-month period. The participant observation was achieved from engaging in the daily life of al-Qarawiyyin and from developing relationships with teachers and students of the university. Findings: The fieldwork has shown that teaching methods of particular significance are based on the characterising concepts of knowledge and the sacred; and on the development of skills such as orality (both seen as oral transmission from teacher to students and as a traditional mode for transmitting knowledge in the Arab cultures) and memorisation of the sacred text. Islamic pedagogy is understood by the way these aspects are woven together. Originality/value: The paper demonstrates that what is unique to the Islamic pedagogy of al-Qarawiyyin is the deep certainty of belief in God and this underpins the oral transmission, thus facilitating memorisation, and the didactic approach towards sacred texts.