What Is a Madrasa?

For the last decade or so, “madrasa” has become a buzzword for various tropes, especially in the Western media. Since the 9/11 tragic attacks, the West’s attitude towards Muslims and their institutions, such as the madrasas, has taken a radical turn. The madrasas have come under severe criticism and are now under surveillance for being wrongly perceived to be breeding grounds of violence and terrorism. Ibrahim Moosa, a scholar who benefited from a madrasa education as well as from modern education, attempts in the present book to clarify the reality of this important institution, to the outside world. At the same time, he also advocates reforms in the madrasa curriculum which, he believes, is important to revive the intellectual legacy of Islamic history. Thematically arranged, and apart from a prologue and an epilogue, the book is divided into three parts, each consisting of two to four chapters. In the prologue, ‘Inside Madrasas’, the author mentions the two things that compelled him to embark on the task of writing about this institution: first, the distorted interpretation of Islam by certain extremist/terrorist groups which portrays a bad image of the madrasa....