What Is A Madrasa? - Ebrahim Moosa

Ebrahim Moosa delves into the world of madrasa classrooms, scholars and texts, recounting the daily life and discipline of the inhabitants. He shows that madrasa are a living, changing entity, and the site of contestation between groups with varying agendas, goals and notions of modernity. Reading this unique and engaging introduction will provide readers with a clear grasp of the history, place and function of the madrasa in today s Muslim world (religious, cultural and political). It will also investigate the ambiguity underlying the charge that the madrasa is at heart a geopolitical institution. Structured clearly around the role and function of the madrasa in the past and the present, this study infuses history, tradition and everyday practice with concrete examples of how the institutions function.