In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, discussions on ties between Islamic religious education institutions, namely madrassahs, and transnational terrorist groups have featured prominently in the Western media. In the frenzied coverage of events, however, vital questions have been overlooked: What do we know about the madrassahs? Should Western policymakers be alarmed by the recent increase in the number of these institutions in Muslim countries? Is there any connection between them and the "global jihad"?

Ali Riaz responds to these questions through an in-depth examination of the madraassahs in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. In Faithful Education, he examines these institutions and their roles in relation to current international politics.

ALI RIAZ is a professor of politics and government at Illinois State University. Previously, he worked for the BBC World Service as a senior broadcast journalist.

At a time when attention is riveted on unearthing the networks of 'Islamic terror,' wherever they might be found, there is much to be said about doing a historically nuanced study of madrassahs in the South Asian subcontinent. There has been no in-depth scholarly work tracing the social, political, and intellectual history of madrassahs in South Asia-until now.