ABSTRACT
As academic sources on girls’ madrasas appeared to be scarce 1 , I tried alternative ways of finding out how they emerged. Especially during the first months of fieldwork I spent time interviewing local people associated with various Muslim organizations and driving around Delhi searching for Islamic bookshops and publishers. The scarce Urdu materials available on girls’ madrasas, like for example the section in Qamaruddin’s Hindustan Ki Deeni Darsgahen (The Madrasas of India; 1997), seemed to consist mainly of survey like information. Such surveys generally include the founding date of the respective girls’ madrasa, the number of students, affiliations with any particular Islamic school of thought, the subjects taught, and finally whether there are any ‘special’ subjects, such as ‘home science’, computer skills, and the like. 2 Although my interlocutors often showed great interest in madrasa education for girls, it was evident that among Muslims concerned with Islamic education information on this topic was generally scarce as well. In addition, those who were aware that girls’ madrasas existed were generally men who had as little access to girls’ madrasas as I did in those days.
