Information about traditional Islamic (or Quranic) education dates back to its inception over 1400 years ago in the Arabian Peninsula. During this millennium, Islamic religious schools have spread with Islam to more than 40 countries, spanning half the globe and teaching tens of millions of children (although exact statistics are still unavailable). Until recently, most research on Islamic schooling was historical, focused on philosophy, and was based on secondary sources (e.g., Ahmed 1968; Nakosteen 1964; Rosenthal 1947; Tales 1939; Tritton 1957; Yacoub 1890). In the last several years, a number of investigators have begun to study the various roles these Muslim schools play in countries such as Indonesia. (Jones 1980; Shaeffer 1979), Morocco (Wagner and Lofi 1980), Ghana (Bennett 1979), Liberia (Smith 1978), and the Quranic schooling (such as the primary use of the Quran as a text and of Arabic as the language of written instruction), Muslim countries around the world may vary greatly in sociocultural traditions, language, and date and degree of Islamization. The effects of these differences have resulted in a complex and varied picture of Quranic education as it adapts to societal pressures in the contemporary world.