In 1981, Prof. Daniel A. Wagner of the University of Pennsylvania (U.S.A.) and Prof. Abdelhamid Lotfi of Mohamed V University (Morocco) undertook a comparative study of traditional Islamic education in five countries of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Social Science Research Council, and IDRC, the study aimed to provide descriptive and analytical perspectives on Quranic schools. The following article is primarily extracted from two papers prepared by Dr. Wagner as a result of the study.