For those who believe the madrasas (Islamic schools) of Pakistan are the seeding grounds for the Taliban insurgency-awash with dissatisfied and impoverished youth-they would be wise to read Masooda Bano's The Rational Believer. Although Bano rightly acknowledges that perhaps two of the 7 July 2005 London bombers received religious training in Pakistan's madrasas-and no doubt other fundamentalists, as well as those who provided protection for Osama bin-Laden-the majority, she argues, are rational believers, keen to exploit the moral and practical benefits of a religious education. Bano contends that madrasas are not ideological training camps, actively or passively, for terrorists or international jihad. Neither are they simply a free education for the poor, downhearted, or unwanted.
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