A very nice piece by an intriguing Islamic intellectual:
Inside the Madrasa by Ebrahim Moosa. I met Dr. Moosa at Stanford in 2000. He was a visiting professor and I was a visitor to the Ramadan daily Iftars.
The article talks about Dr. Moosa's years studying at Indian Madrasas. I've heard about the Madrasa system from different people, and about the rivalry between the Deobandi schools vs others. This article brings to light many of these schools and their interesting development - information one wouldn't get but from an insider.
This is the first article I read by Dr. Moosa, and I have to say that I'm impressed. I'm interested in reading his Ghazali book now.