This chapter sets out the historical background and contemporary context of girls’ madrasa education in India. It locates the present research within the broader academic literature. I argue that most research has either completely ignored the everyday experiences of students studying in madrasas or bracketed it in conceptual binaries of social reproduction and empowerment. Drawing on recent anthropological literature, I illustrate an important conceptual gap in research on madrasa education: the tendency to conflate madrasa educational regimes with student practice. In the last part I discuss the theoretical concepts of community, pious self-fashioning, and aspirations that inform my research.