This intensive social biography of a rural Moroccan judge discusses Islamic education, the concept of knowledge it embodies, and its communication from the early years of colonial rule in twentieth-century Morocco to the present. The work sensitively combines the outlooks and perceptions of the author and those of the shrewd and reflective `Abd ar-Rahman, supplementing our knowledge of resurgent militant Islamic movements by describing other popularly supported Islamic attitudes toward the contemporary world. "Eickelman is an astute and delicate storyteller. His narrative illuminates 'Abd al-Rahman's biography, as Michel Foucault says, at the 'point where power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, learning processes, and everyday lives.'"---Stephen William Foster, The Middle East Journal
