Madrassas as a Provider of Informal Social Protection in Pakistan **

The chapter traces a brief history of madrassas in Pakistan from the medieval Islamic period to current times. It employs the results of collected data to categorize madrassas as providers of informal social protection. Firstly, the chapter briefly explains the evolution and contributions of early madrassas. Secondly, the chapter analyzes the role of madrassas during the Mughal era in India and how the colonization of India affected them. Thirdly, the chapter presents a short history of the development of the madrassas in Pakistan and the impact on them of various events in Pakistani history, followed by a brief overview of the literature on the topic of madrassas to place this study in the body of scholarship. Lastly, the chapter utilizes the survey results and semi-structured interview data to classify the madrassas in Pakistan as providers of all three components of informal social protection.