Millions of Muslim children around the world participate in Qur'anic schooling. For some, this is their only formal schooling experience; others attend both Qur'anic school and secular school. Qur'anic schooling emphasizes memorization and reproduction (recitation, reading, and transcription) of Qur'anic texts without comprehension of their literal meaning. Such practice is not unique to Muslims, nor is it restricted to religious educational contexts. In the religions that have promoted literacy, including Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Confucianism, traditional pedagogies emphasize verbatim mastery of sacred written texts as a means to develop a child's intellect, moral character, and religious community membership. It was emphasized in Western secular schools, as well (Wagner, 1983). Despite being a significant part of so many children's lives, Qur'anic schooling is under-studied and widely misunderstood by non-participants (Wagner, 1999). The need for better understanding of this schooling tradition grows as more and more non-Muslim educators in Europe and North America work with Muslim children. In this article, the author examines Qur'anic schooling, an Islamic practice that has been overlooked in the teacher education literature and frequently misrepresented in popular media since the events of September 11, 2001 (cf., McClure, 2009). Her goal is to make clear that children who participate in this schooling tradition engage in routine activities through which they may develop concepts, skills, and dispositions that have the potential to support their literacy learning in secular classrooms. (Contains 3 tables.)