Deobandi Organisations

Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law,

formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives,

by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and several others, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58.

The movement pioneered education in religious sciences through the ''Dars-i-Nizami'' associated with the Lucknow-based ''ulema'' of Firangi Mahal with the goal of preserving traditional Islamic teachings from the influx of modernist, secular ideas during British colonial rule. The Deobandi movement's Indian clerical wing, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was founded in 1919 and played a major role in the Indian independence movement through its participation in the Pan-Islamist ''Khalifat'' movement and propagation of the doctrine of composite nationalism.

Theologically, the Deobandis uphold the doctrine of ''taqlid'' (conformity to legal precedent) and adhere to the Hanafi school. Founders of the Deobandi school Nanautavi and Gangohi drew inspiration from the religio-political doctrines of the prominent South Asian Islamic scholar and Sufi reformer Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703–1762 CE / 1114–1175 AH). In its early years, Deobandi ''ulema'' engaged in theological debates with Christian and Hindu scholars; with the objective of defending Islamic faith, and to form a popular struggle to overthrow British colonialism. Deobandi theologians of Jamiat Ulema e-Hind, in particular, discussed about multiculturalism and opposition to the partition of India, with a strategic vision to safeguard the religious freedom of Muslims in India.

In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Saudi Arabia decided to support the Deobandi movement due to its popularity in the Pashtun regions in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which influenced the movement with Salafi ideals. From the early 1980s to the early 2000s, Deobandis were robustly funded by Saudi Arabia. Pakistan also strongly supported Deobandi ''Mujahidin'' to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and India in the Kashmir insurgency, owing to their affiliation with the Pan-Islamist legacies of Shah Waliullah and the Silk Letter Movement in the subcontinent. Alongside Jamaat-e-Islami, Deobandi Islamist militias constituted the most committed volunteers for the anti-communist Afghan Jihad.

The movement has spread from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to the United Kingdom, and has a presence in South Africa. The Pakistani and Afghan branches and the original Indian seminaries have far less contact since the Partition of India, for political reasons related to the India–Pakistan border. Followers of the Deobandi movement are extremely diverse; some advocate for non-violence and others are militant.

Foundation and expansion

British colonialism in India was seen by a group of Indian scholars—consisting of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, Shah Rafi al-Din, Sayyid Muhammad Abid, Zulfiqar Ali, Fazlur Rahman Usmani and Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi—to be corrupting Islam. The group founded an Islamic seminary (''madrassa'') known as Darul Uloom Deoband,Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies, p. 626. where the Islamic revivalist and anti-imperialist ideology of the Deobandis began to develop. In time, the Darul Uloom Deoband became the second largest focal point of Islamic teaching and research after the Al-Azhar University, Cairo. Towards the time of the Indian independence movement and afterward in post-colonial India, the Deobandis advocated a notion of composite nationalism by which Hindus and Muslims were seen as one nation who were asked to be united in the struggle against the British rule.

In 1919, a large group of Deobandi scholars formed the political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and opposed the partition of India. Deobandi scholar Maulana Syed Husain Ahmad Madani helped to spread these ideas through his text ''Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam''. A group later dissented from this position and joined Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League, including Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Zafar Ahmad Usmani and Muhammad Shafi Deobandi, who formed the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1945.

Through the organisations such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and Tablighi Jamaat, the Deobandi movement began to spread. Graduates of Darul Uloom Deoband in India from countries such as South Africa, China, and Malaysia opened thousands of ''madaaris'' throughout the world.

India

The Deobandi Movement in India is controlled by the Darul Uloom Deoband and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.

Pakistan

Of Pakistan's estimated 230 million Muslims, some 15-30% or 40-80 million Pakistani Muslims consider themselves Deobandi, forming majority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. It is the most followed Movement among Pashtuns and Balochs.
This estimates that 15% of Pakistani Muslims are Deobandi and 20% Shia, which equates to about 19% of Pakistan's Sunni Muslims being Deobandi. According to Heritage Online, nearly 65% of the total seminaries (Madrasah) in Pakistan are run by Deobandis, whereas 25% are run by Barelvis, 6% by Ahl-i Hadith and 3% by various Shia organizations. The Deobandi movement in Pakistan was a major recipient of funding from Saudi Arabia from the early 1980s up until the early 2000s, whereafter this funding was diverted to the rival Ahl al-Hadith movement. Having seen Deoband as a counterbalance to Iranian influence in the region, Saudi funding is now strictly reserved for the Ahl al-Hadith.

Deobandi-affiliated groups such as the TTP, SSP, Let, etc. have a militant character and have attacked and destroyed Sufi sites holy to Sunni Muslims of the Barelvi movement, such as Data Darbar in Lahore, Abdullah Shah Ghazi's tomb in Karachi, Khal Magasi in Balochistan, and Rahman Baba's tomb in Peshawar.

Bangladesh

As with the rest of the Indian subcontinent, the majority of Muslims in Bangladesh are traditional Sunni, who mainly follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence (madh'hab) and consequently the Maturidi school of theology. The majority of them are Deobandi along with Tablighi (51%) Or 80 Million Muslims and Barelvi or Sufi (26%); the Deobandi, in the form of Qawmi institutions, own the vast majority of private Islamic seminaries and produce the majority of the ulema in Bangladesh. Among Sunnis who are not traditional Hanafi, the Salafi-influenced Ahle Hadith and the Jamaat e Islami (19%) have a substantial following.

Afghanistan

Deobandi Islam is the most popular form of pedagogy in the Pashtun belt on both sides of the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, prominent Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders have studied in Deobandi seminaries.

United Kingdom

In the 1970s, Deobandis opened the first British-based Muslim religious seminaries (Darul-Ulooms), educating imams and religious scholars. Deobandis "have been quietly meeting the religious and spiritual needs of a significant proportion of British Muslims, and are perhaps the most influential British Muslim group." In 2015 Ofsted highlighted the Deobandi seminary in Holcombe as a good example of a school "promoting British values, preventing radicalisation and protecting children".Alternative URL
The journalist, Andrew Norfolk, did not agree with this assessment.

According to a 2007 report by Andrew Norfolk, published in ''The Times'', about 600 of Britain's nearly 1,500 mosques were under the control of "a hardline sect", whose leading preacher loathed Western values, called on Muslims to "shed blood" for Allah and preached contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus. The same investigative report further said that 17 of the country's 26 Islamic seminaries follow the ultra-conservative Deobandi teachings which ''The Times'' said had given birth to the Taliban. According to ''The Times'', almost 80% of all domestically trained Ulema were being trained in these hardline seminaries. An opinion column in ''The Guardian'' described this report as "a toxic mixture of fact, exaggeration and outright nonsense."

In 2014 it was reported that 45 per cent of Britain's mosques and nearly all the UK-based training of Islamic scholars are controlled by the Deobandi, the largest single Islamic group.

Most Muslim prison chaplaincies in Britain are Deobandi, and in 2016 Michael Spurr (chief executive of the National Offender Management Service) wrote to Britain's prison governors bringing to their attention that Ofsted had said that "the UK’s most influential Deobandi seminary promotes 'fundamental British values such as democracy, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths'."

Beliefs

The Deobandi movement sees itself as a scholastic tradition that grew out of the Islamic scholastic traditions of Medieval Transoxania and Mughal India, and it considers its visionary forefather to be Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762). Dehlawi was a contemporary of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703 - 1792), a great scholer, and they studied in Medina under some of the same teachers.

Theology

In tenets of faith, the Deobandis follow the Maturidi school of Islamic theology.
Their schools teach a short text on beliefs by the ''Maturidi'' scholar Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi.Martin van Bruinessen, Stefano Allievi, Producing Islamic Knowledge: Transmission and Dissemination in Western Europe, p 100.

Fiqh (Islamic law)

Deobandis are strong proponents of the doctrine of ''Taqlid''. In other words, they believe that a Deobandi must adhere to one of the four schools (madhhabs) of Sunni Islamic Law and generally discourage inter-school eclecticism. They themselves claims the followers of the Hanafi school. Students at madrasas affiliated with the Deobandi movement study the classic books of Hanafi Law such as ''Nur al-Idah'', ''Mukhtasar al-Quduri'', ''Sharh al-Wiqayah'', and ''Kanz al-Daqa’iq'', culminating their study of the madhhab with the ''Hidayah'' of ''al-Marghinani''.

With regard to views on ''Taqlid'', one of their main opposing reformist groups are the Ahl-i-Hadith, also known as the '' Ghair Muqallid'', the nonconformists, because they eschewed ''taqlid'' in favor of the direct use of Quran and Hadith. They often accuse those who adhere to the rulings of one scholar or legal school of blind imitation'','' and frequently demand scriptural evidence for every argument and legal ruling. Almost since the very beginnings of the movement, Deobandi scholars have generated a copious amount of scholarly output in an attempt to defend their adherence to a ''madhhab'' in general. In particular, Deobandis have penned much literature in defense of their argument that the Hanafi madhhab is in complete accordance with the ''Quran'' and ''Hadith''.

Hadith

In response to this need to defend their ''madhhab'' in the light of scripture, Deobandis became particularly distinguished for their unprecedented salience to the study of ''Hadith'' in their madrasas. Their ''madrasa'' curriculum incorporates a feature unique among the global arena of Islamic scholarship, the ''Daura-e Hadis'', the capstone year of a student's advanced madrasa training, in which all six canonical collections of the Sunni Hadith (the ''Sihah Sittah'') are reviewed.

In a Deobandi madrasa, the position of ''Shaykh al-Hadith'', or the resident professor of Sahih Bukhari, is held in much reverence. Their views were widely shared by a broad range of Islamic reform movements of the colonial period.

Sufism and Wahhabism

Deobandis oppose traditional Sufi practices such as celebrating the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and seeking help from him, the celebration of ''Urs'', pilgrimage to the shrines of Sufi saints, practice of ''Sema'', and loud ''dhikr''. Some Deobandi leaders incorporate elements of Sufism into their practices. Deoband's curriculum combined the study of Islamic holy scriptures (Quran, hadith and law) with rational subjects (logic, philosophy and science). At the same time it was Sufi in orientation and affiliated with the Chisti order.

Arshad Madani and an influential Deobandi scholar and leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, on the other hand rejected Sufism and said, "Sufism is no sect of Islam. It is not found in the Quran or Hadith. .... So what is Sufism in itself? This is a thing for those who don't know Quran and Hadith." He also said, "Sufism is nothing."

Founders of the Deobandi school, Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, were inspired by the religio-political doctrine of Shah Waliullah and also by Wahhabi ideology, amongst other sources of inspiration. Gangohi studied under the Sufi shaykh Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, although he differed with his views in many ways. Gangohi's ''Fatawa-yi Rashidiyya'' opposed traditional Sufi practices such as loud ''dhikr'', visiting the tombs of Sufi saints, celebrating ''Urs'', visualizing or contemplating on a Sufi master (''tasawwur-e-shaykh''), reciting the ''Fatihah'' on special occasions, and engaging in ''Sema''.

Darul Uloom Deoband's conservatism and fundamentalist theology has latterly led to a ''de facto'' fusion of its teachings with Wahhabism in Pakistan, which "has all but shattered the mystical Sufi presence" there. Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi, noted hadith scholar and Sufi Shaykh of Deobandis, says that,

Positions

According to Brannon D. Ingram, Deobandis differ from Barelvis on three theological positions. Gangohi stated that God has the ability to lie. This doctrine is called ''Imkan-i Kizb''. According to this doctrine, because God is omnipotent, God is capable of lying. Gangohi also supported the doctrine that God has the ability to make additional prophets after Muhammad (''Imkan-i Nazir'') and other prophets equal to Muhammad. Gangohi clarifies that although God has the ability to make prophets on "par" with Muhammad, he "would never do so." This goes against traditional Sufi beliefs which see Prophet Muhammad as the apex of creation. Gangohi opposed the Sufi doctrine that Muhammad has knowledge of the unseen (''ilm e ghaib''). This belief of the Deobandis conflicts with traditional Sufi views of Muhammad having unparalleled and unequal knowledge that encompasses the unseen realm. Gangohi also issued multiple fatwas against the Mawlid and stated it is an innovation (''bidah''), opposed the practice of standing up in honour of Muhammad during Mawlid.

Organizations

Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind

Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind is one of the leading Deobandi organizations in India. It was founded in British India in 1919 by Abdul Mohasim Sajjad, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Ahmed Saeed Dehlvi, and Mufti Muhammad Naeem Ludhianvi and the most importantly Kifayatullah Dehlawi who was elected the first president of Jamiat and remained in this post for 20 years. The Jamiat has propounded a theological basis for its nationalistic philosophy. Their thesis is that Muslims and non-Muslims have entered upon a mutual contract in India since independence, to establish a secular state. The Constitution of India represents this contract.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) is a Deobandi organization, part of the Deobandi movement. The JUI formed when members broke from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in 1945 after that organization backed the Indian National Congress against the Muslim League's lobby for a separate Pakistan. The first president of the JUI was Shabbir Ahmad Usmani.

Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam

Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, was a conservative Deobandi political party in the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj (prior to the independence of Pakistan) founded 29 December 1929 at Lahore. Chaudhry Afzal Haq, Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi, Mazhar Ali Azhar, Zafar Ali Khan and Dawood Ghaznavi were the founders of the party. The Ahrar was composed of Indian Muslims disillusioned by the Khilafat Movement, which cleaved closer to the Congress Party.Christophe Jaffrelot.
A history of Pakistan and its origins
'. Anthem Press, 2004. The party was associated with opposition to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and against establishment of an independent Pakistan as well as criticism of the Ahmadiyya movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Majlis-e-Ahrar divided in two parts. Now, Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam is working for the sake of Muhammad, nifaaz Hakomat-e-illahiyya and Khidmat-e-Khalq. In Pakistan, Ahrar secretariat is in Lahore and in India it is based in Ludhiana.

Tablighi Jamaat

Tablighi Jamaat, a non-political Deobandi missionary organisation, began as an offshoot of the Deobandi movement. Its inception is believed to be a response to Hindu reform movements, which were considered a threat to vulnerable and non-practising Deobandi Muslims. It gradually expanded from a local to a national organisation, and finally to a transnational movement with followers in over 200 countries. Although its beginnings were from the Deobandi movement, it has now established an independent identity though it still maintains close ties with Deobandi ulema in many countries with large South Asian Muslim populations such as the UK.

Associated political organizations

* Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
* Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
* Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
* Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
* Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh

Associated militant organizations

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) (Army of Jhangvi) was a Deobandi militant organization. Formed in 1996, it operated in Pakistan as an offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP). Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors. The group, now practically defunct since the unsuccessful Operation Zarb-e-Azab, is considered a terrorist group by Pakistan and the United States, It was involved in attacks on civilians and protectors of them. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is predominantly Punjabi. The group has been labelled by intelligence officials in Pakistan as a major security threat.

Taliban

The Taliban ("students"), alternative spelling Taleban, is an Islamic fundamentalist political and militant movement in Afghanistan. It spread into Afghanistan and formed a government, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until December 2001, with Kandahar as the capital.
While in power, it enforced its strict interpretation of Sharia law. While many leading Muslims and Islamic scholars have been highly critical of the Taliban's interpretations of Islamic law, the Darul Uloom Deoband has consistently supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, including their 2001 destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and the majority of the Taliban's leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism. Pashtunwali, the Pashtun tribal code, also played a significant role in the Taliban's legislation. The Taliban were condemned internationally for their brutal treatment of women.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (the TTP), alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. In December 2007 about 13 groups united under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud to form the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Among the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's stated objectives are resistance against the Pakistani state, enforcement of their interpretation of sharia and a plan to unite against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

The TTP is not directly affiliated with the Afghan Taliban movement led by Mullah Omar, with both groups differing greatly in their histories, strategic goals and interests although they both share a primarily Deobandi interpretation of Islam and are predominantly Pashtun.

Sipah-e-Sahaba

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) is a banned Pakistani militant organization, and a formerly registered Pakistani political party. Established in the early 1980s in Jhang by the militant leader Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, its stated goal is primarily to deter major Shiite influence in Pakistan in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. The organization was banned by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 as being a terrorist group under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.B. Raman
"Musharraf's Ban: An Analysis"
''South Asia Analysis Group '', Paper no. 395, 18 January 2002
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 26 July 2005
In October 2000 Masood Azhar, another militant leader, and founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was quoted as saying that "Sipah-e-Sahaba stands shoulder to shoulder with Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jehad." A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable described JeM as "another SSP breakaway Deobandi organization."

Notable institutions

Right after Darul Uloom Deoband, the main center of Deobandism throughout the world, Mazahir Uloom, Saharanpur is the second known Deobandi madrassa in India, which produced the scholars like Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi. Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi's established Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad, the alma of scholars like Mufti Mahmud has its position. Darul Uloom Karachi, founded by Mufti Shafi Usmani, Jamia Binoria and Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Pakistani are top Deobandi institutions there. Darul Uloom Bury, Holcombe, established by Yusuf Motala, Darul Ulum Newcastle, was founded in 1971 by Cassim Mohammed Sema and Dar al-Ulum Zakariyya in Lenasia, Madrasah In'aamiyyah, Camperdown is known for its Dar al-Iftaa (Department of Fatwa Research and Training) which runs the popular online fatwa service, Askimam.org. Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam is the first established Deobandi madrassa in Bangladesh, which produced the scholars like Shah Ahmad Shafi, Junaid Babunagari. Al-Rashid Islamic Institute, Ontario, Canada, Darul Uloom Al-Madania in Buffalo, New York, Jamiah Darul Uloom Zahedan in Iran and Darul Uloom Raheemiyyah are some top Deobandi institutions.

Scholars

* Mahmud Deobandi (died 1886) – First teacher of Darul Uloom Deoband.
* Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (1851–1920) – popularly known as "Shaykh al-Hind".
* Ashraf Ali Thanwi (1863–1943)
* Anwar Shah Kashmiri (1875–1933)
* Hussain Ahmed Madani (1879–1957)
* Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi (1884–1944)– Founder of Tablighi Jamaat.
* Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (1887–1949)
* Muhammad Shafi Deobandi (1897–1976)
* Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi (1898–1982)
* Abdul Matin Chowdhury (1915–1990)
* Shah Ahmad Shafi (1916–2020), former Chief of Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh, rector of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam Hathazari and also the chairman of Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasah Education Board.
* Abdur Rahman Bangladeshi (1920–2015) – ''He was the founder director of Islamic Research Center Bangladesh, Dhaka & Many Deobandi school.'' Ex chairman of the ''Shariah Council'' of Many Islamic Bank.
* Muhammad Abdul Wahhab (1923–2018) – former (Amir of Tablighi Jamaat Pakistan Chapter).
* Nur Uddin Gohorpuri (1924–2005)
* Khalid Mahmood (1925–2020) – UK. He was the founder and Director of The Islamic Academy of Manchester. which was established in 1974. He served formerly as a Professor at Murray College Sialkot and also at MAO College Lahore. He obtained a PhD in Comparative Religion from University of Birmingham in 1970. He has authored over 50 books, and has served as the Justice of Supreme court of Pakistan (Shariat Appellate Bench).
* Muhammad Yunus Jownpuri (1937-2017) - Senior hadith scholar and former Shaykh al-Hadith of Mazahir Uloom, Saharanpur. He was among the senior students and disciples of Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi.
* Yusuf Motala

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