Deobandi movement
The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement that traces its origins to the founding of the Darul Uloom madrasa in Deoband, British India, in the late 19th century. 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 Khilafat movement and propagation of the doctrine of composite nationalism.
In terms of jurisprudence, the Deobandis uphold the doctrine of and adhere to the Hanafi school. Deobandis opposed the influence of non-Muslim cultures on the Muslims living in South Asia. The founders of the Deobandi school drew inspiration from the religious and political doctrines of the South Asian Islamic scholar, Salafi-oriented Sufi and theologian Ismail Dehlawi. The movement pioneered religious education through the associated with the Lucknow-based of Firangi Mahal with the goal of preserving traditional Islamic teachings from the influx of modernist and secular ideas during British colonial rule. The modern strains of the Deobandi movement are extremely diverse, with some advocating for non-violence and others being militant.
In its early years, Deobandi scholars engaged in theological debates with Christian and Hindu scholars with the objective of defending Islamic faith and advocating for the overthrow of British colonialism. Deobandi theologians of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, in particular, discussed multiculturalism and opposition to the partition of India, with a view to safeguarding the religious freedom of Muslims in India. Today, the movement has spread from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Foundation and expansion
in India was seen by a group of Indian scholars—consisting of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, Muhammad Yaqub Nanawtawi, Rafiuddin Deobandi, Sayyid Muhammad Abid, Zulfiqar Ali Deobandi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani and Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi—to be corrupting Islam. The group founded an Islamic seminary known as Darul Uloom Deoband, 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 Muslims and Hindus 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 Hussain 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, 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 managed and spread by Darul Uloom Deoband and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.Pakistan
Of Pakistan's estimated 230 million Muslims, some 15-30% consider themselves Deobandi. According to Heritage Online, nearly 65% of the total seminaries in Pakistan are run by Deobandis, whereas 25% are run by Barelvis, 6% by Ahl-i Hadith and 3% by various Shia organisations. The Deobandi movement in Pakistan was a major recipient of funding from Saudi Arabia from the early 1980s up until the early 2000s, where after this funding was diverted to the rival Ahl-i Hadith movement. Having seen Deoband as a counterbalance to Iranian influence in the region, Saudi funding is now strictly reserved for the Ahl-i 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.
Afghanistan
Deobandi is the most popular Islamic movement 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.South Africa
The Deobandi Movement has an international presence today, with its full-fledged manifestation in South Africa, a country where the movement was initiated through the Indian Gujarati merchant class. The Islamic education system of the Deobandi movement, as well as the necessary components of social and political organisations such as the Tablighi Jamat and Jamiatul Ulama South Africa are fully functioning effectively in South Africa, as they do in India. Madrasas in South Africa provide Islamic higher education and are now centers for Islamic education for foreigners who are interested in receiving a Deobandi-style education. Many of their graduates, especially from Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, are Western students. Some of South African madrasas are recognised globally, providing fatwa services. South Africa is now known for producing exceptional Islamic literature through translation and compilation. Similarly, the Tabligh Jamaat is a hub in South Africa that spreads throughout South and East Africa. Graduates of South African madrassas spend their time in service of the Tablighi Jamaat, among them are Zakariyya Kandhlawi, Masihullah Khan, Mahmood Hasan Gangohi and Asad Madni. South African Deobandi Muslims have many important and influential educational and socio-political organisations that educate the people and play an important role in religious and social activities. Among them are Jamiatul Ulama South Africa and the Muslim Judicial Council.Iran
Students from various regions, including Sistan and Baluchestan in Iran, attended Deoband, which led to the spread of its founders ideas. This movement had a significant impact on some of the new generation of Iranian intellectuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After entering Iran, the students of this school continued to expand this thinking and with the formation of missionary groups. These thoughts have been strengthened on one hand due to the cultural relationships between the Baloch tribes and on the other hand due to the connection of Sistan and Baluchestan's Iran and India's Hanafi religious leaders in Iran. Today, Deobandi thinking is one of the intellectual currents in Sistan and Baluchestan and preaching groups are active in different cities and villages. Its playing a crucial role in Iran's political landscape. The Deobandis aimed to homogenise religious schools and were opposed to certain popular practices. The Naqshbandi order played an important role for the Deobandi movement in the Persian-speaking world.United Kingdom
In the 1970s, Deobandis opened the first British-based Muslim religious seminaries, 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 2007, the Deobandis ran 17 seminaries and were producing 80 percent of home-trained Muslim clerics. They also ran 600 of Britain's nearly 1,500 mosques. In 2014 it was reported that 45 per cent of Britain's mosques and nearly all the UK-based training of Islamic scholars were controlled by the Deobandis.Journalist Andrew Norfolk found that the leading Deobandi preacher loathed western values, called on Muslims to "shed blood" for Allah and preached contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus. In 2015 Ofsted highlighted the Deobandi seminary in Holcombe as a good example of a school "promoting British values, preventing radicalisation and protecting children". Norfolk disagreed with the assessment.
Beliefs
The Deobandi movement sees itself as a scholastic tradition that grew out of the Islamic scholastic traditions of the pre-colonial Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan, and it considers its visionary forefather to be Ismail Dehlawi. Dehlawi was a contemporary of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and they studied in Medina under some of the same teachers. Muhammad Iqbal said: "The Deobandi movement is neither a creed nor a denomination – terms by which its antagonists try to incite the masses against it – but it is a comprehensive picture and a complete edition of the tack of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah in which all the offshoots of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah are seen joined with their root."Theology
Deobandis follow the Maturidi school of Sunni Islamic theology. Their schools teach a short text on beliefs known as al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya by the Hanafi-Maturidi scholar Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi.The official Deobandi book, al-Muhannad 'ala al-Mufannad, also known as: al-Tasdiqat li-Daf' al-Talbisat, is a work that summarises the beliefs generally held by the Deobandis. It was authored by Khalil Ahmad al-Saharanpuri in order to defend and remit the Deobandis from the charge of kufr levied against them by their opponents.
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 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".
Some Deobandis, known as Mamati Deobandis, believe that the Prophet is not alive in his grave. This contrasts with the Hayati Deobandis and Barelvis who believe that he is alive in his grave.