|
Religious-Political Mainstreaming of the Ulama of the Deobandi Movement
Hadi Valipour
Political, social and cultural rights of Indian Muslims suffered a drastic decline after the failure of the "Sepoy Mutiny" in 1857 which is also famous as the First War of Independence of Indians against British colonialism. The British colonialist meted severe punishment to Indian Muslims who led this mutiny against them and after this event British rulers became more prejudiced against Indian Muslims and they were discriminated in all fields of life. After this historical episode the “British East India Company” changed into “British India” and the direct rule over India commenced which lasted until 1947. In this era, the British rulers in India subjugated the rights of Indian Muslims in a new political system which was implemented in this country after 1857. In order to face this great challenge some of the Muslim scholars in India got together to safeguard the religious education and social awareness among the Indian Muslims and to achieve this goal an Islamic Madrasa (seminary) was established on 30th May, 1866 in Deoband near Saharanpur and was named Darul Uloom under leadership of Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotavi. The Darul Uloom in Deoband from the beginning of its educational activities tried to promote resistance against British colonialism through Islamic education and also tried rebuild the torn identity of Indian Muslims. Over the years, the Ulama graduating from Darul Uloom in Deoband felt the necessity of playing a role in the political scene and participating in the struggle for freedom and independence of the nation which became the salient features of the Charter of Darul Uloom’s Islamic thought enshrining eight principles.
Participation in the Khilafat and Silk Letter Movements to support the Ottoman Empire after World War I, keeping pace with Indian national freedom movement against British colonialism, even a faction of Deobandi Ulama supporting the Indian Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan, establishing Deobandi religious political parties like Jamiat Ulama i-Hind in 1919, Jamiat Ulama i-Islam in 1945 and Jamiat al-Ahrar in Punjab, the missionary zeal branch of Deobandi movement named "Tablighi Jamaat" in 1920’s and Imarat Sharia in Bihar and Odisha, its offshoots forming the religious political outfits like Sipah Sahaba, Lashkar i-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Pakistan, the close cooperation of Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Darul Uloom graduates with contemporary Salafi movements (such as the Ikhwan al-Muslimoon (Muslim Brotherhood), and Jamaat i-Islami of Pakistan and the Islamic Jihadi Groups of Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1980-1988 and the emergence of the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan are all the offshoots of the network of the madrasas (Darul Uloom) established by the Ulama of the Deobandi movement in the late nineteenth and twentieth century in the Indian subcontinent which has achieved considerable growth.
The Darul Uloom in Deoband have emerged as the "Al-Azhar of India" and its affiliated network of madrasas (Darul Uloom) radiating from it reflect the evolution of a madrasa that one day began its work with one teacher (Mulla Mahmood) and one student (Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan) and nowadays have emerged as one of the largest Islamic religious educational institutions in the world and also a serious competitor to other Islamic religious centers such as Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the Hawzah (Islamic seminary) of Qom (Iran) and Najaf (Iraq) and the Wahabbi religious educational centers in Saudi Arabia.
This thesis will analyze, examine and investigate the factors which led to the establishment of the Darul Uloom in Deoband in 1866 and its transformation from an Islamic educational institution into an influential religious and political movement, the Ulama of the Deobandi movement’s political strategies in different periods in terms of socio-political conditions, the establishment of the networks of madrasas in Indian subcontinent by the graduates from the Darul Uloom in Deoband and its interaction and confrontation with Salafi stream of thought.
|
