The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of law. It 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. They consider themselves the continuation of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaat. The main purpose of this movement was to reject the traditional Sunni practices such as visiting shrines, celebrating “urs” and other orthodox sunni-sufi practices, which they consider as Shirk and Bidah. Heavily influenced by Salafism and Wahhabism; they opposed influence of non-Muslim cultures on the Muslim of South Asia. 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.
The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic seminary in India at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. Uttar Pradesh-based Darul Uloom is one of the most important Islamic seminaries in India and the largest in the world. It is located in Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The seminary was established by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayyid Muhammad Abid and others in 1866. Mahmud Deobandi was the first teacher and Mahmud Hasan Deobandi was the first student.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim organization that was founded on 26 October 1945 by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as a pro-Pakistan offshoot of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH). It has run candidates for office in Pakistani provincial and national elections, and splintered into several groups in 1980, 2007, and 2020.
Mufti Mehmood was a Pakistani politician and Islamic scholar who was one of the founding members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).
From a historical perspective, Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed of the University of Stockholm and Professor Shamsul Islam of the University of Delhi classified the Muslims of the subcontinent into two categories during the era of the Indian independence movement: Indian nationalist Muslims and Indian Muslim nationalists. The All India Azad Muslim Conference represented Indian nationalist Muslims, while the All-India Muslim League represented the Indian Muslim nationalists. One such popular debate was the Madani–Iqbal debate.
Hussain Ahmad Madani was an Indian Islamic scholar, serving as the principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1954.
Mahmud Hasan Deobandi was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia university and launched the Silk Letter Movement for the freedom of India. He was the first student to study at the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary. His teachers included Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Mahmud Deobandi, and he was authorized in Sufism by Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was an Islamic scholar who supported the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s. He was appointed to the position of Shaykh al-Islām of Pakistan in 1949. He was the first to demand that Pakistan become an Islamic state. He was a religious scholar, writer, orator, politician, and an expert in Tafsir and Hadith.
Abdul Haq, also known as Abdul Haq Akorwi was a Pakistani Deobandi Islamic scholar and the founder, chancellor, and Shaykh al-Hadith of the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania. He also served as vice-president of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan. He was involved in politics as a member of the political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. He served three times in the National Assembly of Pakistan and was an active proponent of the Khatme Nabuwwat movement.
As’ad Madani was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar and a politician, who served as the sixth general secretary and the seventh President of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. He was a member of the executive body of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Parliament of India representing Uttar Pradesh for three terms as a member of the Indian National Congress.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti and Sanaullah Amritsari.
Nizāmuddīn Asīr Adrawi was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, biographer, historian and author in the Urdu language. He established Madrassa Darus Salam in Adari and served as Officer In Charge of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in Lucknow from 1974 to 1978.
Composite nationalism is a concept that argues that the Indian nation is made up of people of diverse cultures, castes, communities, and faiths. The idea teaches that "nationalism cannot be defined by religion in India." While Indian citizens maintain their distinctive religious traditions, they are members of one united Indian nation. Composite nationalism maintains that prior to the arrival of the British into the subcontinent, no enmity between people of different religious faiths existed; and as such these artificial divisions can be overcome by Indian society.
Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad (1862-1930) was an Indian Muslim scholar, who served as the Vice Chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband for thirty five years. He was the Grand Mufti of the Hyderabad State from 1922 to 1925.
The Madani–Iqbal debate was a debate between Islamic scholars of 20th century British India, Hussain Ahmed Madani and Muhammad Iqbal, on the question of nationalism in the late 1930s. Madani's position throughout the debate was to insist on the Islamic legitimacy of embracing a culturally plural, secular democracy as the best and the only realistic future for India's Muslims whereas Iqbal insisted on a religiously defined, homogeneous Muslim society. Madani and Iqbal both appreciated this point and they never advocated the creation of an absolute Islamic State. They differed only in their first step. According to Madani, the first step was the freedom of India for which composite nationalism was necessary. According to Iqbal, the first step was the creation of a community of Muslims in the Muslim-majority land.
This bibliography of Deobandi Movement is a selected list of generally available scholarly resources related to Deobandi Movement, a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Deoband in British India, from which the name derives, by Qasim Nanawtawi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and several others, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58. It is one of the most influential reform movements in modern Islam. Islamic Revival in British India by Barbara D. Metcalf was the first major monograph specifically devoted to the institutional and intellectual history of this movement. Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi wrote a book named The Tradition of the Scholars of Deoband: Maslak Ulama-i-Deoband, a primary source on the contours of Deobandi ideology. In this work, he tried to project Deoband as an ideology of moderation that is a composite of various knowledge traditions in Islam. This list will include Books and theses written on Deobandi Movement and articles published about this movement in various journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, seminars, websites etc. in APA style. Only bibliography related to Deobandi Movement will be included here, for Darul Uloom Deoband, see Bibliography of Darul Uloom Deoband.
Deobandi jihadism is a militant interpretation of Islam that draws upon the teachings of the Deobandi movement, which originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century. The Deobandi movement underwent three waves of armed jihad. The first wave involved the establishment of an Islamic territory centered on Thana Bhawan by the movement's elders during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, before the founding of Darul Uloom Deoband. Imdadullah Muhajir Makki was the Amir al-Mu'minin of this Islamic territory. However, after the British defeated the Deobandi forces in the Battle of Shamli, the territory fell. Following the establishment of Darul Uloom Deoband, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi led the initiation of the second wave. He mobilized an armed resistance against the British through various initiatives, including the formation of the Samratut Tarbiat. When the British uncovered his Silk Letter Movement, they arrested him and held him captive in Malta. After his release, he and his disciples entered into mainstream politics and actively participated in the democratic process. In the late 1979, the Pakistan–Afghan border became the center of the Deobandi jihadist movement's third wave, which was fueled by the Soviet–Afghan War. Under the patronage of President Zia-ul-Haq, its expansion took place through various madrasas such as Darul Uloom Haqqania and Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) provided political support for it. Trained militants from the Pakistan–Afghan border participated in the Afghan jihad, and later went on to form various organizations, including the Taliban. The most successful example of Deobandi jihadism is the Taliban, who established Islamic rule in Afghanistan. The head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S), Sami-ul-Haq, is referred to as the "father of the Taliban."
Deobandi politics refers to a political phenomenon that originated during the 1857 Indian Rebellion in British India. Its primary objective is to establish Sharia law in various parts of the world, with a particular focus on South Asia. The movement is associated with the promotion of a conservative and orthodox interpretation of Islam that emphasizes strict adherence to Islamic law and tradition, and frequently concentrates on moral and social issues, such as the promotion of Islamic education and the defense of traditional values. The Deobandi movement has not adopted a singular model to achieve its objectives and has utilized both militant struggle and mainstream politics. Deobandi politics has undergone three waves of armed struggle, which can be identified as Deobandi jihadism. The first two waves failed, but the third wave resulted in the establishment of an Islamic state named the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. During the second wave of armed struggle, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi attempted to defeat the British in India with the assistance of the Ottoman Empire. However, his attempt failed, and he was arrested by the British. After his release, he and his disciples engaged in mainstream politics and were associated with the creation of political parties and social movements, such as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. During the Indian freedom struggle, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind evolved and embraced composite nationalism, rejecting the partition of India as the better future for Indian Muslims. Nevertheless, other Deobandis refused to accept this and developed Muslim nationalism against composite nationalism, establishing the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam to support the creation of Pakistan.
The Deoband Madrassah Movement: Countercultural Trends and Tendencies is a book authored by Muhammad Moj, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia, that aims to examine the Deobandi movement from a counter-cultural perspective, with a particular focus on its impact in Pakistan. The book comprises six chapters, providing insights that challenge conventional views of madrasas as centers of learning and socialization. Zeeshan Chaudri, a PhD scholar at SOAS University of London, commented on the book, expressing concerns about its research methodology and the potential bias in portraying the Deobandis as an intolerant faction in South Asia.
Naqsh-e-Hayat is the autobiography of Hussain Ahmed Madani, originally published in two volumes between 1953 and 1954. It provides a glimpse into his daily life, exposing the exploitative colonial practices that burdened Indians with economic hardship, eroded their cultural identity, and influenced their faith. Madani's unwavering commitment to his cause shines through, unswayed by Western-centric vested interests and hierarchical notions. The narrative delves into the reasons behind his imprisonment by the British in Malta, Sabarmati prison, and Nene Jail in Allahabad, where he endured arduous labor. The book also highlights the significant contributions of influential figures and institutions to India's eventual liberation from British colonial rule. It traces the resistance movement's roots back to the establishment of Darul Uloom Deoband by Qasim Nanawtawi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi after the 1857 British occupation of Delhi while exploring the roles of Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. Beyond documenting Madani's life, the book presents a scholarly, logical, and historical analysis of the global political events of that era. Hifzur Rahman Seoharwi's foreword adds further depth to this work.
