The Deoband School And The Demand For Pakistan

Last updated

The Deoband School And The Demand For Pakistan
The Deoband School And The Demand For Pakistan (cover art).jpg
English cover
AuthorZiaul Hasan Farooqi
LanguageEnglish
Subject Deobandi politics
PublisherAsia Publishing House
Publication date
1963
Publication placeIndia
Pages148
ISBN 9780210338353
OCLC 1079368232
Website escholarship.mcgill.ca

The Deoband School And The Demand For Pakistan is a book authored by Ziaul Hasan Farooqi, a Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia. Published in 1963 by Asia Publishing House in New Delhi, this work wielded considerable influence over contemporary policies. Originally, it sprang forth from the author's MA thesis, concluded in 1959 at McGill University, it stands as the earliest English exploration of Deobandi thought. [1] Positioned approximately 90 miles away from Delhi, the Deoband School emerged as a seminary primarily focused on training nationalists. From its inception, the Deoband School embraced a religious movement that professed unwavering loyalty to the nation. Throughout the freedom movement, it opposed British rule and consistently rejected the Muslim League's struggle for the establishment of Pakistan. The author contends that this book represents an endeavor to unravel the paradoxical position of the Deoband School and illuminate the roots of its opposition to the demand for Pakistan by Indian Muslims. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the Deoband School's traditional perspectives on culture, religion, and religious studies is also presented. [2] [3]

Contents

Content

The inception of the Dcoband School can be traced back to its origins as an 'Arabi maktab' after the events of 1857, eventually gaining recognition as a Darul uloom in 1867. Nanawtawi, the founder, actively participated in the Battle of Shamli during the Mutiny. Deoband, as an institution, strongly opposed British rule and emphasized unwavering loyalty solely to the Hanafi school. Aligarh and Deoband represented two distinct streams of Muslim thought. The more Westernized upper middle-class Muslims gravitated towards Aligarh, while Deoband attracted orthodox Muslims from the lower middle classes. Surprisingly, despite their devoutness, the orthodox followers of Islam did not advocate for the establishment of Pakistan. [4]

Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, Nanawtawi's successor at Deoband, upheld traditional religious beliefs but issued a 'fatwa' permitting cooperation with Hindus in matters pertaining to work. According to Faruqi, the 'Ulama' were in favor of unconditional cooperation with the Congress, particularly in the pursuit of freedom. In contrast, the Western-educated Muslims associated with the Aligarh School distanced themselves from the Congress, not only due to their emphasis on education but also due to encouragement from the British. Faruqi identified British influence on a segment of Western-educated Muslims, who eventually called for a separate homeland for the Muslim 'nation.' Interestingly, it is worth noting that Western-educated Muslims, who placed less importance on religious matters, voiced concerns about the perceived threat to Islam, while the orthodox Ulamas advocated for political cooperation with Hindus. They harbored skepticism towards the Western-oriented leadership of the Muslim League. Faruqi expressed regret over the lack of sincere efforts to explore viable alternatives to the idea of Pakistan. [5]

Undoubtedly, Indian Muslims feared Hindu domination in a free India and aimed to safeguard their interests, although the partition of the country as a solution remains questionable. If Muslim nationalism itself held some mythical elements, the concept of Pakistan was intentionally imposed by the British, creating confusion among many nationalist Muslims in India. [5]

Reception

According to the observations made by British journalist Guy Wint, the book in question aims to rectify a widespread misinterpretation prevalent in England concerning the recent history of Muslims in India. It specifically focuses on correcting the prevailing notion that attributes the entirety of Muslim history to the Muslim League, while neglecting the extensive legacy of Muslim nationalism that predates the League's emergence. This book seeks to illuminate the deep historical ties between Muslim nationalism and the nationalist movement led by the Congress. [6] In a separate scholarly work titled Political Thought of Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Professor Ahmad Saeed highlights an oversight within the aforementioned book. He points out that it fails to acknowledge the crucial contributions of Ashraf Ali Thanwi and his Deobandi disciples to the Pakistan movement. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deobandi movement</span> Sunni revivalist movement in South Asia

The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of law. It was 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, Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58. They opposed influence of non-Muslim cultures on the Muslims living in South Asia. The movement pioneered education in religious sciences through the Dars-i-Nizami associated with the Lucknow-based ulama 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 Khilafat movement and propagation of the doctrine of composite nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darul Uloom Deoband</span> Islamic seminary in Uttar Pradesh, India

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim nationalism in South Asia</span>

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.

Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakimul Ummat and Mujaddidul Millat was a late-nineteenth and twentieth-century Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, thinker, reformist and the revival of classical Sufi thought from Indian subcontinent during the British Raj, one of the chief proponents of Pakistan Movement. He was a central figure of Islamic spiritual, intellectual and religious life in South Asia and continues to be highly influential today. As a prolific author, he completed over a thousand works including Bayan Ul Quran and Bahishti Zewar. He graduated from Darul Uloom Deoband in 1883 and moved to Kanpur, then Thana Bhawan to direct the Khanqah-i-Imdadiyah, where he resided until the end of his life. His training in Quran, Hadith, Fiqh studies and Sufism qualified him to become a leading Sunni authority among the scholars of Deoband. His teaching mixes Sunni orthodoxy, Islamic elements of belief and the patriarchal structure of the society. He offered a sketch of a Muslim community that is collective, patriarchal, hierarchical and compassion-based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmud Hasan Deobandi</span> Indian Muslim scholar and activist (1851–1920)

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 Nanawtawi and Mahmud Deobandi, and he was authorized in Sufism by Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shabbir Ahmad Usmani</span> Pakistani Islamic scholar (1887–1949)

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was an Islamic scholar and an activist of the Pakistan Movement, who served as the Shaykh al-Islām of Pakistan in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasim Nanawtawi</span> Indian Muslim scholar and co-founder of Darul Uloom Deoband

Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi was an Indian Sunni Hanafi Maturidi Islamic Scholar, theologian and a Sufi who was one of the main founders of the Deobandi Movement, starting from the Darul Uloom Deoband.

Muhammad Masihullah Khan Sherwani Jalalabadi was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar known as an authority in Sufism. He was among the senior authorised disciples of Ashraf Ali Thanwi, who gave him the title Masīh al-Ummah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Salim Qasmi</span> Indian Muslim scholar (1926–2018)

Muhammad Salim Qasmi Siddiqi was an Indian Muslim scholar who co-founded the Darul Uloom Waqf in Deoband and served as its first rector. He was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband. He received the fourth Shah Waliullah Award and was honoured with the Mark of Distinction from Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zafar Ahmad Usmani</span> 20th-century Islamic scholar and influential figure of the Hanafi school of thought

Zafar Ahmad Usmani, was a 20th Century Sunni Muslim Jurist who became an influential figure of the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence's Deobandi Movement. He also was a prominent Pakistan Movement activist.

Zayn al-Abidin Sajjad Meerthi (1910–1991) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and historian and head of the Islamic studies department of Jamia Millia Islamia. His book Tarikh-e-Millat is required reading in the syllabus of Darul Uloom Deoband and in madrasas affiliated with it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Deobandi movement</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Darul Uloom Deoband</span>

This bibliography of Darul Uloom Deoband is a selected list of generally available scholarly resources related to Darul Uloom Deoband, a leading Islamic seminary and Muslim theological centre in India at which the Deobandi movement began, founded in 1866. It is one of the most influential reform movements in modern Islam. It created a largest network of satellite madrasas all over the world especially India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan neighboring countries in Asia and beyond, and as far afield as the Caribbean, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. Islamic Revival in British India by Barbara D. Metcalf was the first major monograph specifically devoted to the institutional and intellectual history of Deoband. Syed Mehboob Rizwi wrote History of Darul Uloom Deoband in 1977 in 2 volumes. This list will include Books and theses written on Darul Uloom Deoband and articles published about Deoband in various journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, seminars, websites etc. in APA style. Only bibliography related to Darul Uloom Deoband will be included here, for Deobandi movement, see Bibliography of Deobandi Movement.

The Deoband–Aligarh relationship refers to the historical and ideological tensions that existed between the Deobandi and Aligarh movements in British India during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Darul Uloom Deoband and Aligarh Muslim University are two influential Islamic educational institutions in India that have played significant roles in the country's history. Darul Uloom Deoband is a conservative Sunni Islamic seminary that was founded in 1866 and has focused on traditional Islamic learning and the promotion of Islamic values and practices. Aligarh Muslim University, primarily Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, on the other hand, is a modernist Islamic institution that was founded in 1875 and has focused on modern education and the promotion of rationalism, science, and social reform. The relationship between Deoband and Aligarh has been complex and has often been marked by tensions and disagreements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deobandi movement in South Africa</span> History of Deobandi movement

Darul Uloom Deoband was established in 1866 in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India, as part of the anti-British movement. It gave rise to a traditional conservative Sunni movement known as the Deobandi movement. 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 organizations such as Tablighi Jamaat, Sufism and Jamiat, 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 recognized 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 the path of the Tabligh Jamaat. Through the work of several spiritual personalities of the Deobandis, the tradition of Deoband's Tasawwuf (Sufism) has taken root in South Africa. Among them are Zakariyya Kandhlawi, Masihullah Khan, Mahmood Hasan Gangohi and Asad Madani. South African Deobandi Muslims have many important and influential educational and socio-political organizations 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deobandi fiqh</span> School of Islamic law

Deobandi fiqh is a school of Islamic jurisprudence that is based on the Hanafi school of Islamic law. It is associated with the Deobandi movement, which originated in India in the late 19th century and has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly in South Asia. Deobandi fiqh emphasizes a strict adherence to the Quran and the Sunnah, and seeks to ensure that all aspects of daily life are guided by Islamic law. It places a strong emphasis on the principles of fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, and is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic law. It also emphasizes the importance of Islamic ethics and morality, and emphasizes the need for Muslims to lead a pious and virtuous life. Deobandi fiqh has had a significant influence on Islamic education and scholarship, particularly in South Asia and among the global South Asian diaspora. It plays a foundational role in the judiciary of Afghanistan. It has also been associated with various Islamic political movements and has been a subject of controversy and debate within the Muslim community.

Badre Alam Merathi was a mid-twentieth-century hadith scholar and poet originally from Meerut, initially migrated to Pakistan and eventually settled in Medina. Best known as the interpreter of Anwar Shah Kashmiri's teachings, he was a disciple of both Kashmiri and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. Educated at Mazahir Uloom and Darul Uloom Deoband, he taught at both institutions and Jamia Islamia Talimuddin. During his tenure at Jamia Islamia Talimuddin, he compiled Fayd al-Bari, a four-volume Arabic commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, published in Cairo with financial support from Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal, considered a masterpiece in hadith commentary. He was also associated with Nadwatul Musannifeen and authored Tarjuman al-Sunnah, a 4-volume hadith explanation designed for contemporary needs, widely acknowledged in academic circles. In his final years, he focused on teaching hadith in Prophet's Mosque, where many South Africans pledged allegiance to him, expanding his spiritual influence in South Africa.

Sharif Hasan Deobandi was an Indian Islamic scholar and Muhaddith. He served as Sheikh al-Hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband from 1972 to 1977. He also worked as a professor of Hadith and Sheikh al-Hadith at Jamia Islamia Talimuddin in Dabhel for almost ten years.

References

  1. Chaudri, Zeeshan (2022). Demarcating the Contours of the Deobandi tradition via a study of the 'Akābirīn' (PhD thesis). SOAS University of London. p. 17. doi:10.25501/soas.00037291. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. Akhatar, Javed (2016). Jamia Millia Islamias contribution to Islamic studies since 1920 (Thesis). India: Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. p. 51. hdl:10603/210671.
  3. Akhtar, Muhammad Naveed (2022). "Darul Ulum Deoband: Preserving Religious And Cultural Integrity Of South Asian Muslims Through Structural And Strategic Innovations". Hamdard Islamicus. 45 (3): 84. doi: 10.57144/hi.v45i3.326 . ISSN   0250-7196. S2CID   252890505. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  4. Basu, Aparna (1964). "Book Review : The Deoband School and the demand for Pakistan ZIYA-UL-HASAN FARUQI". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 1 (3): 102. doi:10.1177/001946466400100307. ISSN   0019-4646. S2CID   144233649. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 Basu 1964, p. 103.
  6. Wint, Guy (1 October 1963). "The Deoband School and the Demand for Pakistan". International Affairs. 39 (4): 634. doi:10.2307/2609274. ISSN   0020-5850. JSTOR   2609274. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  7. Saeed, Ahmad (2013). Political Thought of Ashraf Ali Thanwi (PDF) (in Bengali). Translated by Islam, Shahidul. Dhaka: Butt Print and Publications. p. 09. ISBN   984–839-065-11