Saquib Salim

Being born and brought up in a Muslim family in the Northern Indian city of Muzaffarnagar which is barely 25 kilometres from the town of Deoband, I have witnessed the impact of the Deoband Movement over the lives of the Muslims from close quarters. A really stimulating question is; what were the circumstances that led to the transformation of the Deoband Movement into one of the largest sects in the Islamic world?

In the Islamic world the impact of Deoband as a reformist movement remains hotly debated. In recent years there is a new curiosity among scholars to understand Deoband and its teachings in the aftermath of 9/11 as the Taliban were one of its most infamous followers and so were different militant groups based in Pakistan.

Syed Mehboob Rizvi in his book, Tareekh e Deoband, writes that prior to the British rule in India educational institutions Maktabs, Madrasas etc. were state-funded. Different Nawabs, Princes or Mughal kings bestowed Ulema (Scholars) with Jagirs and gifts for their services. Students learnt from one teacher through the oath of allegiance as classrooms and syllabus for examination patterns like in the West were not in vogue. In the aftermath of the failed revolt of 1857 and fall of the Mughal dynasty, Madrasas suffered severely on account of lack of funds.

The Beginning

In the backdrop of these events, in 1866 at Chatta Mosque of Deoband a few Islamic scholars, who took an active part in the war against the British in 1857, started teaching a boy, Mahmud Hasan, who would later head this Madarsa. The institution established was innovative as well as modern in more than one way.

Barbara Metcalf in her essay, The Madrasa at Deoband: A Model for Religious Education in Modern India writes that this was a breakaway from the old system of education in India and was highly organized on the pattern of the English style. Teachers were professional and separate buildings for classrooms, library and hostels were acquired as soon as it was possible. The first time fixed syllabus and time period for the course were stipulated; the annual examination was also one such innovation for the Indian education system.

It was the first time that any educational institution was being set up in South Asia with the help of public donations until then educational institutions were set up only on the royal grants from Kings, landlords etc. 

Successful manifestation of this idea has had a huge impact not only on religious education but also on secular institutions. This model of the public donation was later adopted by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to establish Anglo Mohammedan Oriental (AMO) College at Aligarh which was later developed into Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). 

Public donations made it possible for Darul Uloom that common masses identified with the Madarsas. As people from all sections of the society had donated for it, they felt connected. The amount one donated didn’t matter; the very idea of donations gave them a feeling of having ‘their own institution’, which had a share. Moreover, it was for this reason that no elite could take hold of the institution. Only the Ulema were entitled to administer the institution.

Urdu Broke Barriers

Urdu became the medium of instruction for the first time replacing Arabic or Persian. This step brought religious learning to the common masses. Persian and Arabic were languages of the elite while Urdu was the language of the masses. Thus, it played a major role in bringing Islamic education to the common Muslims in India. On the other hand, it also led to the spread of Urdu outside the limits of Delhi, Lucknow etc. Students from across the subcontinent used to study- and they still do - with Urdu as the medium of instruction. It helped spread the language to the far off places, cutting across the barriers of dialects and languages. In a way, it helped in the rise of Urdu more than AMU as thought in popular notion.

The introduction of Urdu as the medium of instruction made common Muslims, apart from Syeds, Shaikhs and other upper castes, to come to the forefront of Islamic education. Allegedly Muslim upper castes tried to maintain their supremacy by producing texts and imparting education only in Arabic and Persian. Thus, the introduction of Urdu as a medium of introduction helped in an upward mobilization of the educationally backward sections of the Muslim community. Moreover, Deobandi institutions modelled on Darululoom were opened across the subcontinent and even overseas spreading this reformist form of Islam across the globe.

Political participation or activity of Darul Uloom can be divided into three broad periods till the independence of India since its inception in 1866. The first period starts with 1857, when both the noted founders of Darululoom Maulana Qasim Nanautwi and Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi took up arms in rebellion against the British forces under the command of their teacher Maulana Imdadullah Muhajir Makki. They took over the town of Shamli in Muzaffarnagar from British forces.  However, as the revolt failed they were prosecuted and Rashid Ahmad, one of the founders, was imprisoned.

This tells us that right from the beginning Deoband School was not aloof from the politics of the subcontinent and used to harbour an anti-colonial feeling. Right from its inception, Ulema of Darul Uloom shied away from active politics, probably to evade the hostility of the British. They believed the community needed to be strengthened first and only then reins of political power should be taken over.

Barbara Metcalf believes in the political passivity of the Deoband movement probably because she takes into account the period till 1900. But, at the turn of the century as Maulana Mahmud Hasan came to prominence (he is the same Mahmud I mentioned earlier as the first student of Darul-Uloom) politics made a comeback in a militant form. He, with many of his aides, conspired to overthrow the colonial rule from India with the help of Turkey, Germany, Afghan tribes and other princely states. Messages were distributed on silk cloths giving the movement name of ‘silk cloth conspiracy’. The conspiracy was exposed and Turkey and Germany were also defeated in the World War II.

Rise of Jamiat

Mahmud Hasan was arrested and along with Maulana Ahmad Madni - another person to head Darul Uloom later - and sent to jail in Malta. As Turkey fell Deoband again became an active part of the Khilafat movement and supported the non-cooperation movement. This can be termed as the third phase where Deoband worked along with Indian National Congress through a democratic process. An organization for political agitations was formally floated which was named Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind.

Its political activity can be gauged from the fact that it declared the goal of self-independence much before INC in 1917 did it in its Peshawar session. This organization adhered to the ideas of INC and opposed the formation of a separate Muslim state. During the partition in 1947, it appealed to the Muslims to vote for INC and oppose Muslim League. In present times JUH is not a force but still appeals to Muslims on political matters. Darul Uloom right from its inception has treated Muslim as a community that needs to be strengthened but it was not in favour of the Islamic state rhetoric like the Muslim League and believed in mutual co-existence of different religions.

As we can see from the fact that at the time of its inception Darul Uloom was open to non-muslim students also, not only it was open there were some Hindu students enrolled. When Mahmud Hasan conspired, Raja Mahendra was chosen as the head of the provisional government of India. Neither Darul Uloom opposed the English or Modern education for Muslims. All these facts point to the political and social idea of Darul-Uloom. They were for a secular state but with total freedom of practising religion.

(Saquib Salim is a historian-writer)