Deobandi movement

The Deobandi are a Muslim religious revivalist movement in South Asia which has more recently also spread to other countries, such Afghanistan, South Africa and the UK. They follow the fiqh (tradition of jurisprudence) of Imam Abu Hanifa and follow Imam Abu Mansur Maturidi's thought in Aqeedah (Doctrine) and Ilm ul Kalaam (Rhetoric) i.e the science of refuting attacks on Islam made using Greek logic. The name derives from Deoband, India, where the madrassa Darul Uloom Deoband is situated.

Deobandi thought is characterised by a strict adherence to the Sunnah (the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad) and an emphasis on Sharīˤa (Islamic law) and tasawwuf (Islamic Sufi spirituality). The Deobandis are associated with the Sufi Tariqahs of the Naqshabandiyyah, Chishtiyyah, Qadiriyyah and Suhrawardiyyah. It has five main principles, which are:

Tawħīd: (Monotheism) of God; no one shares His attributes.
Sunna: Following and loving the methodology of the Messenger of God, Muhammad in every small and big matter.
Ħubbu s-Sahāba: Love of the companions of the Messenger of God, and following their way.
Taqlīd wa l-Ittibā: Giving preference to the jurisprudence of one of the earliest jurists of Islam over that of later jurists.
Jihād fī Sabīli l-Lāh: Doing Jihād in the way of God against every evil.

The Deobandi movement developed as a reaction to the British colonialism in India, whom they believed to be assimilating the Islamic religion. Fearing this, a group of Indian ˤUlāmā founded an Islamic seminary known as Darul Uloom Deoband. It is here that the Islamic revivalist and anti-imperialist ideology of the Deobandis began to develop. Gradually, their influence, through organisations such as Jamiat Ulema-e Hind and Tableeghi Jamaat, began to spread and hundreds of Madrassas and Darul Ulooms affiliated to Deoband sprouted. Notable Deobandi seminaries include Nadwatu l-Ulama (Lucknow) and Darul Uloom Karachi (Karachi, Pakistan).

Their beliefs led to the development of an antagonism with an opposition Indian Islamic movement, who became known as the Barelvis, after Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi. The Barelvis opposed the Deobandis for their opposition to several practices common in the Indian subcontinent at the time such as the celebration of Mawlid an-Nabi (the birthday of Muhammad), seeking intercession from saints and various other practices, all of which the Deobandis considered to be bidˤa "innovation". The Barelvis supported a more traditional Islam and were more receptive to Sufi folk-Islam of rural India. Such differences led to the Barelvis making takfīr (declaring to be non-Muslim) on the Deobandis, accusing them of being Wahhabis. This rivalry and antagonism has, however, declined in recent decades and generally consider each other to be part of Ahlu s-Sunnat wa l-Jāmaˤa.

Some of the early Deobandi scholars included Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, Maulana Qasim Nanotwi, Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi, Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Maulana Ilyas Khandhelawi and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, as well as Maulana Rahmatullah Kairanvi, the famous polemicist who emigrated to Arabia after the 1857 war, who was also associated with Deoband.

The Taliban are reputed to follow the teachings of the Deoband school, although some non-Deobandis claim they follow an extremely strict and simplistic version of the school's teachings. Many of the Taliban leadership completed their studies in Islamic subjects at the Deobandi institute Dar ul Uloom Haqqaaniyah at Akora Khattak in Pakistan.

Prominent Deobandi scholars today include Mufti Taqi Uthmani, Mufti Ebrahim Desai and Maulana Tariq Jameel

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