Deoband Movement

Why is in news? The politics of the madrasa survey

The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the Deoband Moovement. It was a revivalist movement.

Twin objectives were: i) To propagate among the Muslims the pure teachings of the Koran and the Hadis & ii) To keep alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

The Deoband Movement was begun at the Darul Uloom (or Islamic academic centre), Deoband, in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi to train religious leaders for the Muslim community.

In contrast to the Aligarh Movement, which aimed at the welfare of Muslims through Western education and support of the British government, the aim of the Deoband Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community.

On the political front, the Deoband school welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress and in 1888 issued a fatwa (religious decree) against Syed Ahmed Khan’s organisations, the United Patriotic Association and the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Association.

Mahmud-ul-Hasan, the new Deoband leader, gave a political and intellectual content to the religious ideas of the school. He worked out a synthesis of Islamic principles and nationalist aspirations.

The Jamiat-ul-Ulema gave a concrete shape to Hasan’s ideas of protection of the religious and political rights of the Muslims in the overall context of Indian unity and national objectives.

Shibli Numani, a supporter of the Deoband School, favoured the inclusion of English language and European sciences in the system of education.

He founded the Nadwatal Ulama and Darul Uloom in Lucknow in 1894-96.

He believed in the idealism of the Congress and cooperation between the Muslims and the Hindus of India to create a state in which both could live amicably.