All Topics  
Darul Uloom Deoband

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Darul Uloom Deoband



 
 
The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic school
Darul uloom

Darul uloom , also transliterated dar al-`ulum, darul ulum etc., is an Arabic term which literally means "house of knowledge". The term generally means an Islamic seminary or educational institution - similar to or often the same as a madrassa or Islamic school - although a Darul Uloom often indicates a more advanced level of study....
 , where Deobandi Islamic movement was started. It is located at Deoband
Deoband

Deoband is a city and a municipal board in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the upper Doab region of Uttar Pradesh....
, a town in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a States and territories of India located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. It was founded in 1866 by several prominent ulema
Ulema

Ulema refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of Sharia law....
, headed by Al-Imam Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi. The other prominent founding scholars were Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and Haji Syed Abid Hussain.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Darul Uloom Deoband'
Start a new discussion about 'Darul Uloom Deoband'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts









Encyclopedia


The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic school
Darul uloom

Darul uloom , also transliterated dar al-`ulum, darul ulum etc., is an Arabic term which literally means "house of knowledge". The term generally means an Islamic seminary or educational institution - similar to or often the same as a madrassa or Islamic school - although a Darul Uloom often indicates a more advanced level of study....
 , where Deobandi Islamic movement was started. It is located at Deoband
Deoband

Deoband is a city and a municipal board in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the upper Doab region of Uttar Pradesh....
, a town in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a States and territories of India located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. It was founded in 1866 by several prominent ulema
Ulema

Ulema refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of Sharia law....
, headed by Al-Imam Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi. The other prominent founding scholars were Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and Haji Syed Abid Hussain. The institution is highly respected in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 and other parts of the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a large section of the Asian continent consisting of the land lying substantially on the Indian Plate. The subcontinent includes parts of various countries in South Asia, including those on the continental crust , an Island#Continental islands country on the continental shelf , and an Island#Oceanic islands countr...
.

The scholars at Darul Uloom Deoband had opposed establishment of a religious government (such as in Pakistan) and had opposed the demands of Muslim League
Muslim League

The Muslim League , founded at Dhaka in 1906, was a political party in British India that developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Islam state on the Indian subcontinent....
 led by Jinnah. Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, who was also Mohtamim or principal of Darul Ulum Deoband and led the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind, the most prestigious organization of the Ulema, saw nothing Islamic in the idea of Pakistan. He said: "all should endeavor jointly for such a democratic government in which Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis are included. Such a freedom is in accordance with Islam." The school, even though it advocates an orthodox version of Islam, has repeatedly distanced itself from religious militancy.

Background

In 1857, the British East India Company put down independence movement by disparate north Indian forces, conducted in the name of the otherwise powerless Bahadur Shah Zafar Durrani
Bahadur Shah II

Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar , also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur Shah II ; 24 October 1775 7 November 1862) was the last of the Mughal Empire in India , as well as the last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty ....
. Emperor Zafar became the last Mughal Emperor, for he was deposed the following year and exiled to Burma, with many of his sons -- princes of the decadent dynasty -- put to death. This marked a seminal moment for Indo-Islamic consciousness, specifically for the established Muslim elites of north India, who tended to view 1857 as the end of their political preeminence and the beginning of what could be a dark period of Muslim history in India.

In this situation, a group of learned theologians, lead by Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, established the Darul Uloom Seminary in the town of Deoband, north of Delhi
Delhi

Delhi , sometimes referred to as Dilli , is the List of most populous cities in India metropolis in India and, with over 11 million residents, the List of metropolitan areas by population....
, in order to preserve and train the youth with Islamic knowledge. The pedagogical philosophy of Deoband was focused on teaching revealed Islamic sciences, known as manqulat, to the Indian Muslim population, following in the Hanafi
Hanafi

The Hanafi school is the oldest of the four schools of law or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after its founder, Abu Hanifa an-Nu?man ibn Thabit , and his legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani....
 tradition. In this seminary, Nanautavi instituted modern methods of learning: classrooms, fixed carefully selected curriculum, very learned faculty for different subjects, exam periods, prizes, a publishing press etc. He consciously decided to divorce it from political/governmental participation. Instead, the faculty instructed its students primarily in Urdu
Urdu

Urdu is a Central_Indo-Aryan_languages#Central_Zone_.28Madhya_or_Hindi.29 Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-Iranian languages, belonging to the Indo-European languages family of languages....
, which was the lingua franca
Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues....
 of the urbanised section of the region, and supplemented it with study of Arabic (the repository of Muslim theology) and Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 (the fountainhead of Indian Muslim culture); in due course, it also unwittingly cemented the growing association of the Urdu language with the (north) Indian Muslim community.

Its over 15,000 graduates have gone on to found many similar maddrassas (schools) across South Asia and farther afield; the followers of this school of theology are often described as followers of Deobandi
Deobandi

The Deobandi is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement which started in India and Pakistan and has more recently spread to other countries, such as Afghanistan, South Africa and the United Kingdom....
 school of thought.

Pattern of education

Deoband's curriculum is based on the 17th-century Indo-Islamic syllabus known as Dars-e-Nizami. The core curriculum teaches Islamic law (shariah), Islamic jurispridence (Fiqh
Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the Sharia Islamic law?based directly on the Quran and Sunnah?that complements Shariah with evolving Fatwa/interpretations of Ulema....
), traditional Islamic spirituality (known as tasawwuf, which is the practice of Sufism
Sufism

Sufi is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ufi , though some adherents of the tradition reserve this term only for those practitioners who have attained the goals of the Sufi tradition....
), as well as several other fields of Islamic study.

The current syllabus consists of four stages. The first three stages can be completed in a total of eight years. The final stage is a post-graduate stage where students specialize in a number of advanced topics, such as the sciences of Hadeeth, Fiqh
Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the Sharia Islamic law?based directly on the Quran and Sunnah?that complements Shariah with evolving Fatwa/interpretations of Ulema....
 etc.

Impact of Deoband school

Many Islamic schools through out modern India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 and Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 - and more recently in Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 as well as in hundreds of other places throughout the world - are affiliated or theologically linked to Darul Uloom Deoband. Famous seminaries have been established by its graduates, e.g. Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow
Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous States and territories of India of India. It has a population of 4,875,858. Lucknow is also the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, Madrassah In'aamiyyah Camperdown, near Durban in South Africa, and Darul Uloom Karachi in Pakistan. As the official website of Darul Uloom proclaims in a flowery language, 'the whole of Asia is redolent with the aroma of this prophetic garden.'

India's Independence Movement


In the meeting of the Jami'atul-Ulama-e-Hind at Calcutta, in 1926, the participants included graduates of Darul-Uloom, Deoband and they supported the group which called for complete independence of India from the British rule. Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress-I is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Allan Octavian Hume, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million memb...
 was to declare complete independence as its goal three years later, in its session at Lahore
Lahore

is the capital of the Pakistani Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab and is the List of most populated metropolitan areas in Pakistan city in Pakistan after Karachi....
.

Abdul-Gaffar khan, during his visit to India in 1969, during a visit to Darul-Uloom, had said

"I have had relation with Darul-Uloom since the time the Shaikhul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan was alive. Sitting here we used to make plans for the independence movement as to how we might drive away the English from this country and how we could make India free from the yoke of slavery of the English. This institution has made great efforts for the freedom of this country".


Alumni scholars

The Deoband school of Islamic Sciences has been producing great scholars across the globe. It rose to become the most esteemed institution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some of the notable ones are as follows:

  • Shaykh ul Hind Maulana Mehmood Al-Hasan
  • Imam Al-Asar Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri
    Anwar Shah Kashmiri

    Hadhrat Shaikhul Islam Imamul 'Asr Maulana Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri rahmatullahi alaiyh was an eminent Sunni scholar. He has authored various literary works such as Mushkilatul Qur'an , Faidhul Bari , Anwarul Bari , Khatimun Nabiyyin, Aqidatul Islam fi Hayaatul Isa Alayhis Salaam, and At Tasreeh bima Tawattur fi...
  • Shaykh Ul-Islam Allamah Shabbir Ahmad Usmani
    Shabbir Ahmad Usmani

    Hazrat Allamah Shaikhul Islam Muhaqqiqul 'Asr Moulana Shabbir Ahmad 'Uthmani was an eminent Sunni Islamic scholar who endeavoured to provide Pakistan with an Islamic system of governance after its creation in 1947....
  • Shaykh ul Islam Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani
    Husain Ahmed Madani

    Husain Ahmad Madani was an Islamic scholar from the Indian subcontinent. He was conferred upon the title of Shaikhul Islam as to acknowledge his eminence in hadith and fiqh....
  • Hakeem ul Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
  • Maulana Bodrul Alam (second principal of Jamia Tawakkulia Renga Madrasah
    Jamia Tawakkulia Renga Madrasah

    Jamia Tawakkulia Renga Madrasah is located in Mogla Bazar, Sylhet, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1919 by Hazrat Maulana Arkan Ali; later ran by his son Hazrat Maulana Bodrul Alam, a graduate of Darul Uloom Deoband and disciple of Husain Ahmed Madani....
    , Sylhet
    Sylhet

    Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the capital of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma River and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills....
    , Bangladesh
    Bangladesh

    , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
    )
  • Qari Abdul Rasheed Ajmeri
  • Maulana Raza Ahmed Ajmeri
  • Shaykh Yunus
  • Mufti Kifayatullah
  • Mufti Muhammad Shafi
    Mufti Muhammad Shafi

    Hadhrat Shaikh Mufti-e-Azam Maulana Muhammad Shafi Uthmani was the first Grand Mufti of Pakistan and among the khulafa of Hadhrat Shaikh Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi....
     (Mufti-e-Azam Pakistan)
  • Allamah Syed Muhammad Yusuf Binori
  • Maulana Ahmad Ali Lahori
  • Qari Muhammad Tayyeb Qasmi
  • Maulana Muhammad Ilyas
    Muhammad Ilyas

    Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhelvi was the founder of the Islamic revivalist movement Tablighi Jamaat. Born in 1885 to a family of religious scholars, his early education was completed at home....
     Kandhelvi
  • Maulana Syed Manazir Ahsan Gilani
  • Maulana Muhammad Idris Kandhlavi
  • Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi
  • Maulana Badr Alam Merathi
  • Mufti Muhammad Hasan Amritsari
  • Maulana Mufti Rasheed Ahmad (Karachi
    Karachi

    is the largest city, seaport and the International financial centre of Pakistan. It is List of metropolitan areas by population in terms of metropolitan population, and is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, and trade....
    , Pakistan)
  • Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi
  • Qari Tahir Qasmi
  • Maulana Khurshid Sahib
  • Maulana Salim Qasmi.
  • Muhaddis-E-Asar Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri
  • Maulana Mufti Zain ul Abideen (Faisalabad
    Faisalabad

    is a city located in the Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab , Pakistan. It was Geographical renaming Lyallpur. Faisalabad is the List of most populated metropolitan areas in Pakistan city in Pakistan with an estimated 2006 population of 2.6 million ....
    ,Pakistan
    Pakistan

    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
    )
  • Qazi Habib-ur-Rehman (Haripur)
  • Maulana Abullah Saleem (Chicago, Illinois)
  • Tok Guru Dato' Haji Nik Aziz Nik Mat
    Nik Aziz Nik Mat

    Malay titles Haji Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat is a Malaysian politician, an Islamic ulama and currently the Menteri Besar of the state of Kelantan. He holds the position of Mursyidul Am or the spiritual leader within Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party....
     (Malaysia
    Malaysia

    Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
    's Menteri Besar
    Menteri Besar

    Literally, "big minister" in Malay language, a Menteri Besar is a Chief Executive of the state governments of Perlis, Johor, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan in Malaysia—that is, all states with royal rulers....
     of Kelantan
    Kelantan

    Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, .Kelantan is positioned in the north-east of Peninsular Malaysia....
     province
    Province

    A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
    )


Recent developments

The original institution went through a turmoil on the day of its centennial celebrations in 1977 and two independent Darul Ulooms came into existence ultimately; both follow the same school of theology, but have different patterns of management. The original premises were taken over by the followers of Asad Madani, whose son still runs it today. A new institution was built by the original founder's great grandson, Muhammad Saalim Qasmi, on the outskirts of Deoband, with the same name, but with the word "Waqf" ("social trust" in English) added to it, which makes its management accountable to an over view by the Muslim community, as per its proponents. Madani's taken over institute has virtually become a private university, according to its critics.

Condemnation of terrorism


In February 2008, an "Anti-terrorism Conference" organized by the seminary Darul Uloom
Darul uloom

Darul uloom , also transliterated dar al-`ulum, darul ulum etc., is an Arabic term which literally means "house of knowledge". The term generally means an Islamic seminary or educational institution - similar to or often the same as a madrassa or Islamic school - although a Darul Uloom often indicates a more advanced level of study....
 in Deoband
Deoband

Deoband is a city and a municipal board in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the upper Doab region of Uttar Pradesh....
, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a States and territories of India located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
, denounced all forms of terrorism, saying "Islam prohibits killing of innocent people," and "Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism." The conference also denounced widespread attempts to blame religious Muslims for terrorist incidents.

See also

  • Deobandi
    Deobandi

    The Deobandi is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement which started in India and Pakistan and has more recently spread to other countries, such as Afghanistan, South Africa and the United Kingdom....
  • Tablighi Jamaat
    Tablighi Jamaat

    Tablighi Jamaat , is a Muslim missionary and revival movement.Tabligi Jama'at follows Deobandi interpretation of islam.Their activities are not limited to the Deobandi community....
  • Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
    Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind

    Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is one of the leading Islamic organizations in India. It was founded in 1919 by Abdul Mohasim Sajjad, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Ahmed Saeed Dehlvi and Abdul Bari Firangi Mehli....
  • Markazul Maarif
    Markazul Maarif

    Markazul Ma'arif, a voluntary social-welfare Non-governmental organization with the sole motto of striving for the upliftment of economically and educationally backward segment of society....


External links