Darul Uloom Deoband

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The Darul Uloom Deoband (Hindi: दारुल उलूम देवबन्द dārul ulūm devband) is an Islamic school, where Deobandi Islamic movement was started. It is located at Deoband, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was founded in 1866 by several prominent ulema, headed by Al-Imam Mohammad Qasim Nanautawi. The other prominent founding scholars were Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and Haji Syed Abid Hussain. The institution is highly respected in India as it sided with Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle and opposed the partition of India supporting, in turn, United Indian Nationalism.[1]

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[edit] Background

In 1857, the British East India Company put down a rebellion by disparate north Indian forces, conducted in the name of the otherwise powerless Bahadur Shah Zafar. 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, 'Hujjatul Islam Al-Imam Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi established the Darul Uloom Seminary in the town of Deoband, north of Delhi, from which many Muslim elites had fled. The pedagogical philosophy of Deoband was focused on teaching revealed Islamic sciences, known as manqulat, to the Indian Muslim population, following in the Hanafi tradition. In this seminary, Nanautavi instituted modern methods of learning -- classrooms, fixed schools, exam periods, prizes, a publishing press etc -- but consciously decided to divorce it from political/governmental participation and shunned English-language education. Instead, the faculty instructed its students primarily in Urdu, and then in Arabic and Persian; incidentally, it also helped to cement 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 tradition of Islamic religion. It has often drawn comparisons to Al-Azhar University in Cairo in regard to fame and influence.

[edit] 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), traditional Islamic spirituality (known as tasawwuf, which is the practice of Sufism), as well as several other fields of Islamic study.[2] [3]

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 etc.

[edit] Impact of Deoband school

Many Islamic schools through out modern India and Pakistan - and more recently in Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, South 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, Madrassah In'aamiyyah [4] 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.'

[edit] Alumni scholars

The Deobandi school of thought has produced great scholars across the globe. Some of the notable ones are as follows:

1. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi 2. Qari Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi 3. Qari Tahir Qasmi 4. Maulana Khurshid Sahib. 5. Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani 6. Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani 7. Maulana Salim Qasmi. 8. Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhelvi 9. Maulana Anzal Shah 10.Maulana Mufti Zain ul Abideen (Faisalabad,Pakistan) 11.Maulana Mufti Rasheed Ahmad (Karachi, Pakistan).

[edit] 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.

[edit] Against terrorism

Darul Uloom has been consistently against all forms of terrorism. Recently in Delhi they issued a fatwa against terrorism. See the text in English[5] or Hindi.[6]


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Milestone Deoband. Yahoo India. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  2. ^ http://darululoom-deoband.com/english/sys_of_edu/index.htm
  3. ^ Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Shariat and Tasawwuf pg. 11, 112, 113
  4. ^ In'aamiyyahMadrassah In'aamiyyah
  5. ^ http://www.twocircles.net/2008jun04/darul_uloom_deobands_fatwa_against_terrorism.html
  6. ^ http://www.twocircles.net/2008jun04/fatwa_against_terrorism_text_hindi.html

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 29°41′32″N, 77°40′39″E

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