Deobandis are a very powerful group because they have weapons and financial support from the Middle East, and logistical support from the state of Pakistan. This has resulted in a proliferation of their madaris (seminaries), which has made them more powerful. According to Deeni Madaris Report (1988), produced by the Ministry of Education, “out of a total 2,891, 717 belonged to Barelvis, 47 to Shias, and the salafi Ahle Hadith had 161, Jamat-i-Islami and independent madrasas accounted for 97. The rest were Deobandi madrasas.”
Hafiz Syed Abid Hussain established Darul Ulum in 1867 at Deoband in the United Provinces. In 1915, a British official, Meston, described Darul Ulum as “a most impressive place, very like what one imagines some of the great universities of the Middle Ages to have been” (Robinson 1994, p. 266). Set up in an old mosque, the Chatta Masjid, under a shadowy pomegranate tree, it was strikingly distinct from earlier madaris. “Much of the organizational form was adopted from British institutions and then modified to fit the needs of Deoband” (Jones 1989, p. 58). The fact that the people were independent of kin ties and that they received donations from the general public were the two primary traits that meant that the institution had modernist bearings, which set it apart from other religious seminaries of the subcontinent. Darul Ulum had an independent infrastructure of its own. It was run by professional staff, and its students were admitted to study a defined curriculum and were supposed to take an examination for which they were awarded a degree at the convocation every year. It had its classrooms and a central library. Over time, it had many affiliated colleges, overseen by Darul Ulum’s own gradu- ates. The examining body too comprised Deobandi ulama.
The staff at Darul Ulum had specific roles as teachers, administrators and councillors. Erudition in Arabic was a fundamental criterion in the selection of the teachers. However, Persian teachers too were recruited but the faculty of Arabic held precedence over them “in pay and prestige” (Metcalf 1982, p. 95; Jullundri n.d., pp. 141–184). Initially the number of teaching staff did not exceed 12. The institution’s administration con- sisted of a sarparast (rector) who acted as a patron, the muhtamim (chan- cellor) in charge of the day-to-day administration and a sadr mudarris (principal), responsible for overseeing the system of instruction. Qasim Nanutwi (1833–1877) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1829–1905) were its early patrons. In 1892 the position of mufti an Islamic scholar who is authorized to issue fatwa (religious edicts) was added. He was “to super- vise the dispensation of judicial opinions on behalf of the school” (Metcalf 1982, p. 95). Darul Ulum had a consultative council that included the administrators and seven additional members. Gradually the council became more influential than the staff and administration. By 1887 the consultative council was vested with all of the decision-making power.
The Darul Ulum curriculum was quite similar to what was being taught at other madaris in South Asia, known as Dars-i-Nizami. That curriculum was first introduced by Mullah Nizamuddin Sihalvi (d. 1747), who was a scholar of some repute in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy in Lucknow (Ahmad n.d., p. 107). All madaris adhering to Sunni fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) followed Dars-i-Nizami, which [consisted] of about twenty subjects broadly divided into two categories: al ulum an-naqliya (the transmitted sciences), and al-ulum al-aqliya (the rational sciences). The subject areas include grammar, rhetoric, prosody, logic, philosophy, Arabic literature, dialectical theology, life of the Prophet, medicine, mathematics, polemics, Islamic law, Jurisprudence, ahadith, and tafsir (exegesis of the Qur’an). (Ahmad n.d., p. 103) Interestingly, only 8 out of 20 subjects of the curriculum can be regarded as purely religious. The rest were meant (1) to prepare students for civil service jobs and (2) to help them to have a better understanding of the religious scriptures. Darul Ulum attracted mostly poor students, unlike the ashraf (elites), who preferred the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh.
Darul Ulum was financed by the Muslim princes of Hyderabad, Bhopal and Rampur, to mention a few who patronized learning and “extend[ed] their bounty across the border to their fellows in British India” (Metcalf 1982, p. 96). Similarly, big landlords from the United Provinces dispensed some of their wealth for altruistic causes by lending monitory support to Darul Ulum Deoband. However, these grants had no element of certainty. Ulema were not willing “to accept British grant-in-aid, for such help was precarious and carried the taint of its non-Muslim source” (Ibid., p. 97). Therefore, with extreme care, a network of donors was created “who formed a base not only for financial support but for dissemination of their teachings” (Ibid.). Many supporters pledged annually the contributions which formed the major part of Darul Ulum’s income. The amount of the contribution was not fixed, nor was the specificity of the donor’s religious and sectarian persuasion considered important (Rizvi 2005, p. 152).
DEOBANDI INCARNATIONS
In Sind, as Sarah Ansari (1992, pp. 78–79) argues, due to the pan-Islamism and particularly “the involvement” of Sindhi pirs in the Khilafat Movement (1919–1924), the system of colonial control was considerably shaken. From the late nineteenth century, Sindh had become “more integrated into all-Indian systems of communications, of trade and ideas”. In the changed situation, several Sindhi pirs forged close links with pan-Islamic leaders in various parts of the subcontinent. Most important of these con- nections was the involvement of a certain group of pirs with Deobandi ulema. By the turn of the twentieth century, networks of religious semi- naries stretching from Bhachundi on the Sind–Punjab border, via Haleji and Amrot near Sukkur, to Goth Pir Jhando, north of Hyderabad, had emerged as outposts of Deobandi influence in Sindh. In the case of the areas constituting North India, the traditional religious forms with saj- jada nishins and shrines having mediatory agency was disapproved of by Deobandi ulema. Here my focus will be on the political activism of the Deobandi movement.
Ubaidullah Sindhi (1872–1944) is deemed to be the harbinger of Deobandi activism in Punjab and Sind (Azad 2002, pp. 19–87). Born to Sikh parents from Sialkot, Sindhi embraced Islam at the tender age of 15 in Muzaffargarh on August 29, 1887. Immediately afterwards he travelled to Sindh and took the oath of allegiance with Pir Hafiz Muhammad Sadiq at Bharchundi, thus his spiritual training began. From Bharchundi, Sindhi proceeded to Deoband in September 1888. There he came under the tutelage of Mehmud ul Hassan (1851–1922), who was instrumental in stirring the Deobandi movement to political activism. Sindhi proved himself worthy of Mehmud ul Hassan’s atten- tion when he successfully formed Jamiat ul Ansar, a student body at Deoband in 1909. The group was meant to organize Deobandi scholars both in the country and elsewhere. Besides setting up madrassas—Dar ul Irshad (established in 1901) in Goth Pir Jhanda, Nawab Shah District in Sind and Nazarath ul Maarif (established in 1912) in Delhi—he also played a pivotal role in Tehrik i Reshami Roomal, a silk letter conspir- acy in 1915. This movement merits a mention here for two reasons. First, the area of its operation was mostly Punjab, and, second, it pro- vides us with the first testimony of Deobandi activism in the region. Through a collaborative effort with Amir Amanullah Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, a plan was hatched to oust the British from India with the help of Turkey. Sindhi was overseeing the operational side of that movement. Unfortunately for the Deobandi activists, the whole plan was leaked and most of those involved were arrested. One may however assert that despite the failure of the Tehrik i Reshmi Rumal, Punjab had a taste of anticolonial misadventure which was a Deobandi undertaking (Qureshi 1988, pp. 839–840).
In 1919, the Deobandi ulema formed themselves into a political group immediately after the commencement of the Khilafat Movement (1919–1924), which aimed to prevent the British from abolishing the Khilafat Movement in Turkey after the First World War. Thus the JUH came into existence, with Mehmud ul Hassan and Abul Kalam Azad as its central figures. The Khilafat Movement in synchrony with the Non-Cooperation Movement reconfigured all India politics in two ways. First, they brought politics to the masses, and, second, they enabled ulema to secure signif- icant positions in the public arena. The movement had an extraordinary resonance in North India and to a lesser extent influenced urban Punjab. Lahore, Sialkot and Gujranwala were tangibly stirred by the anti-British sentiments during the early 1920s on the issue of the Khilafat Movement. During the same period, Deobandi stalwarts in Punjab, such as Ubaidullah Sindhi, Ata Ullah Shah Bokhari, Habib ur Rehman Ludhianvi and Ahmed Ali Lahori, began their political careers. They assumed centrality by incul- cating an exclusionary version of Islam in their politics. In particular, their major rallying cry was Khatam-i-Nabuvat (finality of prophethood), used extensively in the condemnation of Ahmedhis ab initio. The concept gained the greatest significance after the Ahmedya sect emerged in the late 1890s (Ali 1973). The Ahmadis allegedly refuted the very idea of the last prophet- hood, which was considered to be one of the fundamentals of Islam.
Comprising Punjabi dissidents of the Khilafat Committee Punjab, Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam (Mirza 1975, pp. 81–4) followed the puritani- cal and agitation style of politics in the 1930s. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Maulana Daud Ghaznavi, Syed Ataullah Shah Bokhari, Chaudhri Afzal Haq, Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar, Khawja Abdul Rehman Ghazi, Sheikh Hassam-ud-din and Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi constituted the core leadership of the Ahrar. Most of them were orators of extraor- dinary calibre who could spellbind their audience for hours. Although it was a composite organization representing all Muslim segments, the core ideology and principal leaders, such as Ataullah Shah Bukhari and Habib- ur-Rehman Ludhianvi, adhered to Deobandi Islam. It had an entrenched following among the lower-middle-income echelon of urban Muslim populace and particularly among the artisans of the Lahore, Amritsar and Sialkot districts of Punjab.
The Ahrar’s agitations for the rights of the Muslims of Kashmir, who were suffering under the oppressive rule of the maharajah, are not properly acknowledged in the contemporary Pakistani historiography. The 1931 activities raised the Ahrar party’s popularity in urban Punjab to an unprec- edented level (Ludhyanvi 1968). This was because of the presence of large
Kashmiri Muslim communities in such cities as Amritsar, Lahore and Sialkot, where Ahrar had a substantial following. It was followed by another move- ment for the rights of poor Muslims in Kapurthala State, which further raised its profile and popularity. It lasted until the Masjid Shahid Ganj issue (A contested site between Muslims and Sikhs that led to disputes between the two religious’ communities) in Lahore, which irreparably undermined Ahrar’s political standing in the province. The post-Shahid Ganj era was quite chequered for Ahrar because its electoral strength plummeted, never- theless, the impact that some of its leaders—particularly Bokhari—had, had a lasting resonance. In the United Provinces (UP), Tabarra agitation and the Madhe-Sahaba (in 1937–39) (The madh-i sahaba, a tradition wherein the Sunnis recited verses praising the four rightly-guided caliphs and other companions of the Prophet. The tabarra is a Shia tradition of criticizing or in some extreme cases cursing the first three caliphs who, according to the Shia, deceitfully deprived the Prophet’s son-in-law and cousin, Ali, of his right to succession (Kamran, 2009, 62)). Movement drove a wedge of sec- tarian animosity quite deep between the Sunnis and the Shias. A large num- ber of Ahraris from Punjab travelled to Awadh especially to court arrest. In the 1940s, sectarian animosity was papered over as the Pakistan Movement had gained momentum, thus mitigating the sectarian sentiments. Calm had also set in because the failed campaign of Hakumat-i-Illahiyah, vigrously orchestrated by Ahrar, had left it absolutely crestfallen.
The political scenario in the 1940s had an unsettling affect on the Deobandi movement. The ML’s call for a separate Muslim state drove a wedge into Deobandis’ top ranks. Hussain Ahmed Madni, Abul Kalam Azad and Habib ur Rehman Ludhianvi stuck to the nationalist position of the Indian National Congress and the JUH. However, a few ulema diverged from the avowed standpoint of the nationalists. To them, Muslim separatism was a preferred course to safeguard their interests. Consequently, a parting of the ways took effect in 1945 when Shabbir Ahmed Usmani, Ehtasham ul Hassan Thanvi, Zafar Ahmed Usmani and Mufti Muhammad Shafi conglomerated and founded the JUI, which espoused the cause of the ML.
In 1949 the Deobandi ulema activated the Ahrar, which staged a comeback as Majlis-i-Tehafuz-i-Khatam-i-Nubuwwat. Its sole aim was an anti-Ahmadi campaign, which eventually culminated in anti-Ahmadi- yya riots in 1953. However, sectarian differences could not be ironed out permanently because they kept recurring, finally culminating in the establishment of the SSP on September 8, 1985. Sectarian militants such as Haq Nawaz Jhangvi (1952–1990), the founder-leader of the SSP, and many of his close companions, such as Zia-ur- Rehman Farouqi, have acknowledged the legacy of Attaullah Shah Bukhari and his colleagues in Majlis-e-Ahrar.
DEOBANDIS IN THE PUNJAB: ULEMA AND MADARIS
When Haji Muhammad Abid started the fundraising for Darul Ulum, 12 percent of the total funds were raised from Punjab during the first 20 years of its existence (Metcalf 1982, p. 236). According to Gilmartin, financial support came mostly from the urban centres where the influ- ence of saint and shrine was somewhat marginal (Gilmartin 1988, p. 54). Similarly, Punjab is reported to have been quite significant in the recruit- ment of students for Darul Ulum in its early years. However, concrete information about the number of students from Punjab remains doubtful as even Barbara Metcalf (1982) has hardly anything worthwhile to impart in this regard. With the aid of a map, she refers to the spread of the madaris affiliated to Deoband across Punjab by 1890. Lahore, Gujranwala and Peshawar were the centres mentioned on the map where such madaris were set up (p. 134). No further detail is given regarding their founders, and the names of those institutions are not recorded. Saleem Mansur Khalid, however, reveals that Madrasa-i-Rashidia at Jullundur was founded in 1897, and another madrasa, Madrasa-i-Naumania, was established in 1907 (Khalid 2004, p. 101). With regard to the ulema, it appears that Hussain Ali of Wan Bhachran (1866–1943) in Mianwali District was the earliest recorded scholar going to Darul Ulum Deoband (Rahi 1998, p. 159). He was Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi’s student in 1895 and learnt the ahadith from him. He was also instructed in the exegesis of the Qur’an by Maulana Mazhar Nanutwi, and logic and phi- losophy by Maulana Ahmed Hassan Kanpuri. In 1915 he returned to his village, Wan Bhachran, and began professing the Deobandi brand of Islam (Rahi 1998). For the locals, he zealously emphasized unequivocal faith in Tauhid (monism) and the Qur’an as the fundamental source to ascertain the truth. As well as preaching he wrote extensively but, owing to his extremist views, his writings remain unnoticed or mentioned only briefly even in the narratives of Deobandi scholars. Ghulamullah Khan (1909–1980), a scholar of great erudition and the founder of Taleem ul Quran, a renowned madrasa in the northern Punjab, chose to be his disciple. Similarly, Maulana Abdul Haleem Qasimi (1920–1983) went to learn Qura’nic translation from Hussain Ali.
In the early twentieth century, Abdul Rahim Raipuri (1853–1919), a Naqshbandi pir, and Maulana Ashraf Thanvi wielded considerable influ- ence in Punjab. Abdul Rahim Raipuri was born in Tigri, a town in Ambala District. He therefore may be considered to be the earliest Deobandi alim (Scholar) with a Punjabi background. However, he spent most of his life in Ganga-Yumna valley, teaching in various madaris, such as Mazahir ul Ulum Sahranpur and Delhi. Many of his successors, such as Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri, Shah Abdul Aziz Raipuri and Saeed Ahmed Raipuri, set up madaris in Lahore and Sargodha by the name of Idara Rahimia Ulum- i-Qurania.1 The network of Nizam ul Madaris ur Rahimia is very exten- sive: there are innumerable affiliated madaris throughout Pakistan (Azad 2006). Unlike other Deobandis, these madaris disapprove of violence and organize peaceful protest movements.
Ahmed Ali Lahori (1886–1962), one of the renowned Deobandi alim, rose to the revered status of Sheikh ul Tafsir because his exegesis of the Qur’an was regarded as the most authentic, lucid and comprehensive by the followers of the Deobandi segment.2 Not only was he held in high esteem because of his contribution as the founder of such institutions as Anjuman-i-Khudam ud Din and Qasim ul Ulum, but his scholarly works, particularly in the realm of tafsir, had a significance of their own. Ahmed Ali was instructed by renowned scholars and Sufis such as Maulana Abdul Haque, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Deenpuri. He was initiated into the Qaderia order and came under the spiritual tutelage of Maulana Deenpuri through an oath of allegiance (bait) in 1895 (Rehman n.d., p. 23). However, Sindhi was his guardian and spiritual guide. Therefore he zestfully took part in the anti-colonial struggle and in the process went to Kabul in 1921, but it soon returned. He went to jail seven times for his denunciation of the British.
Ahmed Ali completed his education at Madrisa-i-Dar ul Irshad in Sind and started teaching there immediately afterwards. Later on he was sum- moned to Delhi by Maulana Sindhi, where he was made naib nazim (deputy administrator) of Madrisa-i-Nazarat ul Maarif, Delhi. In 1917 he moved to Lahore and started imparting Qur’anic lessons to the gen- eral public in a mosque opposite Sheranwala School. However, an impor- tant phase in his career as an alim-i-din (religious scholar) began when he founded Anjuman-i-Khudam ud Din. Promotion and dissemination of the Qur’an and sunna (the tradition of the Prophet) were enunciated as fundamental aims of the anjuman (assembly) (Bokhari 1999, p. 249). Hence the precedence of scriptural Islam was underscored, and the popular
Islam epitomized through the primacy of saint and shrine was termed as bidat in Ahmed Ali’s teachings. Sticking to the fundamentals of Islam was exhorted among Muslims. Fazal-i-Haq, a student of Nazir Ahmed Dehlvi, and Abu Muhammad Ahmed, a student of Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, were made anjuman’s members, and Ahmed Ali became its amir (head). Madrisa-i-Qasim ul Ulum was founded under the auspices of Anjuman-i- Khudam ud Din in 1924. Its grandiose building was constructed in Line Subhan Khan, Sheranwala Gate, Lahore, which was completed in 1934. A madrassa for girls was also built in 1945 at the same location (Daily Ausaf, April 2007). Madrisa Qasim ul Ulum, known for learning via tafsir ul Qur’an (the exegesis of the Qur’an), has instructed approximately 80,000 scholars of Islam.
Ahmed Ali remained politically active as he developed a close affinity with Ahrar when it launched the Kashmir movement in 1931. He ardently espoused agitation against the high handedness of the maharaja (king) against the Kashmiri Muslims. After Pakistan’s creation, he was instrumental in collecting funds (to the tune of thousands of rupees) for jihad in Kashmir, and he went to Muzaffarabad to deliver the funds with his son Ubaidullah Anwar (1926–1985) (Arshad 2006, p. 673). Hence the Deobandi penchant for jihad in Kashmir has a historical con- text. Ali was also at the forefront of the agitation launched against the British principal of Maclagan Engineering College, Lahore, who des- ecrated the Prophet of Islam. Although he was arrested on charges of inciting unrest, the British government had to give in and all rusticated students were restored (Rehman n.d., p. 42). Ahmed Ali was elected amir of the JUI, West Pakistan, on October 8 and 9, 1956. In June 1957, Tarjman ul Quran, “the Jamiat’s organ”, was launched by Ahmed Ali in Lahore (Rehman n.d., pp. 41–42). Anjuman Khudam ud Din and Qasim ul Ulum continued their founder’s legacy even after his death in 1962. Both of them sustained reputation as the prime institution for earning of Qur’an and its tafsir..His son Ubaidullah Anwar, an ingenuous exegete in his own right, stepped into the big boots of Maulana Ahmed Ali. Like his father, Ubaidullah Anwar was associated with the JUI all his life. At the time of his death, he was its naib amir (deputy head). Currently both institutions—Anjuman Khudam ud Din and Qasim ul Ulum—are “in the capable hands of Maulana Ajmal Qadri under whose vigilant oversight Anjuman and Madrasa are moving from strength to strength” (Mazhar Moin, personal communication, August 2007). The Qur’an and the tradition of the Prophet were the fundamental postulates that anjuman has always emphasized without meaning any insolence to Sufi tradition. Hence the practice of religious rituals was circumscribed strictly to the confines of the Islamic scriptures. Ultimately, not only religious instruc- tion but also playing a proactive role in politics was the legacy of the JUH, which was kept alive by Ahmed Ali and his successors. Therefore, Anjuman Khudam ud Din and Madrasa Qasim ul Ulum contributed significantly to advancing the cause of political (radical) Islam. Maulana Ahmed Ali and Ubaidullah Anwar’s preoccupation with the JUI alludes to the implicit, if not explicit, support for jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
Apart from Lahore, Ludhiana and Jullundur were the two districts where Deobandi Islam found a conducive environment. Ulema from Ludhiana, particularly Maulana Muhammad and Maulana Muhammad Abdullah, came under the spotlight when they took the lead in denouncing Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, the founder of the Qadiani sect, as a kafir (a non-Muslim, a disbeliever).3 After graduating from Deoband, Maulana Muhammad Abdullah came to Ludhiana and started teaching at the famous Madrasa Azizia. Later on, he moved to Madrasa Allah Walla along with his son Mufti Naeem Ludhianvi (1890–1970), and he remained engaged in teaching the ahadith. However, Abdullah’s lasting contribution was the establishment of Madrasa Darul Ulum Naumania. Habib ur Rehman Ludhianvi was the most renowned of all Deobandi ulema from Ludhiana. He was a Deoband graduate and a favourite stu- dent of Habib ur Rehman Usmani and Anwar Shah Kashmiri. In 1919 he entered politics and began addressing public meetings along with Shabbir Ahmed Usmani (1885–1949) when the Khilafat Movement had just begun. He remained very active in the politics throughout his life. He also was one of the chief protagonists of Majlis-i-Ahrar. In the annals of the Ahrar movement, he is remembered as raiul ahrar (leader of Ahrar). Astoundingly, Habib ur Rehman stayed in Ludhiana instead of migrating to Pakistan. His sons still live in East Punjab and are engaged in tabligh (preaching). Maulana Muhammad Abdullah (sajjada nishin, Khanqah Sirajia Kundian District Mianwali),4 Maulana Muhammad Ibrahim (Mian Channu) and Master Taj ud Din Ansari were the prominent figures who migrated from Ludhiana (Hussaini 2004, p. 378). Maulana Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi (b. 1922) rose to prominence as an alim and a jurist. Maulana Faqirullah Raipuri Jullunduri (1878–1963) and Maulana Khair Muhammad Jullunduri (1891–1970) were both Deoband gradu- ates and celebrated scholars. Both ulema also shared the kinship bond.They belonged to the Arain biradri (clan). This signifies an important fact that initially the Deobandi brand of Islam attracted the lower and lower-middle echelon of the Muslim urban Punjabi populace. Faqirullah received his early education from Jamia Rashidia, Raipur, which was mod- elled on Darul Ulum Deoband and Mazahir ul Ulum Saharanpur, and was founded by Maulana Muhammad Saleh. Later on he went to Darul Ulum Naumania, Lahore, and then to Deoband for higher learning. In 1908 he returned to Jullundur and started teaching at his alma mater, Jamia Rashidia. There he was entrusted with the task of shaping the future of such youngsters who attained prominence in the days to come, such as Rashid Ahmed Salfi, Habib ur Rehman Ludhianvi, Muhammad Ali Jullunduri, Abdul Jabbar Hissarvi and Maulana Khair Muhammad Jullundri (Hussaini 2004, p. 207). At the time of Partition, Faqirullah migrated to Pakistan and settled in Sahiwal (Montgomery) District, where he revived Jamia Rashidia, which, in a few years time, became one of the prime institutions of Deobandi learning. Besides Khair ul Madaris, it is the only prominent madrasa which was set up in Jullundur and revived in West Punjab after Partition. Faqirullah was succeeded by his sons, Abdullah, Qari Lutfullah and Fazal Habibullah. Abdullah shot to fame as a scholar in the ahadith, and, after his death, a dispute over the Jamia’s succession led the authorities to close it down. Since 9/11 it has continuously been sub- jected to raids by law-enforcement agencies (Rana Iqtidar Abbas, personal communication, August 2007).
Khair Muhammad Jullundri was born in Nakodar Tehsil. He began his education at 7 and continued until he was 20, in 1911. During those years he travelled extensively in Punjab and North India. Eventually he settled down at Madrasa-i-Faiz Muhammadi, Jullundur. He came under the spiritual shadow of Ashraf Ali Thanwi through bait. Through the persuasion of his murshid (teacher), Maulana Khair Muhammad, he established Madrasa-i-Khair ul Madaris in Alamgiri Mosque, Attari Bazzar, Jullundur, which was inaugurated on March 9, 1931 (Khairul Madaris n.d.). Until his death in 1943, Khairul Madaris continued functioning under the patronage of Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who also sug- gested its name (Bokhari 1999, p. 230). After Partition, Maulana Khair Muhammad moved to Pakistan and settled in Multan. With the ardent support of his student and naib, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jullunduri, Khair ul Madaris was revived on October 18, 1947, in Multan. There, Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani was its patron but only for a brief period because he died in 1949 (Ibid.). Khair ul Madaris flourished in leaps and bounds, and eventually it came to be known as “the national centre of Deobandi educational activity” (The State of Sectarianism in Pakistan, April 18, 2005, p. 15). Khair Muhammad was a keen theo- logian with a passion for Islamic learning and was he devoid of any political ambition. However, he was one of a few Deobandi ulema who espoused the Pakistan Movement. After the creation of Pakistan, when the JUI was reorganized with Shabbir Ahmed Usmani as its patron, Ahmed had been elected as its president. However, after a short while he resigned because he did not find politics to his taste. However, he participated in putting together 22 points at the meeting of ulema at Karachi, which were presumed to be the basis for the Islamic consti- tution. Moreover, he also took part in “Tehrik-i- Khatum-Nabuwwat and strived for the promulgation of Islamic system in the country” (Bokhari 1999, p. 231).
Khair ul Madaris was on a firm footing when Maulana Khair Muhammad died on October 22, 1970. Currently it is being managed by Khair Muhammad’s grandson, Maulana Qari Hanif Jullunduri, who matches his predecessors neither in scholarship nor in spiritual excellence and charisma.5 The gory incident of Lal Ubaidullah in July 2007 has substantially under- mined his reputation and integrity among Deobandi people. Khairul Madaris is nevertheless regarded as a prototype for other seats of Islamic learning within the country to emulate. The role of Khairul Madaris in exacerbating the sectarian cleavage in Pakistan will be addressed later in this chapter.
Partition accrued some benefit to Deobandis because the JUI remained a political force to be reckoned with.6 Since 1947, mush- rooming of the madaris illustrated Deobandi ascendancy, which bol- stered the political profile of the JUI. All of its leadership emerged from madaris, so they shared the commonality of class along with creed, par- ticularly until the late 1970s. Similarly, the student body at the madaris belonged to the lower-middle and lower strata. Hence the madaris were no less than a lifeline for the JUI. From Partition onwards until 2003, 120 religious schools were emerging every year. In 1947, Pakistan had 245 religious’ schools, whereas in 2000 the number had reached 6,761, then increasing to 6,870 by September 11, 2001.7 Vali Nasr contends that the proliferation of Deobandi, Brelwi and Ahl-i-Hadith madaris began in 1970s, and in Punjab the rise in the number of seminaries “has been most notable”. They multiplied “three and a half times between 1975 and 1996, from over 700 to 2,463”. Of these, 750 were “classed as aggressively sectarian”
There are three principal reasons for the phenomenal growth of (partic- ularly Deobandi) madaris. First is the funneling of funds from Persian Gulf monarchies and particularly from Saudi Arabia. These regions viewed “the turn of Pakistan’s politics towards the Left in the late 1960s and the early 1970s with alarm, and supported all kinds of Islamic activities with the aim of strengthening Islamic institutions and ideology as a bulwark against the Left” (Nasr 2000). The doubts of the rulers of Arab states were dispelled by taking concrete measures. Nevertheless, the support for “Islamic activ- ism” continued. In due course “the linkages between Islamic organiza- tions and groups in the Persian Gulf monarchies and those in Pakistan had become entrenched, and operated independently of government control” (Ibid., p. 144). The Pakistani ulema and madaris were the biggest beneficiaries from these “religious and intellectual bonds that became embedded in institutional contacts and networks of patronage” (Ibid.). Barbara Metcalf (2004) argues that the madaris “were not only a resource in domestic poli- tics but at times found themselves engaged in a kind of surrogate competi- tion between Saudis and Iranians as each patronized religious institutions likely to support their side” (p. 276). Second, the Afghan Jihad contrib- uted very significantly to the mushroom growth of the madaris. The milita- rization of madaris in the 1980s at the behest of the USA and Saudi Arabia (Burki 1998, pp. 82–83) later proved to be a Frankenstein for the Pakistani state and the entire Western World. Third, Ziaul Haq (1922–1988), him- self a Deobandi and a son of a cleric from Jullundur, quite zestfully pur- sued the policy of Islamization and in the process strengthened madrasa networks and the ulema by doling out huge funds to them. After 1980 the madaris also received zakat (a religious tax) (Malik 1996, pp. 85–119). In addition, madrasa graduates were accommodated within the public services because their degrees were accorded equivalent status to degrees from secular institutions. This resulted in a substantial increase in the number of madrasa students.
However, before explicating further the rapid growth of madaris, it is appropriate to mention two important seminaries—Jamia Ashrafia and Jamia Madnia—both located in Lahore.
Jamia Ashrafia was set up by Maulana Mufti Muhammad Hassan who was a student (Khalifa-e-Arshad) of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, after whom the madrasa was named.9 The school practised a non-jihadi and immaculately peaceful creed. “However, many teachers of the madrassas not only have connections with Jehadi organizations, they are actively involved in Jehadi activities” (Rana 2004, p. 522). This madrasa and the adjacent mosque exercise tremendous influence on the affluent urban class of Lahore, and its administration avoids getting embroiled in any political controversy.
On September 14, 1947, Jamia Ashrafia was founded in an old quadran- gular three-storey building in Nila Gunbad Anarkali at the centre of a thickly populated area of Lahore. Scholars of immense repute—namely, Maulana Rasool Khan, Maulana Idrees Kandhalvi and Mufti Jamil Ahmed Thanvi taught there. In 1957 the staff and students were moved to a new cam- pus on Ferozepur Road, Lahore. Today the main campus comprises a large mosque, a huge administrative and teaching block, two spacious board- ing houses, a hospital and quite a number of residences for the employ- ees. After the death of Mufti Muhammad Hassan in 1961, his son, Mufti Muhammad Obaidullah, a graduate of Darul Ulum Deoband, became rai- sul jamia (head of the educational institution). The madrassa is affiliated to with the Wafaq ul Madaris ul Arbia (aboard of Islamic education for more than 7,000 madaris). With branches and affiliated madaris spread all over Pakistan, Jamia Ashrafia has more than 1,500 male and 500 female scholars just at its Lahore branch (retrieved from http: ashrafia.org.pk/jamia.htm).
Jamia Madnia is another Deobandi madrasa in Lahore, founded by Maulana Syed Hamid Mian (1926–1988) in the 1950s. Syed Hamid Mian was the son of renowned Deobandi alim Maulana Syed Muhammad Mian, who hailed from Sahranpur (UP).10 Five years after Partition he moved to Pakistan and started teaching at Jamia Ashrafia. However, he decided to estab- lish his own madrasa, which he eventually did in the Bhatti Gate, Lahore. It gradually developed into an important institution of learning of the ahadith. Abbass Najmi, a keen student of Deobandis in Pakistan, ranks Jamia Madnia as more influential than any madrasa after Khairul Madaris, Multan, because it has churned out numerous scholars of the ahadith and fiqh.
Returning to the mushroom growth of madaris, interestingly they multiplied by 2,745 percent during 55 years of Pakistan’s history up to 2003.11 In 1988 the number of Deobandi madaris in Punjab reached 590 out of a total of 1,320, then rose to 972 with 80,120 students in 1996 (Khalid 2004, p. 150; Herald, October 1996, p. 56). Curiously enough, Deobandi madaris expanded by quite a large number towards south Punjab because, out of 972, 595 madaris were in three districts: Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur. Similarly, Wafaq ul Madaris ul Arabia (established in 1959), which is a regulatory body of Deobandi madaris, is also in Multan. This trend was quite discernible even before Partition, and was strengthened considerably with the establishment of Khairul Madaris. Some other important seminaries established in South Punjab were Jamia Abbasia, Bahawalpur, Qasimul Ulum, Multan, Darul Ulum, Kabirwala, Madrasa Qasimul Ulum, Faqirwali, Madrasa Ashraful Ulum, Rahimyar Khan, Makhzanul Ulum and Khanpur. The ubiquity of the saint and shrine culture, poverty, and very few institutions of secular education were arguably the main reasons for this proliferation in the region.
NOTES
1.Raipur is a small town near Saharanpur (UP) where Shah Abdul Rahim Raipur established Khanqah-i-Aliya Rahimia Raipur, which later on became one of the leading centres of Deobandi learning. Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri, the fourth Sheikh after Abdul Rahim, replicated it in Lahore in 2001 under the name Idara Rahimia Ulum- i-Qurania (Azad 2006, p. 199).
2.Maulana Ahmed Ali Lahori (1886–1962) was born in the small town of Jalal in Gujranwala District. The town is situated to the east of Gaghaar Railway Station. His father, Sheikh Habib Ullah, converted to Islam from Sikhism and adhered to the Chishtia order. Ahmed Ali had three brothers: Hafiz Muhammad Ali, Maulvi Aziz Ahmed and Hakim Rashid Ahmed (Rehman n.d, pp. 19–27; Malik 2005).
3.Maulana Muhammad and Maulana Muhammad Abdullah were brothers from Ballia Walli, Ludhiana District. Abdullah earned con- siderable acclaim as a scholar. Sitting at the feet of Muhammad Hassan Amritsari, Mehmud ul Hassan and Anwar Shah Kashmiri were stu- dents of the ahadith (Rahi 1998, pp. 346–347). Mujahid Hussaini (2004) states that according to the Prophet, one of the traditions— “re-incarnation of Messih (Jesus Christ or Hazrat Issah) would come to pass at a place by the name of Ludh”. Hence Ghulam Ahmed chose Ludhiana for the final announcement of his prophethood (p. 377).
4.Khanqah Sirajia is one of only two Deobandi khanqahs (hospices with Sufi as its central figure) in Punjab, with the other at Sargodha by the name of Khanqah-i-Aliya Raipur.
5.Maulana Muhammad Sharif Jullunduri (the second son of Khair Muhammad) took over as an administrator of Khair ul Ulum after the Maulana Khair Muhammad’s death in 1970. He died in Mecca on September 7, 1981. It therefore fell on the young shoulders of Hanif Jullunduri to manage the affairs of the seminary (Bokhari 1999, p. 444).
6.Since independence, JUI has developed strong roots in Baluchistan and the Frontier. As a result, it has performed more consistently in the polls than the other religious parties. It formed coalition governments with the National Awami Party (NAP) in both provinces, although these were dismissed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. This experience led the JUI to take its place in the anti-PPP Pakistan National Alliance in 1977. However, the JUI, under Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s leader- ship, distanced itself from the Zia regime and took its place in the 11-party Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), launched in February 1981. Five years later, Maulana Fazl ur Rehman was appointed its convener. Despite the collapse of the MRD before the 1988 elections, the JUI remained in opposition to the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and captured eight seats in the National Assembly. The JUI remains opposed to the Islamist approach of the IJI, but its greatest rivalry is with the Barelvi and Shia Islamic group- ings (Talbot 2005, p. 451).
7.From 1988 to 2000 the number of religious schools increased by 236 percent. The majority of these schools belonged to the Sunni- Deobandi denomination (Rahman 2004, pp. 77–98).
8.The apprehensions of the Arab rulers were somewhat assuaged when Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto (1926–1979) purged his party of the leftist elements (Nasr 2000, p. 142).
9.Maulana Mufti Muhammad Hassan was born in Malpur near Hassan Abdal. He received his early education in his native town and then proceeded to Dar ul Ulum Deoband and became a worthy disciple of Ashraf Ali Thanvi. He learnt the ahadith from Anwar Shah Kashmiri. Later he moved to Amritsari and took up a teaching assignment at a well-known seminary, Jamia Naumania. On Partition he migrated to Lahore and founded Jamia Ashrafia, which is a prime Deobandi seminary in Punjab (The Daily Jang, special ed., April 27, 2007).
10.Hamid Mian received religious instruction from scholars such as Abdus Sami Deobandi, Abdul Khaliq Madni, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Hussain Ahmed Madni (Bokhari 1999, p. 457).
11.According to a report compiled by the Interior Ministry, the number of students in those seminaries was around 1.5 million by 2003.
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