Encyclopedia of Islam

Deoband

  

191  J

---

The Deoband curriculum follows the h

anaFi

l

egal

 s

chool

 and provides advanced training in 

religious law. The original Deoband center has 

spawned more than 8,000 schools and institutes 

for all levels of instruction. Deoband is one of 

several major centers of Islamic learning in India, 

including the Nadwat ul-Ulama and a

ligarh

 Mus-

lim University. The curriculum at Deoband incor-

porates three prevalent schools of Islamic learning 

in India: those of Delhi, Lucknow, and Khayrabad. 

The Delhi school had focused on 

tafsir

 (q

Uran

commentary) and 

hadith

, Lucknow emphasized 

fiqh

 (jurisprudence), and Khayrabad gave pre-

cedence to theology and philosophy. Deoband’s 

ideological approach combined these and gave 

it its signature twist by focusing on Shah Wali 

Allah and his idiosyncratic hadith scholarship. 

Wali Allah regarded hadith as often unreliable. 

Indeed, in his view all revelations other than the 

Quran could at best be regarded as hadith qudsi,

or “holy speech.” Wali Allah regarded Malik ibn 

Anas’s Muwatta (eighth century) as the pinnacle of 

hadith collections, as it was the earliest and clos-

est in time to the Prophet. He was a proponent of 

ijtihad

 (independent legal reasoning) and a critic 

of taqlid (blind adherence to legal scholars), view-

ing imitation of any model other than Muhammad 

as suspect.

The influence of Deoband has been far reach-

ing, and its curriculum is standard throughout 

Muslim South Asia. The early years of study in 

the basic curriculum focus on Arabic language, 

the 

biography

 of m

Uhammad

, recitation of the 

Quran, and jurisprudence. The eighth, and final 

year focuses solely on hadith. Master’s degrees 

are offered in law, Quranic interpretation (

tafsir

), 

theology, and 

adab

 literature. Legal opinions, or 

fatwas, are obtainable upon solicitation from the 

center at Deoband. Deobandi schools known as 

madrasas

 are also centers for 

daawa

 (proselytiza-

tion). Deoband publishes books by its ulama past 

and present and issues a newspaper, al-Dai (the 

call). Dar al-Ulum Deoband has counted among 

its vice chancellors and principals many luminar-

ies of South Asian ulama such as Shaykh al-Hind 

Maulana Mahmood Hassan (1851–1920), Maulana 

Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri (1875–1933), 

and Maulana Syed Hussain Ahmed Madani (1879–

1957). Although there is no political party directly 

linked to Deoband, the school has had a profound 

impact on Muslim politics, having trained many of 

the key members of political groups such as J

ami

-

yyat

 

al

-U

lama

-

i

 h

ind

, Jamiyatul Ulama-i Pakistan, 

and J

amiyyat

 

al

-U

lama

-

i

 i

slam

.

Through the use of its curriculum and the pro-

liferation of its graduates, Deoband is often linked 

to the spread of extremist ideologies most vividly 

exemplified by the t

aliban

. To some degree, this 

influence is real. In other cases, it is merely nomi-

nal, as the authority inherent in the name of Deo-

band is invoked to legitimate all kinds of Islamic 

conservatism. Although Deoband remains one of 

the most important institutes of Islamic learn-

ing, in India it may be soon be eclipsed by the 

increasing influence of Nadwat ul-Ulama, where 

enrollments have outstripped Deoband’s since the 

mid-1990s.

See also 

edUcation

.

Anna Bigelow