Darul Uloom Deoband (House of Learning)

(Ummul-Madaris means the Mother of Madrasas)

• Established on 31 May 1866
• Founder: Muhammad Qasim Nanotawi (Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, Mehtab Ali and Nehal Ahmad)
• Brain child of Haji Muhammad Aabid Hussain
• Place: Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh
• Small mosque
• First teacher: Mahmud Deobandi (also known as Mulla Mahmud)
• First student: Mahmud Hasan Deobandi also known as Mahmud al-Hasan(Sheikh-ul-Hind)
• First class: under a pomegranate tree which still stands today, with one teacher and one
student.

Modern institution/ Pattern of Education

Despite having a “traditional” approach to the Islamic Sciences, the Darul Uloom was a very modern
institution. It was run by professional and paid staff. The students were admitted for fixed periods of
study and examinations were held at the end of the year. The certificates presented upon graduation.
The financial contributions came from the public. For a centre of Islamic learning to be organized in
such a way was very new, and the annual report, itself an innovation, made continuous efforts to
explain the novel (new) system.

Aims and objectives:

• Providing comprehensive information to the Muslims about their religion and making
arrangements for teaching of Quran, Tafseer, Hadees, etc.
• To act as custodian of Islam and Islamic principles in the subcontinent
• Free education for the poor students to save them going to missionary schools
• Invoking the spirit of Islam among the students
• Propagation and teaching of Islam
• Establishment of an institution for the propagation of Islam

Political Services of Deoband

• Jamiat-ul-Ulama-i-Islam: Thanvi group led by Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Shabir Ahmad Usmani
(Political affiliation: Muslim league)
• Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Hind : Madni group led by Maulana Hussain Madani and Mufti Kafayat Ullah
influenced by Abu-ul-Kalam Azad (Political affiliation: Congress)

Deoband and Aligarh

 • Policy towards British/ Approach towards British Raj
Against / Followed the policy of cooperation/reconciliation
Fighters / Defenders
• Patterns of education
Islamic education / Modern Western Scientific and English education

Collaboration

• Student exchange program ( Jamiat ul Ansar 1906)

• Central institution: Jami’ah Miliah 1920 in Dehli by Sheikh ul Hind

Important Sentences
• In the freedom struggle in British India, Ulama had played a significant role. Ranging from the
socio-cultural guidance of the Muslims to leading them politically, they played their role actively
in every sphere of life.
• Darul Uloom Deoband, apparently a religious seminary ( ‫ )کم عمر طلباء کا مدرسہ‬, was built for the
revitalization of Muslim society in India. The Ulama were the pioneers, who initiated the very
idea of freedom from the British.
• It is an undeniable fact that the independence movement and the history of the Indo-Pak
subcontinent are so mixed-up with the history of Ulama and religious personalities that it is now
difficult to separate one from another.
• The history of involvement of religion in politics in Pakistan can be traced back to the struggle
for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. Even before the
concept and demand of a separate homeland for the Muslims, religion and religious scholars
had an influential position in the politics of united India. The Ulama were actively involved in
almost all the national movements for the independence of India against the British Empire.
• Muslim League which got success in getting a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-
continent was supported by a faction of Deobandi Ulama, who actively participated in the
Quaid's campaign for Pakistan.
• Aligarh School of Thought/ Aligarh Movement motivated Indian Muslims regarding getting
western education as solution of their current socio-political problems, while Deoband School of
Thought/ Deoband Movement found this solution in religious education.
• The institutions Aligarh and Deoband were working apparently different but inwardly for the
same objective to reform the Muslim society and organize them on sound footings.
• In teaching of Quran Hadith and other religious disciplines, Deoband Madrasa followed the
Madrasa-i- Rahimiyah , established by Shah Abdur Rahim ( father of Shahwali ullah ). However, it
also incorporated many features of the new educational institutions established by the British,
e.g., division of students in regular classes, attendance registers and written examinations. By
1931, 900 students were enrolled in the Madrasa, including 43 foreign students.
Quotations
Z. U. Faruqi (Zia Ul Hassan Faruqi) writes in his book “The Deoband School and the Demand for
Pakistan”:

A Madrassa at Deoband was founded by Maulana Nanawtwi and

Maulana Ganguhi in 1866 with the greater aims and objectives of the
revitalization of Muslim society in India

In the words of Mehmood-ul- Hassan, the aims of the Madrassa were not limited only to teach and
educate people but it was built to perform some sacred (‫) مقدس‬duty:

• "Did Maulana (Nanawtwi) build this Madrassa just to learn and

teach? Obviously not; the Madrassa was established before my
eyes and I know that it was established to prepare the Muslims of
India to recover the losses of 1857

The famous nineteenth century Orientalist, Garcon de Tassi, writes:

• It cannot be denied that those Indian young men who are studying in
government institutions or mission schools would naturally be inclined
towards Christianity.

Important paragargh for the role of Ulma in Pakistan movement

• Ulma have played an important role in the freedom movement of Pakistan. It was the Ulama
who for the first time propagated the idea of freedom from British imperialism. They were the
ones who actively participated in the war of independence in 1857. After that when they
realized that an active confrontation (‫ ) محاز آرائی‬cannot win freedom for them, they changed
their strategy and involved in preparing a class of Muslims, who through their knowledge and
devoutness (‫ ) پارسائی‬would lead the Muslim of India in the freedom struggle.