Aligarh and Deoband: is there any contradiction?

By Maulana Abdullah Javaid

Shah Waliullah started the renaissance of Islam in the Indian sub-continent. His doctrine, his ideology, and his Da'wa (preaching) towards the revival of faith are the foundations of all the political, religious and educational organisations of Muslims of the sub-continent.

He appeared on the scene with his Da'wa and philosophy at a time when the Mughal empire was crumbling and the political and social life of Muslims had started declining, and as a sign of the doomsday the sun of a new social and political values had started rising from the West. Shah Waliullah foresaw the dangerous situation that was to arise in future. He made the seminary of his father, Shah Abdur Raheem, the head quarters of his movement from where he started spreading his message. He lectured, wrote books and articles which gave Muslims a sense of self respect and reignited in them the spirit of Iman (faith).

The basic elements of his movement were: Protection of the faith; reform of beliefs; purification of soul; purification of the society; reconstruction of Islamic politics; and for all of these launching of an educational movement. This movement had in it a message of revolution for the already shattered Muslim community of India. After the death of Shah Waliullah his enterprising son Shah Abdul Aziz took over the reins of his movement. He made his madarsa (religious school) the centre of the movement. On the one hand he gave lectures to his pupils and on the other he sparked in them the spirit of Jihad. Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Shah Ismail Shaheed took their lessons of sacrificing their lives for Deen from this very Madarsa of Shah Abdul Aziz.

In the meanwhile the sun of Western Political Power had started shining in its full glory all over the Indian subcontinent and the condition of Muslims went from bad to worse. Shah Abdul Aziz passed away and Syed Ahmed Shaheed's Jihad movement also failed. But the centre of all these activities, Madarsa Shah Abdul Aziz, continued to function.

Shah Muhammad Ishaq, Shah Makhsoosullah and Shah Ghulam Ali are on the top of those who had taken their lessons from Shah Abdul Aziz himself. In those days the madarsa of Shah Makhsoosullah and the seminary of Shah Ghulam Ali were two big centres of education in Delhi. The founder of AMU, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, was taught by Shah Ghulam Ali and Shah Makhsoosullah while the founder of Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband, Maolana Qasim Nanotvi, received his education from Shah Abdul Ghani, the successor of Shah Muhammad Ishaq.

The year 1857 has been the most tormenting year in Indian history. The misfortune that had started casting its shadow just after the death of the last Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, reached at its peak during this year. The last and weak bastion of Mughal empire fell and the British came to the direct rule of the country. Indians, specially the Muslims, were massacred. Ulema were hanged or slaughtered. Properties were destroyed, plundered and attached. All these acts were aimed at demoralising the Muslims and force them to accept Christianity. Christian priests were invited from Europe to start propagating Christianity and convert Muslims. These missionaries were given all sorts of protection and guarantees and different academic and psychological tactics were adopted to bring Muslims into the fold of Christianity. This situation, obviously, posed a big threat to Muslims and their faith. And it was this situation in which Maulana Qasim thought of devising an independent educational system for the Muslims in which their morale could be boosted and they could be enabled to protect their faith and check the Christian missionary onslaught. To give a practical shape to this plan, the foundation stone was laid of 'Madarsa Arbi' (Arabic School) on 30 May 1866, in a small town of Deoband in the Northern Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. This 'Madarsa Arabi' later became known as Darul-ul-Uloom.

The foundation of Dar-ul-Uloom was not meant to serve only as an educational institution, but it was aimed at launching a movement that could enthuse in its pupils the true spirit of Iman and inculcate in them such a sense of self-respect and respect for the community that could make them the true and selfless servants and dedicated soldiers of their Deen.

Maulana Qasim was a visionary and a man of courage. He was not unaware of the challenges confronting the Muslims at that time. He was conscious of the fact that in order to meet this challenge learning of English language and mastering new sciences was the need of the time to be able to live a respectable life for the Indian Muslims. No doubt he had prepared the syllabus of Dar-ul-Uloom purely on religious lines but he made it clear, and to put it in his own words: “After completing their education from here the students of this madarsa should join government colleges and continue to master the modern sciences.�

Maulana Qasim had a clear idea that the educational movement started in Deoband would require the students to learn � in addition to deeni ta’leem � modern sciences and English as well so that they could do Da'wa work among non Muslims without any difficulty. An incident which took place when he was on his pilgrimage to Makkah throws enough light upon his educational plans.

Once when he was going to perform Haj on board the ship he encountered a Christian priest and in order to talk to him Maulana Qasim had to take the help of an interpreter. But he was not happy by not being able to talk directly to him and, therefore, resolved to learn English after his return. But when he came back his time had come to an end and he went back to his Creator. Had he lived a bit more this man of strong determination would have surely fulfilled his dream.

Just after nine years of the foundation of Dar-ul-Uloom, in May 1875, Sir Syed established the MAO College at Aligarh, later to be known as Aligarh Muslim University. Basically there was no contradiction between Aligarh Movement and Deoband Movement. And how could it be when Maulana Qasim himself wanted the students of Dar-ul-Uloom to learn modern sciences after the completion of their studies in Deoband (Savaneh Qasmi [Biography of Qasmi) page 294).

However, the fact can not be ignored that there was a time when a gap arose between Aligarh and Deoband and remained there for quite some time. This gulf arose due to a misunderstanding that the Ulema of Deoband were opposed to Aligarh Movement; they denied the importance of modern sciences; and regarded the learning of English and joining schools and colleges as un-Islamic. There were, of course, some factors that contributed more to it. The first thing was that after being deprived of their throne and power, Muslims were so enraged and had become so anti-British that the desire to take revenge was always there in their hearts. On top of that the onslaught of Christian Missionaries on Islam and their efforts to convert Muslims to Christians made them even more furious. As a natural corollary Muslims hated and opposed everything related to the Britishers. So they saw the establishment of the MAO college as a trap laid by the Britishers.

The second thing was that even before establishing MAO college Sir Syed had become a controversial figure among the Muslims. Some of his writings gave the impression that he gave equal importance to Religion and Science. On the miracles of Shaq-qul Qamar, Ma'raj, hell and heaven, Satan, Angels and Jinns he differed with the general consensus of the Ulema and wrote articles that go against the basic beliefs of Islam. Although he claimed that he had taken these ideas from Shah Waliullah, Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Shah Ismail Shaheed, the fact remains that such thoughts do not correspond with the beliefs of these Ulema. Similarly it was not only the Deobandi Ulema who opposed him on these issues, his own colleagues and friends in the Aligarh Movement had serious differences with him. The impact of these aspects of Sir Syed's views on Muslims was that they avoided sending their children to MAO College. The Ulema differed with Sir Syed's religious beliefs only and not his educational movement.

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Maulana Abdullah Javaid has been the Incharge of Foreign Students Office in Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband. He has been on the editorial board of the monthly DAR-UL-ULOOM and has edited the Urdu fortnightly MARKAZ. He has translated the famous compilation of hadiths MISHKAT-AL-MASABEEH in Urdu under the name MAZAHIR-E-¬HAQ JADEED and has published several articles. He is currently involved in translating KITABUL MAGHAZI, by Allama Waqidi in Urdu and has published a portion of it under the title TAREEK FA TOOHAT-E-ISLAMI.