The Deobandis are one of the groups of Muslims. This group is connected to and named after the Madrasa of Deoband – Saharanpur – in India, With regard to basic tenets of belief (‘aqeedah), they follow the madhhab of Abu Mansoor al-Maatreedi. They follow the madhhab of Imaam Abu Haneefah with regard to fiqh. And They follow the Sufi tareeqahs of the Naqshbandiyyah, Chishtiyyah, Qaadiriyyah and Saharwardiyyah with regard to spiritual development as they say.

The inception of the Deobandi School of thought stems from the differences and disagreements with the Barelawis, and the subsequent formation of the Darul-Uloom Deoband in 1868 by Moulana Qasim Nanotwi. The term, Deobandi, is used to describe all those who were in agreement with the school of Deoband and its ideology. From amongst the Deobandi scholars is Moulana Muhammad Ilyas, the founder of the Tableeghi Jamaat.

Moulana Ilyas was much influenced by another prominent Deobandi scholar – Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi about whom he used to say, “Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi has done a great service (to the religion). It is my heart’s desire that the teachings should be his and the Manhaj (methodology) of Dawah (propagation) be mine, so that this way his teachings become well-known.”[1]

So, the Jamaat Tableegh shares the same ideology as the School of Deoband and may be considered as the Deobandis’s Dawah organ. Whilst the Deobandis have been constantly bogged down because of the opposition by the Barelawis, the Jamaat Tableegh has been instrumental in the spread of Deobandism by hiding its true orientations and evading controversy.

Foot notes

[1] Malfoozat Moulana Ilyaas (Sayings of Moulana Ilyaas), collected by Muhammad Manzoor Noomani, p.50, incident no. 56