Domain of Islam -- Encyclopedia

Islamic Institutions

Term

DARUL-ULOOM, DEOBAND DoiAdmins

The day of Thursday, 15th Muharram, A.H. 1283 (May 30, 1866), was that blessed
and auspicious day in the Islamic history of India when the foundation stone
for the renaissance of Islamic sciences was laid in the land of Deoband. Seeing
the simple and ordinary manner in which it had been started, it was difficult
to visualize and decide that a Madrasah beginning so humbly, with utter lack
of equipment's, was destined to become the center, within a couple of years,
of the Islamic sciences in Asia.Accordingly, before long, students desirous
of studying the Holy Book and the Sunnah, the Shari'ah and the Tariqah (the
spiritual path), began to flock here in droves from this sub continent as well
as from neighboring and distant countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Bukhara and
Samarqand, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and the far off regions of the
continent of Africa, and within a short-time the radiant rays of knowledge
and wisdom illumined the heart and mind of the Muslims of the continent of
Asia with the light of faith (Iman) and Islamic culture.

The time when the Darul Uloom Deoband, was established, the old Madaris in
India had almost become extinct, and the condition of two or four that had
survived the ravages of time was not better than that of a few glow-worms in
a dark night. Apparently it so looked at that time as if the Islamic sciences
had packed up their kit from India. Under these circumstances, some men of
Allah and divine doctors, through their inner light, sensed the imminent dangers.
They knew it too well that nations have attained their right status through
knowledge only. So, without depending upon the government of the time, they
founded the Darul Uloom, Deoband, with public contributions and co-operation.
One of the principles that Hazrat Nanautavi (may his secret be sanctified)
proposed for the Darul Uloom and other religious Madaris is also this that
the Darul-Uloom should be run trusting in Allah and with public contributions
for which the poor masses alone should be relied upon.

The Darul-Uloom, Deoband, is today a renowned religious and academic center
in the Islamic world. In the sub-continent it is the largest institution for
the dissemination and propagation of Islam and the biggest headspring of education
in the Islamic sciences. Such accomplished scholars have come out from the
Darul Uloom in every period that they, in accordance with the demands of religious
needs of the time, have rendered valuable services in disseminating and spreading
correct religious beliefs and religious sciences. These gentlemen, besides
in this sub-continent, are busy in performing religions and academic services
in various other countries also, and everywhere they have acquired a prominent
status or religious guidance of the Muslims. The fact is that the Darul Uloom,
Deoband, was a great religious, educational and reformative movement in the
thirteenth century Hijri. It was such a crucial and crying need of the time
that indifference to and connivance at it could cause Muslims to be confronted
with inestimable dangers. The caravan that comprised only two souls on 15th
Moharram, A-H. 1283, has today in its train individuals from many countries
of Asia!

For the last one century, the Darul Uloom, Deoband, has been considered an
incomparable teaching institution for the religious education of the Muslims
not only in the sub-continent but also throughout the Islamic world. Besides
the Jam'a-e Azhar, Cairo, there is no such institution any where in the Islamic
world that may have acquired so much importance in point or antiquity, resorting,
centrality and strength of students as the Darul Uloom, Deoband, has. The foundation
of the Darul Uloom had been laid in this obscure, sleepy village of India at
the hands of such sincere and august men that within a short time its academic
greatness was established in the world of Islam. And it began to be looked
upon as the most popular educational institution of the Islamic world, students
from the Islamic countries flocking to it for the study and research of different
arts and sciences. A large number of personalities, well-versed in the religions
sciences, found today in the length and breadth of this sub-continent has quenched
its thirst from this very great river of knowledge, and eminent religious doctors
(Ulama) have been once the alumni of this very educational institution. It
is a fact that as regards the worth of academic services not only in the sub-continent
but also in other Islamic countries there is no other educational institution
except one or two, that may have rendered such weighty and important religious
and academic services to the Muslim community. The achievements of the Ulama
of the Darul Uloom in the fields of religion, education, missionary-work and
book writing have been acknowledged repeatedly. And the achievements not only
in India but also in other Islamic lands, and in the fields especially of guidance
and instruction, teaching and preaching they seem to be ahead of all others.
In the Muslim society of the sub-continent, the command a high rank and a lofty
position.

With the tumult of the fame of the Darul Uloom even the academic
assemblies of Afghanistan, Bukhara and Samarqand reverberated. Us graduates
became deans and principals of great Madaris, and it is an authentic history.
And a fact to assert that this spring of grace of the Darul Uloom, Deoband,
by virtue of its ethos, has been busy for more than a century. In quenching
the thirst of the seekers of knowledge of different sciences and the whole
of Asia is redolent with the aroma of this prophetic garden. Among the hundreds
of thousands of seminaries in the world of Islam today there are only two
such institutions on which the Muslims have relied most of all: the one is
Jam'a-e-Azhar, Cairo, and the other is Darul Uloom, Deoband. The religious
services both these institutions of learning have rendered to the Muslims are
sui generis. These very religious, academic and intellectual services of the
Darul Uloom have made it a cynosure in the Islamic world. And what is more
astonishing is that the Darul Uloom without being dependent on the government
has made all these advancements. The blessings (Barakat) of the Darul Uloom
and its universal beneficence are indicating that upon this academic institution
a special theophany (Tajalli) of divine and prophetic knowledge has cast its
light, which regularly continues to attract hearts towards it. What and how
many great achievements the Darul Uloom, Deoband, made, what and how many renowned
personalities it produced and how they imprinted the stamp of their service
and utility in every field of religious life. All these things you will know
by going through this history of the Darul Uloom, Deoband.

However much pride and joy the Muslims of the sub-continent express over the
existence of the Darul Uloom Deoband, there can be no doubt about its being
correct and justified. The history of the Darul Uloom in the present times
is a bright chapter in the history of the Muslims effort and endeavor; this
great struggle for the survival of religion and freedom of thought cannot be
over looked in the history of Islam and the Muslims. Darul Uloom, Deoband,
is in fact a shore less ocean from which, besides those of this sub-continent,
the seekers of knowledge of the whole of Asia are benefiting. If the history
of the Darul Uloom is studied minutely, a perspicacious reader will not fail
to see the reality that it is not merely an old-type teaching institution;
it is in fact a stupendous movement for the revival of Islam and the survival
of the community.

The establishment of this seminary in the land of Deoband and its stability
is the result of a concerted effort and endeavor of the Muslims of the sub-continent.
Service to religion, support to Islam, renaissance of Islamic arts and sciences
and their dissemination, and help to the students craving religious knowledge
are the special and momentous achievements of the Darul Uloom Deoband. For
one hundred and fourteen years it has been rendering, as per the pious predecessors
tack, the right-type of academic and gnostic training to the Muslims. Even
as Cairo, after the fall of Baghdad, became the center of Islamic arts and
sciences, exactly in the same way, after the decline of Delhi, academic centrality
fell to the lot of Deoband. And great illustrious personalities rose up from
this teaching institution, innumerable scholars were fostered in its laps,
and thousands of Ulama, Shaikhs, traditionists, jurisconsults, authors and
experts of other arts and sciences were produced here. And, having become an
adornment in the firmament of knowledge and action rendered and are still rendering
services to religion in different manners in every nook and corner of the sub-continent.The
history of the Darul Uloom, Deoband, is a historical chapter on an epoch-making
period in the history of Islam as a whole. The long and short of this is that
this overflowing ocean of arts and sciences has so far assuaged the thirst
of a very large number of the seekers of knowledge, who having become the vernal
air, have spread its academic aura in the four corners of the world. Those
who benefited from the Darul Uloom are like a luxuriant free the green and
fresh branches and foliage of which it is not easy to compute.

Darul Uloom Deoband, has been a center of both the Shariah and the Tariqa
from the very day of its inception. All the moons and stars in the sky of the
Shariah and the Tariqa and knowledge and action that are at the time shining
in the sub-continent have been mostly illuminated by this very brilliant sun,
and have come out assuaged from this very head spring of knowledge and gnosis.
Every one knows that most of the great Ulama of the sub-continent has been
the alumni of this very institution. And those who feasted at the dinner-cloth
of Darul Uloom are now present in most of the Asian countries, where as well
as in the sub-continent and certain other foreign lands. They have enkindled
the lamps of the Holy Book and the Sunnah, and have imparted the grace of instruction
and guidance to countless people. Darul Uloom, Deoband, has played a great
part in investing the Muslims thoughts and views with freshness and sacredness,
their hearts with ambition and courage, and their bodies with strength and
energy. Its beneficence universal and countless men, to satisfy whose academic
eagerness there were no means available, have quenched their thirst from it.
At the same time, on the model of Darul.Uloom sprang up many religious and
academic springs, each having its own particular many of circle of its benefit
and grace. They are all the stars of this very solar system by the light of
which every nook and corner of the religious and academic life of the Muslims
of the sub-continent is radiant.

Very little attention has been paid to this benefit of these ýreligious
schools that on account of them the condition of millions of Muslim families
has been ameliorated. The Muslims inferiority complex was removed and that
through these schools became available to the community innumerable such individuals,
who, according to the conditions and time, guided the Muslims in the different
aspects of life.

Besides their great services in the revival of Islam, they awakened political
consciousness among the Muslims and took leading part in the struggle for freedom
as a result of which the countries of the sub-continent acquired independence.

Even as in the past the Darul Uloom, Deoband, has rendered invaluable services
to the cause of Islam, the Muslims and the religious sciences. It is hoped
that in future too it will continue to discharge the obligation of inciting
the Muslims power of action, of strengthening the faiths and of preaching and
propagating Islam. .

Visit Darul-Uloom Deoband's Website