Deobandis and Barelvis: Some Clarifications
By
Mohammad Ali, New Age Islam
April 2,
2023
Main
Points:
1. This article
is a response to Amana Begum’s article, Deobandis Arabising Indian Muslims in
name of Islam—a culture war Barelvis fought for 150 yrs, published on The Print
on March 18, 2023.
2. It
highlights the misconceptions of the author regarding the nature of the
different theological schools of Muslims in India.
------
In an
article published on The Print, Amana Begum illustrates the differences between
the Barelvi and the Deobandi schools, characterizing the latter ideology to be
hostile to the Indian culture. In this article, I intend to explain the nature
of the differences between the two groups and analyse the claims made by Amana
Begum at the end of the article.
The
Sunni Muslim Demography
There are
three important groups in India that claim the majority of Sunni Muslims as
their followers, i.e., Barelvi, Deobandi, and Ahl-e-Hadith. Then, there are
people who do not subscribe to the ideology of any of these groups, but their
religious inclinations can be traced back to one of the three groups. A
superficial understanding of Sunni Islam in India -- implying that these groups
are monolithic -- can be misleading. However, as a matter of fact, there has
been an internal struggle within the groups for ascertaining the right practice
or the right way of following Islam.
While
thinking about the theological contentions among Muslims, it is important to
bear in mind that the underlying assumption of this struggle is to recreate the
Prophetic model, the “authentic” Islam in order to imitate it. It would mean
that the practices and ideas that became part of Islam after the Prophet
Muhammad and the early Muslims, their status as a normative practice remained
and will be debated among Muslim scholars. Because their status was or was not
justified by an interpretation of the text, it is possible that another interpretation
can contend with and render the previous interpretation invalid.
As we know
that the Islamic tradition that we see today evolved through centuries. And in
the process of its evolution, it absorbed diverse cultures and numerous
ideologies. Scholars, who were assigned to determine whether a new practice or
idea is in conformity with Islamic principles, debated things that filtered
through their writings and fatwas and became part of Islamic culture across the
globe. That is how the disciplines of Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic
scholasticism, etc., came into existence.
Some
aspects of local culture and Sufi practices, which are more malleable to local
culture, have always been subjected to the criticism of theologians and
jurists. In spite of that, Sufism thrived with its diversified manifestations,
and Muslims assimilated into local cultures not just in India but across the
Muslim lands around the world. It is believed that Sufism was reconciled with
the juristic-theological understanding of Islam after the eleventh-century
theologian and philosopher, al-Ghazali. After that, it became common for
jurists and theologians to become disciples of Sufi masters. Therefore, it is
argued that considering Sufism as antithetical to Sharia is misleading.
Though objections
against Sufi practices and local culture among Indian Muslims existed since the
day Muslims became a part of Indian society, they never harassed Sufism in the
form of an organized movement. The real trouble began with the publication of
Taqwiyat ul Iman (1817), authored by Shah Ismail of Delhi (d.1831), who was an
ideologue for a reformation of the contemporary Islamic tradition. The book
vehemently criticized Sufi practices such as visitation to shrines, seeking
intercession, Urs ceremonies, etc. It should be noted that this was not the
first attempt of criticizing Sufism. But the influx of modern ideas facilitated
by the wheels of colonialism affected the mind of Muslims, as well as other
Indian citizens, portraying practices like veneration of the graves of saints
as superstitious. I think that the coming of modernity was one of the reasons
behind the success of Shah Ismail’s ideas of reform. The book caused a division
in the Sunni Muslim community: first, Ahl-e-Hadith (lit. the People of Hadith),
who embraced the ideology of Shah Ismail and rejected the interpretations of
later generations of scholars over the literal understanding of hadith corpus,
second, Barelvi, who categorically rejected Shah Ismail and his followers and
defended Sufi practices (not all, as is erroneously believed) through the
interpretations of the Islamic scriptures, third, Deobandis. The Deobandis
neither rejected Shah Ismail nor discarded Sufism as a whole. They tried to
maintain a balance. The founders of the Deobandi school were practicing Sufis.
However, they gave the upper hand to the juristic understanding of Sharia and
judge the practices of Sufism with the yardstick of this understanding,
resulting in the rejection of many popular practices associated with Sufism.
With this
context in mind, we also need to understand the differences between the
Barelvis and many traditional Sufi communities in India. Since Barelvi scholars
advocated Sufi practices, many people, who inherited the Sufi tradition from
their ancestors and wanted to keep them, naturally sided with the Barelvi
group. Because Barelvi school provided them with theologically laced arguments
against the rival groups. However, characterizing all Indian Muslims with Sufi
inclinations as Barelvi is not correct. There are two types of non-Barelvi
Sufis in India. First, as I mentioned earlier, there are some people, who
subscribe to the Deobandi ideology, are practicing Sufis. They just do not hold
pompous ‘urs ceremonies and observe popular Sufi practices that can be
witnessed at the shrines of Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi, and Hazrat Moiunuddin
Chishti in Ajmer. Second, the Muslims who practice Sufism do not follow either
the Deobandi school or the Barelvi one. The second type of Sufis is often left
out of the discussion on Indian Muslims or is coupled with the Barelvis. Since
we are categorizing Indian Muslims based on which ideology they follow, let’s
call them Khānqāhis, meaning the Muslims who visit shrines and observe Sufism
as the right practice of Islam, and do not associate themselves with the
Barelvi or Deobandi schools. Their points of contention with Ahmad Raza Khan
and his followers are sectarianism and some Sufi practices, for example, the
use of music during Qawwali, which Ahmad Raza Khan deemed prohibited.
The
Nature of Deobandi/Barelvi Contentions
Deobandis,
Barelvis, and Khānqāhis do follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, that is,
they do not differ in their religious practices like Namaz (five-time prayers),
Roza (fasting), etc. However, on matters concerning expressions of devotion,
they have different opinions. On the issue of music, Barelvis and Deobandis are
on the same side, but on the issue of seeking intercession and celebrating the
birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, the Deobandis differ from the Barelvis and
Khanqahis. A close look at the Barelvis and Deobandis will reveal that both
insist on following the juristic understanding of Islam. The founders of both
schools were the foremost jurists of their time. Therefore, it will be wrong to
say, as Amana Begum stated, that Deobandi “emphasize strict adherence to
Islamic law,” implying that Barelvis do not. Ahmad Raza while invoking Sharia
injunctions censored many Sufi and local practices. His fatwas against the use
of music and dance, and the visitation of women to a shrine, are very famous,
which are facts contrary to the statement of Amana Begum who believes that
Barelvis use music and that they dance. On the other hand, Chishti Sufis are
known for the use of music and dance during Qawwali, and it is mostly the
Chishti Sufi Khānqāhis such as the Khanqah of Ajmer and Khanqah Arifia in
Sayyid Sarawan, in Prayagraj (Allahabad), which are up against many fatwas of
Ahmad Raza and the dominance of Barelvis over the Sufi Muslims. She also said
in the same article that “Deobandism rejects all scientific theories that are
not integral to the study of the Quran and Hadith,” which is a fact. But
Barelvis can also not be exonerated from this accusation. As a matter of fact,
Ahmad Raza Khan wrote three books arguing that the Earth is static and is not
revolving around the Sun.
While
suggesting that only Deobandis are separatists, Ms. Begum writes that they
reject “any form of culture…that does not have its roots in Islam.” It is not a
complete truth regarding either Deobandis or Barelvis. Both groups, without any
exception, tend to question the practices of the local culture with a religious
significance or that which do not conform with their juristic viewpoints. In
fact, Deobandis, not Barelvis, argued for an inclusive nationalism and an
alliance with Hindus against the British in the Independence Movement. A
Deobandi scholar, Ubaidullah Sindhi was against Pan-Islamism and advocated
Indian Nationalism.
My point is
that if we overlook some differences between the Deobandis and the Barelvis on
some issues regarding devotional or Sufi practices, their approach to religion
or reading religious texts is the same. Also, their differences have
extraordinary socio-political implications for Indian Muslims. Having said
that, neither of them can be considered antithetical to Indian culture. Even
though Islam has intellectually been static after the Partition in India, there
has been a significant change since the establishment of these schools. The
contemporary followers of both schools cannot be judged by the writings of the
founding scholars. However, there is still a need to engage with them on an
intellectual level regarding questions like multiculturalism and secularism.
…..
Mohammad Ali has been a madrasa student. He has also participated in a
three years program of the "Madrasa Discourses,” a program for madrasa
graduates initiated by the University of Notre Dame, USA. Currently, he is a
PhD Scholar at the Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
His areas of interest include Muslim intellectual history, Muslim philosophy,
Ilm-al-Kalam, Muslim sectarian conflicts, madrasa discourses.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/deobandis-barelvis-clarifications/d/129564
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