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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism