Deoband

Deoband Devband Deoband
city
Deoband
Coordinates: 29°41′31″N 77°40′37″E / 29.692°N 77.677°E / 29.692; 77.677Coordinates: 29°41′31″N 77°40′37″E / 29.692°N 77.677°E / 29.692; 77.677
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	saharanpur
Elevation	348 m (1,142 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	81,706
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Vehicle registration	UP 11

Deoband (Hindi: देवबंद, Urdu: دیوبند‎, Devband) is a city and a municipal board in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Deoband is about 150 km from Delhi. It is best known for Darul Uloom of Deoband, one of the most important and influential schools of Islamic Studies and the presence of the Jamia Tibbiya Deoband college of Unani Medicine, imparting the qualifications of B.U.M.S. and M.D.

History

Foundation of Dar-ul-uloom Deoband

After the defeat of 1857, some of the prominent Muslim leaders of the freedom movement found it very hard to save India from the cultural onslaught of the British. To counter the nefarious British plan to enslave India culturally, they planned to establish a revolutionary institution that would impart knowledge as well as enthuse fervour among students to fight against oppressive forces. Darul Uloom Deoband, the most eminent Islamic learning centre thus was established in 21 May 1866. Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi (1832-1879), the founder of ‘Darul Uloom’ (house of knowledge) at Deoband, later on outlined the purpose of establishing the institution in the following words:

"The English have perpetrated boundless acts of tyranny against the Muslims for their fault, if at all it was a fault, of the uprising in 1857 and their relentless endeavour for the independence of this country thereafter. They have left no stone unturned to plunder and obliterate the Islamic arts and science, Muslim culture and civilization. Endowments of Muslim educational institutions have been confiscated and as a result state funded schools have been virtually closed. It is therefore, necessary to adopt other method instead of relying upon the old system of endowments.”

Role of Deoband in war of Independence

The political history of Darul-Uloom Deoband, should be reckoned to have begun nine or ten years prior to the establishment of Darul-Uloom. In 1857, with the determination to free India from the English, the elders of Darul-Uloom, particularly the Shaikh (spiritual guide) of the group, Hazrat Haji Imdadullah Muhajir-e-Makki and his favourite disciples, Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangoh and some other respectable men, as a dernier ressart, appealed to arms with great derring-do, an event which makes the first-ever page of the history of Darul-Uloom. In a gathering at Thana Bhavan the famous historical, Maulana Muhammad Yaqoob Nanautavi, the first principal of Darul-Uloom, Deoband, said in a very awesome manner; 'what are you thinking of the time in not far off when India will be rolled up like a mat. We will sleep at night under their government and will wake up in the morning under another administration'".

The Ulama of Deoband, with resoluteness and trust in Allah, have always been not only in the foremost rank of those who have struggled in the movement for the independence of India but they have also frequently been in the lead of this movement for independence; and if it is seen more thoughtfully and justly, they were the first persons, the pioneers, who initiated this idea. The warmth, vigour and catholicity which was created in this movement in fact is indebted to them. Most of these gentlemen raised the banner of revolt against the English government, fought face to face with the English army and many of them passed a good part of their lives in jail. The fact is that the history of the independence movement of India is so mixed up with the history of the Ulama and religious personalities that it is now difficult to separate one from the other. Political decline had reduced Muslims to a state of helplessness and misery, distraction and anxiety; by the establishment of Darul-Uloom, Deoband, they received equanimity, composure and stability.

In 1913AD, Maulana Nanautavi's well-guided pupil, Maulana Mahmood Hasan Shaikhul-Hind prepared a scheme of stirring a revolution against the British Government which has been called Reshmi Rumaal (Silken Letters) in the report of the Rowlatt Committee. But by chance this scheme of Silken Letters miscarried and the Shaikhul-Hind, along with his accomplices', Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, Maulana Ozair Gul and others were arrested and kept under detention in the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea for a number of years; and the Shaikhul-Hind's disciples, Maulana Ubaydullah Sindhi and Maulana Mansoor Ansari had to pass a very long time of their lives in exile.

In 1920, after his release from Malta, the Shaikhul-Hind joined the jami'atul-Ulama which his disciples had founded in 1919 to give a fillip to the independence movement. The jami'atul-Ulama shoulder to shoulder with the Indian National Congress, serpent its force in awakening the country politically and socially. Maulana Sayyid Husain Ahmad Madani, Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah Dehlavi, Maulana Sayyid Fakhrud-Deen Ahmad, and later on, Maulana Hifzur-Rahman, Maulana Mufti Ateequr-Rahman Usmani, Maulana Minnatullah Rahmani, Maulana Habibur-Rahman Ludhyanvi, Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Miyan Deobandi and many other Ulama of Deoband not only remained in the forefront of the movements for the freedom of the country but they have also been the cause of coming into being of several other movements and have consequently suffered the hardships of imprisonment and jail.

In 1926, the gentlemen who sowed the seeds of complete independence for Indian in the meeting of the Jami'atul-Ulama-e-Hind at Calcutta were the graduates of Darul-Uloom, Deoband, only; and then they reiterated it in 1927 in the meeting at Peshawar.

Thakur Mukand Singh Vaidh is one of the famous personality of Deoband, who fought for freedom of India and spent six years in jail ( from May 1942 To Aug 1947).He had been a freedom fighter and political worker of the radically revolutionary faction in association with Chander Shekar Azad, Sardar Bhagat Singh, Yogesh Chadrer Chattergy. He was the founder of Mazdor Sabha Trade Union at Deaoband.

Geography

Deoband is located at 29°42′N 77°41′E / 29.7°N 77.68°E / 29.7; 77.68.^[1] It has an average elevation of 348 metres (1093 feet). Deoband is surrounded by the famous cities like Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Roorkee, Haridwar, Shamli,Badgaon etc. The town is connected to national capital via. national highway and railways.

Holy sites

The Deobandi Islamic movement began at Darul Uloom Deoband (a University) in Deoband, India, where its foundation was laid on 30 May 1866.^[2]

Education In Deoband

There are number of modern schools in Deoband for secondary education for both in English and Hindi medium. The main schools and Institutions are:

• The Darul Uloom Deoband
• The Jamia Tibbiya Deoband ( The Deoband University of (Unani) Medicine; issuing B.U.M.S. and M.D. degrees )
• The Shree Jain Inter College
• The S.G.R.R. Public School Deoband
• The Spring Dale Public School
• The H.A.V. Inter College, Deoband
• Islamia Inter College, Deoband
• The Doon Valley Public School, Deoband
• The Aryan Public School
• The Shiv Sishu Mandir school
• The Ram Krishna Public School
• The Janta Inter College
• The Government Degree College Deoband
• Shri Ram Krishna Inter College Deoband

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^[3] Deoband had a population of 81,706. Males constitute 56% of the population and females 44%. It has an average literacy rate of 75%, 78% males & 65% females are literate, higher than the national average of 62%. About 49% of its population is Hindu, mostly Gujjar and 50% is Muslim and 1% others. Also 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.

See also

• Deobandi

References

External links

• http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zSxMTFzeNFg
• Deoband Rector Maulana Ghulam Vastanvi talks to TCN on Gujarat - TCN News
• Deoband series - TCN News