Below is the translated letter issued by Darul Uloom Deoband on 8/12/2016, just two days after they issued their first Fatwa on Maulana Saad on 6/12/2016.
The original Urdu letter:
[Translation] The Rujoo of Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi and the response letter from Darul Uloom
The (first) Rujoo letter received from Maulana Muhammad Saad Saheb in response to the unanimous stance (Fatwa) of Darul Uloom Deoband was met with dissatisfaction by Darul Uloom Deoband, who decided to issue the unified stance (Fatwa) and informed Maulana Muhammad Saad Saheb through a letter. The publication of (Maulana Saad’s) Rujoo letter and Darul Ulooms dissatisfaction letter was deemed unnecessary, but now, since a refutation writing has been made public by some officials of Nizamuddin, it has become necessary to publish this letter which contains details of Darul Uloom’s dissatisfaction. This is to inform people about the basis of Darul Uloom’s dissatisfaction and the status of Maulana Saad’s Rujoo.
Below, we are publishing Maulana Muhammad Saad Saheb’s Rujoo writing and the letter from Darul Uloom. We will publish more details later if needed
Darul Uloom Deoband’s Rejection Letter
Assalamualaykum WRWB,
From: Abu al-Qasim Nomani, Head of Darul Uloom Deoband
To: Maulana Muhammad Saad Saheb, May Allah grant us and you what He loves and is pleased with,
May the peace, mercy, blessings and grace of Allah be upon you. We hope all is well.
The matter in question is that after reading the letter you sent, it was pleasing because our fortunate demand is that if any mistake occurs from us in the commands of Allah’s favored religion or in the honor of His chosen and distinguished personalities, peace be upon them, due to any oversight or error, we should sincerely strive to retract and mitigate its unpleasant effects without any delay. The initial part of your sent noble letter apparently gives this impression, which is indeed valuable, but this impression fades away by the end of the letter.
At the end of the letter, you wrote: “Compared to the above matters, due to any negligence or carelessness in speech or lack of encompassing all wisdoms and considerations at the time of statement, the shortcomings in expression have caused some misunderstandings among the responsible persons of your esteemed religious center, me and my companions. I find such misunderstanding very regrettable and considered it non-cooperative with the blessed effort of Da’wa and its Markaz” (in his words).
In this context, it is stated that firstly, the stance of Darul Uloom Deoband is not based solely on your old statements; rather, recent statements are also part of it; excluding some parts of a quotation, the rest of the quotations are from recent times. Secondly, your recent statements have encouraged closeness to Madrasas, scholars, and the people of Allah, but there is no mention of retracting or refuting the questionable statements. The third point is that the last and concluding part of your correspondence clearly shows that, in your opinion, this Fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband (which has been sent considering this long letter) is formulated with a spirit of mistrust and non-cooperation with the work of Da’wa and its Markaz. This is completely incorrect and wrong. Fatwas are not issued based on mistrust; they are issued for the explanation of Sharia. You should know that the term “suspicion and mistrust,” from a scholarly and Sharia perspective, refers to those formed without evidence. The “suspicion and mistrust” based on evidence cannot be termed as such. Moreover, this Fatwa and stance of Darul Uloom Deoband are based on your explicit and unambiguous statements, so interpreting it as “mistrust” is in itself a form of mistrust.
Despite all this, since you are a member of a very well-known scholarly and religious family in the country and have a hereditary affiliation with Da’wah and Tabligh, this fatwa has given the benefit of the doubt in your favour; but alas, you are interpreting this as mistrust. As for the relationship of pure well-wishing of Darul Uloom Deoband with the Tablighi Jamaat and its cooperation considering its educational and teaching activities, it is clear, and there is no need to say more.
Furthermore, at the end of the letter under the title of “note”, you have written that despite your limited knowledge, efforts will be made to send further information and scholarly references regarding the objections to your statements. This indicates that you consider your opinions and ideas correct and want to provide their arguments. After this correspondence, to avoid prolonging the correspondence unnecessarily, it is being considered to now send the unanimous stance of Darul Uloom Deoband to the people of madrasas, scholars, and serious members of the community, so that this blessed work of the group can be protected from the mixture of wrong ideologies and thoughts and its usefulness and the trust among the true scholars remain intact.
[End of Letter]
