In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Darul Uloom Deoband is our academic and doctrinal center, and the elders of Darul Uloom are the spokespersons and guides of our school of thought. Darul Uloom Deoband has clearly stated its position regarding Maulvi Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi’s thoughts and theories, stating that he is deviating from the path of the majority of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. Even after his retraction, he continues to make incorrect interpretations and ijtihad of the Quran and Hadith, while harshly criticizing others.
From Maulana’s recent statements, it has become absolutely certain that he has developed his own specific ideology separate from Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, particularly the thought of Deobandi elders. He wants to bring the entire ummah to this self-made ideology, as clarified in the writing issued by Darul Uloom Deoband on January 31, 2018. The claims of disagreement among Darul Uloom teachers regarding Darul Uloom Deoband’s position that were circulated in the media were all false and contrary to fact, as clarified by Darul Uloom on May 7, 2018, with signatures from respected senior teachers and muftis.
We should be aware that the most dangerous aspect of Maulvi Muhammad Saad’s ideology is that under the attractive title of “Seerah of the Companions,” he has freed himself from following inheritance in the interpretation and understanding of texts, meaning: adherence to the research of predecessors and elders. Scholars are well aware that adherence to inheritance in understanding texts is the backbone and identity of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, and this freedom has always been an easily accessible path for false personalities to derive and propagate their false theories.
Through his independent interpretations, Maulana is leading the public away from past predecessors and current elders and scholars toward a mindset that creates an attitude of aversion to predecessors. He and his followers are making incorrect derivations directly from texts, especially the Seerah of the Companions, without referring to the scholarly treasure of predecessors and elders. Among his believers, this tendency has developed that since the time of the Companions, no one has understood dawah from the Seerah as Maulana has understood it. Consequently, new incorrect ijthihads regarding dawah are emerging day by day. They believe that instead of understanding dawah from personalities of the present or past, they will understand it directly from the Seerah of the Companions, just as non-conformists say they will understand religion directly from hadiths and are not bound by the scholarly treasure of the four imams and predecessors and elders.
Maulana is a preacher of this self-made ideology and is seemingly forming a new group based on it. Among his followers, a state of aversion to predecessors and distrust in their religious understanding has developed. Below them, incidents of disrespect and misconduct toward past and present senior scholars are frequently occurring by those who claim their obedience. Writings and statements are continuously coming from them containing widespread cursing, accusations, allegations, and even prayer-curses. The savagery of the words in articles and the ugliness of titles indicate a particular temperament and specific disposition. Serious discussion on the actual subject is neither spoken nor written. Anyone familiar with the disposition of the pious predecessors, majority of the ummah, people of truth, and the great majority will find Maulana and his like-minded’s ideology and disposition different from this.
Undoubtedly, the Seerah of the Companions is a criterion and the knowledge and practice of the Companions is a standard, but is every person’s derivation reliable? Never. Only the derivation of the reliable scholars of the ummah from the people of truth is reliable. The determination to derive and extract directly from the Seerah of the Companions with little knowledge, and to propagate one’s textual methodology among the public without presenting it to righteous scholars, criticizing others, and insisting unnecessarily on uniqueness and even false ideas is the main cause of disorder and chaos in the ummah. Such attractive slogans have been raised in the ummah before. The result was that naive public and self-interested scholars became entangled in the attractiveness of the title, while the wise understood the reality and separated, and many individuals stood in opposition, and the fitna of destruction and disagreement surrounded the ummah.
Precautionary announcements are also being made through Maulana from time to time in the name of retraction, but it is a reality that the true expression of the ideologies of a personality or group is not through their cautiously made announcements; rather, the trust of righteous scholars in the actions, conduct, knowledge and understanding of that personality and other personalities associated with them is the real criterion.
Darul Uloom Deoband undoubtedly had to face extraordinary cursing and various types of trials in expressing its position, but bearing all kinds of conditions for the sake of truth and ignoring worldly losses has been an old tradition of Darul Uloom. This is not something surprising or astonishing. We are only sorry that some scholarly preachers are using innocent naive students of madrasas as their tools and misleading the public and madrasa students against the unanimous position of Darul Uloom Deoband, and are trying to cover up the real facts by publicizing irrelevant matters. They are making disrespectful comments and baseless allegations against our elders and teachers.
These people claim devotion to Darul Uloom Deoband and Deobandi elders on one hand, but in private gatherings, they give wrong arguments against the unanimous position of Darul Uloom Deoband and shape public and madrasa students in the name of Nizamuddin, and then have them pledge allegiance to Maulvi Saad’s leadership. They make wrong interpretations of Maulvi Muhammad Saad’s statements and defend him before empty-minded students, and attribute their connection to Darul Uloom Deoband. These scholars also apparently advocate for an attractive title of “centrality,” but behind the scenes, they support and provide arguments for Maulvi Muhammad Saad’s wrong statements.
Centrality has no essential existence; centrality is connected to and established by purpose. When purpose ends, where is centrality? Instead of promoting and spreading correct forms of religion, when religion becomes distorted within four walls and starts becoming contagious, considering and counting it as a center is transgression of limits, and above all, to firmly establish this centrality until the Day of Judgment – what else is this if not deviation? Is it correct to name a place of spreading false ideologies as centrality? To attract naive and devotion-loving public under the title of centrality while avoiding the ideology that righteous scholars disagree with is nothing but deception. Can the reins of the ummah be given to an unreliable individual about whom contemporary senior scholars have decided that he has fallen into religious deviation and whose hundreds of wrong statements have spread among the public? Is pledge of allegiance to him permissible? Is this what centrality means in Sharia? Is defending him and making wrong interpretations of his statements what Deobandiyat is? Is this what Qasimiyat, Rashidiyat, and Thanwiyat mean? Is protecting the ideology and beliefs of naive public not our duty?
Today, millions of people are standing at the edge of misguidance. At this critical juncture, it is an important duty of the time for scholars who agree with the people of truth and Deobandi thought, especially the sons of Darul Uloom Deoband, to unite and face this fitna. Darul Uloom Deoband has fulfilled its religious duty; now it is our responsibility to convey Darul Uloom’s message to each individual and save the ummah from misguidance. In this booklet, Darul Uloom Deoband’s unanimous position and final clarifying writing along with comments on retraction are being presented. Read all of these carefully and convey them to others. May Allah protect us all from all kinds of evils and trials, Amen.
Mufti Masood Ahmad Qasimi, Dhaulia (Dhule), Maharashta
