Hazara Islamicus (Jun 2013)
Dar al ulum Deoband and Tasawwuf: A Brief Study of Moulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi
Abstract
D┐ r al-‘Ulum Deoband (or „Deoband School‟) of North India – perhaps intellectually most influential and historically substantial centre of Islamic learning – founded in 1867 in the wake of an uprising against British rule a decade earlier, aimed to reassert Muslim identity intellectually and spiritually amidst a sharp decline in Islamic political power in the Indian subcontinent. It favored its committed followers with the heights of knowledge as well as ornamented them with human morals like slave hood (‘ub┴ d┘ yat) and humbleness. The followers adorned themselves with the virtues of humility and submission, also mixed freely with the masses and yet remained "unique among the people". While they displayed warrior and crusader like zeal, at the same time, they sought seclusion for striving with the unregenerate soul (Muj┐ hadah) and spiritual union or meditation (Mur┐ qabah). Maul┐ na Rash┘ d A╒ mad Gangoh┘ (1829-1905), an Indian Islamic scholar who was the cofounder of D┐ r al-‘Ulum Deoband – of which he became principal or sarparast following the death of Maul┐ na Muhammad Q┐ sim N┐ notawi – authored nearly fourteen literary works on Fiqh and Ta╖ awwuf. His followers considered him to be an ‘Alim (legal scholar), a Hakim (judge), and an authority on Shari‘ah law and the ║ ar┘ qah of Ta╖ awwuf. The current paper is a humble effort to bring into lime light the contribution of Maul┐ na Gangoh┘ towards Ta╖ awwuf, a stalwart of his age who has contributed to the cause of Islam through his zealous work and spirit multi-dimensionally.
