The Deoband Conundrum: The Madrasa That Stood Still in Time

(This excerpt has been taken with permission from 'Madrasas in the Age of Islamophobia' by Ziya Us Salam and Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, published by SAGE Publications.)

The summer of 2013 was cruel for the 200-year-old Madrasa Aliya in Rampur. Built by the Nawab family in 1774, the madrasa was demolished in July 2013 following a dispute between the members of Madrasa Trust and the local MLA, Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan, now a Lok Sabha MP from Rampur.

At its prime, the madrasa was a source of pride for the denizens of the western Uttar Pradesh township, otherwise well known for its Raza Library and notorious for its knives.

The madrasa attracted some of the best scholars of Islam in the 20th century, and even the large-scale migration of Muslims to Pakistan following the Partition did not rob the madrasa of its exalted status.

Every year, in the Islamic month of Shabaan, the faithful would gather here to applaud the new graduates, the new hafiz. It was not unusual then for the rectors and academics of the madrasa to tell everybody that once famed social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy studied at Madrasa Aliya. When, how or where was never discussed. The assembled parents, keen to bask in the reflected glory, never asked, if it was the madrasa in Rampur or the one in Bengal where Roy studied.

Of course, the old-timers knew that Roy had not studied in Rampur, but the very fact that he had spent a little time studying in a madrasa by the name of Aliya provided reason to gloat over. No cross-questions popped up.

The Deoband Conundrum were not alone in soaking in the moment. The local Hindus, the Pandits joined them too. Those were days of a shared past, and Madrasa Aliya stood as a shining example.

It was heart-warming to see the maulvis ask the youngsters to learn Arabic the way Roy did, and to rise in life the way he did. The inspiration for the talib-e-ilm (students) came not from West Asian history or a conqueror but from some of the biggest social reformers and freedom fighters of India.

As for Roy, well, he studied in a madrasa in Bengal, probably called Madrasa Aliya too, but gained actual mastery of Persian and Arabic at Madrasa Mujibia in Phulwari Sharif in Patna. When Roy came to Madrasa Mujibia, he was not more than 12, but had already learnt elementary Persian under a maulvi back home in Bengal. At Madrasa Mujibia, Roy mastered Arabic to the extent that he could read the Quran in the Arabic original without any maulvi’s help. Though he preached monotheism, Roy did not confine himself to the study of Islam, or the Quran. At the madrasa he studied the works of medieval Sufis, and apprised himself with the Arabic translations of the works of Aristotle and Plato.

While these accomplishments show Roy to be a multifaceted genius that he was, they also tell us that the madrasas in pre-Independence India were not the monopoly of Muslims, or mere centres to learn to read the Quran.

The subjects they taught were as vast as the range of their students. Besides the Quran and Hadiths, they taught Fiqh as also mathematics, poetry, physics, geography and the like. Each day, each year came laced with possibilities of fresh learning.

They counted among the students, the richest of people, the heirs of nawabs, the sons of the best-read Brahmins, etc. The madrasas then were a place where the best of pluralist India gathered to learn. Rare was a Hindu family in the vicinity of a madrasa that did not send its son for learning. Most came for primary learning at the maktab, many stayed on for higher learning at the madrasa. Little wonder, the officials at Madrasa Aliya could not desist from claiming credit for Roy’s learning!

It was the same ethos of the madrasas that drew Rajendra Prasad to them in the early years of his life. Later, to be the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad too learnt under a maulvi in his childhood. With education being independent of teachers’ personal faith, many of our early politicians went to madrasas and maulvis.

Writes Dr Rajendra Prasad in his autobiography (Autobiography: Rajendra Prasad)

“I began schooling when I was five of six, along with two of my cousins, the elder of whom was Jamuna Prasad, our leader in games and boyish pranks. According to custom, a Maulvi Saheb had to initiate us into the alphabet. On the first day he began our education in the name of Allah and an offering was made to him. Sweets were then distributed all around.”

Incidentally, to this day, many Muslims begin the education of their children at the age of four with a small ceremony called Bismillah – in the name of Allah. On this day, the child is taught his first alphabets and sweets are distributed to family and friends. Much like it was with Dr Rajendra Prasad when he was initiated.

The former President recalls in his autobiography,

“Our study of Persian, meanwhile, progressed. In six months,we picked up the Persian alphabet and started reading the Karima. Then the Maulvi Saheb left us. Another Maulvi was appointed. He was a serious-minded man and a good  teacher. He taught us for two years and we completed the Karima, Mamkima, Khushahal Simiya, Dastur-il-Simiya,Gulistan, Bostan, etc. Thursday afternoons and Fridays were holidays for us and during those days we learnt counting, and picked up the Kaithi script. The Maulvi lived in a room in the house adjoining ours. The maktab (school) was located in a verandah of his house. We would sit on a takhtposh (wooden cot) and the Maulvi on his own. The school began early in the morning. We had to repeat the previous day’s lesson which we had learnt by heart. After we had finished, we passed on to the next lesson... We would also practise writing on a wooden plank... After sunset, we would begin again and study in the light of an oil lamp. When the Maulvi gave us leave, we would bow reverentially and go home.  

It was the same abiding respect that came to the fore years later when as the President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad visited Darul ‘Ulum, Deoband, probably the best-known Islamic seminary in the country. Addressing the students and their ustad at the madrasa, he said,

“I have been hearing about the Darul ‘Ulum for a long time now, and have, ever since I first heard of it, wanted to come here, and today that wish has been fulfilled. The elders ofthe Darul ‘Ulum acquired and imparted knowledge for its own sake. There have been few people in the past that did this, and they were even more respected than the kings.Today, the elders of the Darul ‘Ulum are walking in this path,and I believe that this is a service not only to the Darul ‘Ulumitself, nor only of the Muslims alone, but in fact, of the entire country, and indeed of the whole world.”

Citation:
Madrasas in the Age of Islamophobia
Ziya Us Salam – Associate Editor, Frontline
Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz – Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad
2019 / 208 pages / Paperback: Rs 395.00 (9789353289294)/ SAGE Select