Islamic scholars from Pakistan and abroad, participated in a three-day international conference opened in Peshawar Pakistan on April 11, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of one of subcontinent’s premier institutions of Islamic studies, Darul Uloom Deoband (India).
The conference organised by Jamiat Ulemae Islam (JUI) of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, was attended by thousands of Ulema and followers of what is called the Deoband school of thought besides other invitees from far and wide. The inaugural session was one of the largest gatherings of its kind held in Pakistan in decades.

A high-level delegation from Iran headed by Maulana Mohammad Ishaq Madni, adviser to the Iranian president, was the centre of attention at the conference. A 30-member delegation from India included Maulana Marghoobur Rehman and Maulana Asad Madni of the Darul Uloom Deoband. The Afghanistan team included ministers and senior Taleban officials. Besides, there were individuals and groups from the United Kingdom, United States, Libya, Bangladesh, South Africa, Burma, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Leaders of various political parties and groups and scholars from all over Pakistan also participated in the conference. Participants praised the contributions made by the Darul Uloom Deoband to the independence movement and for promoting Islamic education throughout the world. They hoped that the conference would play an important role in uniting the Muslim Ummah. The speakers severely criticised what they called the hostile and negative attitude of the Western world, particularly the United States, towards Islam and Muslims.

Some of them accused the West of hatching conspiracies against the Islamic government of Afghanistan, and using the presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan as a pretext to impose ‘unjustified, inhuman and immoral’ sanctions against that country. Maulana Mohammad Ishaq Madni of Iran said that internal rift among Muslims was providing an opportunity to the anti-Islamic forces to execute their designs against the Muslim world.

Maulana Marghoobur Rehman, patron-in-chief of the Darul Uloom Deoband, India said Islam has always been opposed to violent means. Those who are portraying it as a religion of terrorists and fundamentalists are ignorant about the spirit of Islam. Speaking at the concluding session of the three-day conference on the services rendered by the scholars of the seminary of Deoband, he said Islam emphasises peaceful co-existence with all citizens. The seminary had waged a long struggle against heresy, imperialism and illiteracy in the subcontinent, he added.

At the spiritual level, founders of the seminary had provided guidance to the Muslims through their writings. They had exposed a number of movements which had been tarnishing the image of Islam, he added. They also, he said, had responded with wisdom to the challenges of naturalism, which was opposed to the basic teachings of Islam. At the political level, he said, the seminary had organised the Muslims against the British Raj in India. The managers of the seminary and their disciples had made great sacrifices for the freedom of the subcontinent, he added.

At present, he said, hundreds of religious schools everywhere in Muslim countries were the logical culmination of Darul Uloom’s struggle which it had started in a small building 150 years ago. In his written speech, Darul Uloom’s partron-in-chief reviewed every aspect of the institution. Nematullah Azmi, also from Deoband, empathised the need for continuing Ijtehad in religious affairs. One man or a group of people or an institution could be a Mujtahid and the Deoband seminary had played the same role of a Mujtahid, he added.

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