Related posts: Historical context and roots of Deobandi terrorism in Pakistan and India – See more at: https://lubpak.com/archives/306115

متحدہ ہندوستان میں شیعہ نسل کشی کی مختصر تاریخ – از وسعت الله خان – See more at: https://lubpak.com/archives/245395

Wahhabism or Salafism

Wahhabism, also known as Salafism, has become associated with literalist, strict and puritanical approaches to Islam and is usually identified with the Salafi Wahhabi Jihadis who espouse violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate method to enforce their narrow, puritanical version of Islamic Shariah and Khilafah. The term Ahl al-Hadith (“People of the Tradition”) is more often used in the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, India etc) to identify adherents of Salafi ideology, a term that is used in the Middle-East more often to differentiate Salafi/Wahhabi cult from Sunni Muslims. According to the 2010 German domestic intelligence service annual report, Salafism is the fastest growing Islamic sect in the world whereas peaceful and moderate Sunni Sufis/Barelvis are shrinking in various countries due to generous Saudi funding to Wahhabi Salafi mosques, clerics, charities and seminaries.

The violent message of Wahhabi Islam is particularly chilling to non-Muslim ears. “(We) will pursue this evil force to its own lands, invade its Western heartland and struggle to overcome it until all the world shouts by the name of the Prophet, and the teachings of Islam spread throughout the world.” This missive, found in a Houston mosque, was identified by the Washington-based human rights organization Freedom House as an example of Wahhabism, a fundamentalist Muslim philosophy that is the state religion of Saudi Arabia.

Outside that country, Wahhabism is often regarded as an extremist interpretation of Islam that calls for the violent defeat of the world’s non-Muslims and non-Wahhabi Muslims. It is invoked by Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Jabha Al Nusra and other terrorists as the theological basis for their jihad, and some say that it is the religious foundation for Islamic terrorism.

Princeton historian Bernard Lewis, a highly respected scholar of Islam, has likened Saudi Arabia’s exportation of modern-day Wahhabism to a hypothetical situation Americans can more easily understand. “Imagine that the Ku Klux Klan gets total control of the state of Texas,” Lewis told Princeton’s Alumni Weekly. “And the Ku Klux Klan has at its disposal all the oil rigs in Texas. And they use this money to set up a well-endowed network of colleges and schools throughout Christendom, peddling their peculiar brand of Christianity. You would then have an approximate equivalent of what has happened in the modern Muslim world.”

While Wahhabist teachings today which are equally violent and intolerant towards non-Muslims and non-Wahhabi Muslims, the founder of Wahhabism, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, directed his hatred mainly against non-Wahhabi Muslims including Sunni Sufis and Shiites. He criticized and attacked, literally and physically, Sunni Sufis and Shiite Muslims for what he believed was a violation of the basic principle of monotheism (Tauheed). He described Sunni Sufis and Shiites as polytheists (Mushrik) and infidels (Kafir) due to their devotion to Islamic saints (Aulia) and family of the Prophet (Ahle Bait).

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab al Tamimi was born in the year 1155 A.H.(1703 C.E.) in ‘Ayina to the north of Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the reign of Abdulla ibn Muhammad ibn Hamd ibn Muammar. Saudi Kingdom is an active proponent and funder of Salafi Wahhabi ideology in the world.

Unlike Wahhabis, Sunni Sufis and Shia Muslims pay great homage to Sufi saints and Imams in the Prophet’s family. Shiite Muslims believe that 12 imams, or spiritual leaders, were direct descendants (Ahle Bait) of the prophet Muhammad who had the ability to interpret the Koran infallibly. Sunni Sufis too revere the 12 imams and other members of the prophet’s family and the related chains of mysticism. The tombs of those imams and saints are revered as holy sites and visited by Shiite and Sunni Sufi pilgrims.

Al-Wahhab taught that these core Shiite and Sunni Sufi beliefs constituted idolatry because, he falsely alleged, Sunni Sufis and Shiite Muslims pray to grave instead of directly to God. But Berkeley’s Algar says that al-Wahhab “mistook intercessors for worship,” meaning that Shiites pray to God through the imams and not to the imams themselves.

For Wahhabi Muslims, the central issue is the belief in uncompromised monotheism (Tauheed). “If you don’t believe in that, they question whether you are a good Muslim or a Muslim at all.

Wahhabis destroyed holy shrines of companions (sahaba) and members of prophet’s family (ahle bait) in holy graveyards in Medina, Mecca, Karbala, Najaf and other areas, killing a large number of Sufi Sunnis and Shias. In last few decades, Wahhabism has been used by global imperialist powers to promote their own agenda of divide and rule in Muslim communities and nations. Wahhabi intolerance, when combined with Cold War geopolitics, created terrorist jihadism of Al Qaeda and other affiliated terrorist groups.

Today’s understanding of Wahhabism on terrorism, intolerance on women’s issues and anti-Western sentiment is actually a “mutation” of Sunni Muslims’s teachings, that is because Wahhabism stems more from the medieval scholar Ibn Taymiyya than the fundamental principles of four imams of Sunni (jurisprudience) or 12 imams of Shias.

During the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Christian Crusades of the medieval period, Ibn Taymiyya, whom Osama bin Laden has referenced in his public statements, advocated armed resistance. Al-Wahhab allowed aggressive military action agianst Sunni Sufis and Shias just as Ibn Taymiyya allowed action against Christians and Jews.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1410293/posts

While Salafis or Wahhabis describe them as pure, conservative branch of Sunni Islam, many Sunni clerics dispute that Wahhabi is a Sunni sub-sect. Wahhabism is a violent religious movement among fundamentalist Islamic believers, with an aspiration to enforce an Islamic Wahhabi Shariah based governemnt (Khilafah), with inspiration from the teachings of Medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyyah and early jurist Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In its very genesis Wahhabism was a violent, pro-Shariah puritanical movement against Sunni Sufis and Shias instigated by an eighteenth century theologian, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) from Najd, Saudi Arabia. He began Wahhabism through hate speeches against Sunni and Shia attendees of various shrines and eventually coopted a local warlord, Uthman ibn Mu’ammar, to start a violent Jihad against Sunni Sufis and Shias destroying many shrines of Sahaba and Ahle Bait. Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab advocated a puritanical purging of the widespread practices by Muslims being what he considered to be impurities (shirk) and innovations (Biddah) in Islam. His followers implemented the Wahhabi agenda by by the killing of innocent Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Mohammed bin Abd Al-Wahhab’s teachings have become the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and are also becoming popular in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Muslim diasporat in the West etc due to genreous Saudi funding to Sunni mosques, seminaries and charities, which has led to gradual conversion of Sunni Muslims to Wahhabi sub-sect. The terms Wahhabi and Salafi and ahl al-hadith (people of hadith or ahl-e-hadith) are often used interchangeably, but Wahhabism has also been called “a particular orientation within Salafism”.

The Wahhabi movement gained unchallenged precedence in the Arabian peninsula through an alliance between Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the House of Muhammad ibn Saud, which provided political and financial power for the religious revival represented by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The writer El Khabar Ousbouî suggests the popularity of the Wahhabi movement across the world is in part due to this alliance and the funding of several religious channels.

After his return to ‘Uyayna, ibn Abd-al-Wahhab began to attract followers, including the ruler of the town, Uthman ibn Mu’ammar. With Ibn Mu’ammar’s support, ibn Abd-al-Wahhab began to implement some of his ideas such as leveling the grave of Zayd ibn al-Khattab, one of the Sahaba (companions) of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, and ordering that an adulteress be stoned to death. These actions were disapproved of by Sulaiman ibn Muhammad ibn Ghurayr of the tribe of Bani Khalid, the chief of Al-Hasa and Qatif, who held substantial influence in Nejd and ibn Abd-al-Wahhab was expelled from ‘Uyayna.

Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab was invited to settle in neighboring Diriyah by its ruler Muhammad ibn Saud in 1740 (1157 AH), two of whose brothers had been students of Ibn Abdal-Wahhab. Upon arriving in Diriyya, a pact was made between Ibn Saud and Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, by which Ibn Saud pledged to implement and enforce Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab’s teachings, while Ibn Saud and his family would remain the temporal “leaders” of the movement.

Beginning in the last years of the 18th century Ibn Saud and his heirs would spend the next 140 years mounting various military campaigns to seize control of Arabia and its outlying regions.One of their most famous and controversial attacks was on Karbala in 1802 (1217 AH). There, according to a Wahhabi chronicler `Uthman b. `Abdullah b. Bishr: “[Wahhabis] scaled the walls, entered the city … and killed the majority of its people in the markets and in their homes. [They] destroyed the dome placed over the grave of al-Husayn [and took] whatever they found inside the dome and its surroundings. …. the grille surrounding the tomb which was encrusted with emeralds, rubies, and other jewels. …. different types of property, weapons, clothing, carpets, gold, silver, precious copies of the Qur’an.”

In 1801 and 1802, the Saudi Wahhabis under Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud attacked and captured the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq and destroyed the tombs of Husayn ibn Ali who is the grandson of Muhammad, and son of Ali (Ali bin Abu Talib), the son-in-law of Muhammad. In 1803 and 1804 the Saudis captured Mecca and Madinah and demolished various venerated shrines, monuments and removed a number of what was seen as sources or possible gateways to polytheism or Shirk – such as the shrine built over the tomb of Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, and also the shrine of Usman, the companion of Muhammad. In 1998 the Saudis bulldozed and allegedly poured gasoline over the grave of Aminah bint Wahb, the mother of Muhammad, causing resentment throughout the Muslim World.

According to Saudi writer Abdul Aziz Qassim, “It was the Sunni Caliphs of Turkey, the Ottomans, who first labelled Abdul Wahhab’s school of Islam in Saudi Arabia as Wahabism”. The term was later expanded by the presence of Britain in the Middle East. Nevertheless Qassim says, “We don’t like to call it the Wahabi movement but rather the reform or Salafi movement of the Sheikh”.

Mohammed Ali Pasha – the Turk Sultan of Egypt, Syria and Arabia, defeated the Wahabis of Arabia in 1813, with the capture of Dariyah, the Wahabi capital, and their Chief Abdullah ibn Sa`ud who was sent to the Sultan together with the few remaining objects of value, which was recovered from among those, which Sa`ud’s father had plundered from the sacred shrines of Mecca and Medina. There were also pearls and precious stones of unknown value, which pious veneration had bestowed as votive offerings, at the tomb of the Prophet. Abdullah ibn Sa`ud was presented in chains at the feet of his sovereign and was publicly decapitated at Constantinople (Istanbul).

In 1818 Wahhabis were defeated by Ottoman forces. However, because of support by British forces led by Lawrence of Arabia, the Wahhabis eventually seized control of Hijaz and the Arabian peninsula after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Wahhabi or Salafia cult claims to follow the ways of the pious predecessors (Salaf Saliheen), the first three generations of Islam. They hate bida’h or newly invented matters in deen (a derogatory rejection of Sunni Sufis and Shias devotion to holy saints, imams, shrines etc). In belief, Salafis Wahhabis claim to follow the authentic sunnah of the Prophet however, they are closer to the fiqh of imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. In reality, they are inspired by the writings and ideas of scholars such as imam ibne-Taimiyah and his student Hafiz Ibnul Qaiyum. Ibne-Taimiyah differed with his contemporary scholars on many issues including his opposition to visit to the grave of holy prophet (pbuh), builiding of shrines of sahaba and ahle bait, intercession (tawassul) etc. He also criticized many of the practices of the sufis of his time as ‘shirk’ such as visiting of tombs or shrines and asking intercession from a deceased saint. He criticized the great sufi saint of his time otherwise known as Shaykh-e-Akbar or the Grand Shaykh Mohiuddin Ibne-Arabi for some of the esoteric concepts that he wrote in his famous mystical tract known as ‘fusoos-ul-hikam’. Briefly, the concept is known as ‘wahdatul wujood’ or unity of Existence and the salafis interpret as if the Creator and the Created are a intermingled in a single Essence. He denounced another mystic of earlier time Mansur Bin Hallaj for crying in spiritual ecstasy ‘anal huq’, I am the Truth. If someone is not deeply aware of the teachings and experiences of these saints he is bound to be bewildred by their terminology. Unfortunately, Ibne-Taimiyah was not initiated into an order, and was thus unaware of some of the intricacies of their ideas. He passed the judgement on the outward meaning as he saw it and even if it was a mistake in ijtihaad he should not be criticized for it, for he was only human.

Another issue, of more recent nature, is the matter of taqleed (followership) or following one of the four Sunni mujtahid imams of madhab. The salafis believe that submission is only for Allah and his the prophet. However, they don’t understand the difference between following somebody’s opinion in the interpretation of Quran and Sunnah and obeying somebody as one’s Creator, only power that could benefit or harm you. When people follow an imam, they only follow his rulings in shariah such as how to pray, what to do in a fiqh matter. They don’t consider him to be their Creator. Of course, if they did, they will be doing ‘Shirk’, no doubt. However, nobody does this kind of taqleed nowadays. Now, as to the question for which imam is right, it is considered by the scholars of all four imams that to follow any one of them is ok for a muqtaddi. A muqtaddi can be a person who has not acquired enough knowledge in the Quran and Hadith to deduce rules and laws from it. A person capable of doing that is known as ‘Mujtahid’. This has been an issue upon which the scholars of all the four madhabs including, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki, Hanbali, have had consensus over the centuries. Only recently had this idea been debated violently by salafis who unconditionally consider it haraam.

Saudi funding

The Saudis have spent at least $87 billion propagating Wahhabism abroad during the past two decades, and the scale of financing is believed to have increased in the past two years. The bulk of this funding goes towards the construction and operating expenses of mosques, madrasas, and other religious institutions that preach Wahhabism. It also supports imam training; mass media and publishing outlets; distribution of textbooks and other literature; and endowments to universities (in exchange for influence over the appointment of Islamic scholars). Some of the hundreds of thousands of non-Saudis who live in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf have been influenced by Wahhabism and preach Wahhabism in their home country upon their return. Agencies controlled by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da’wah and Guidance are responsible for outreach to non-Muslim residents and are converting thousands of moderate Sunnis to puritanical Wahhabis every year.

Aversion to the Wahhabi title, an obfuscation tactic to hijack Sunni identity

Ibn Abd-Al-Wahab’s aversion to the elevation of scholars and other individuals helps explain the preference of so-called “Wahhabis” for the term “Salafi”. Among those who criticize the use of the term “Wahhabi” is social scientist Quintan Wiktorowicz. In a footnote of his report, Anatomy of the Salafi Movement, he wrote:

Opponents of Salafism frequently affix the “Wahhabi” designator to denote foreign influence. It is intended to signify followers of Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab and is most frequently used in countries where Salafis are a small minority of the Muslim community, but have made recent inroads in “converting” the local population to the movement ideology. … The Salafi movement itself, however, never uses this term. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find individuals who refer to themselves as Wahhabis or organizations that use “Wahhabi” in their title or refer to their ideology in this manner (unless they are speaking to a Western audience that is unfamiliar with Islamic terminology, and even then usage is limited and often appears as “Salafi/Wahhabi”).

In “The Refutation of Wahhabism in Arabic Sources, 1745–1932”, Hamadi Redissi provides original references to the description of Wahhabis as a divisive sect (firqa) and outliers (Kharijites) in communications between Ottomans and Egyptian Khedive Muhammad Ali. Redissi details refutations of Wahhabis by scholars (muftis); among them Ahmed Barakat Tandatawin, who in 1743 describes Wahhabism as ignorance (Jahala).

The Syrian professor and Sunni scholar Dr. Muhammad Sa’id Ramadan al-Buti criticises the Salafi movement in a few of his works.

The sufi Islamic Supreme Council of America founded by the Naqshbandi sufi Shaykh Hisham Kabbani classify Wahhabbism as being extremist and heretical based on Wahhabbism’s rejection of sufism and what they believe to be traditional sufi scholar.

A study conducted by the NGO Freedom House found Wahhabi publications in mosques in the United States. These publications included statements that Muslims should not only “always oppose” infidels “in every way”, but “hate them for their religion … for Allah’s sake”, that democracy “is responsible for all the horrible wars of the 20th century”, and that Shia and certain Sunni Muslims were infidels. A review of the (Freedom House) study by Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) (which is alleged funded by Saudi lobbyists) complained the study cited documents from only a few mosques, arguing most mosques in the U.S. are not under Wahhabi influence.

The Wahhabi teachings disapprove of veneration of the historical sites, maintained by moderate Sunnis and Shia Muslims, associated with early Islam, on the grounds that only God should be worshipped and that veneration of sites associated with mortals leads to idolatry. Many buildings associated with early Islam, including mazaar, mausoleums and other artifacts have been destroyed in Saudi Arabia by Wahhabis from early 19th century through the present day. This practice has proved controversial and has received considerable criticism from Sunni and Shia Muslims and in the non-Muslim World.

There is visible and subtle overlap between recent terrorists and extrmist movements and the Wahhabi ideology. For example, the militant Islam of Osama bin Laden was equally inspired by the Wahhabi teachings of Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab as well as those of Sayyied Qutb to enforece agenda of global jihad. Despite minor differences, Wahhabis have large common ground with other Salafist or semi-Salafist movements including Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Deobandi militancy of Sipah Sahaba in Pakistan, Tablighi Jamaaat and Jamaat Islami in South Asia tc.

It is a fact that Saudi Wahhabis were “the largest funders of local Muslim Brotherhood chapters and other hard-line Islamists”, they also funded Al Qaedd and Deobandi militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan, directly contirbuting to jihadi resistance to Muslim and non-Muslim governments and assassination of Muslim leaders.

According to observers such as Gilles Kepel, Wahhabism gained considerable influence in the Islamic World following a tripling in the price of oil in the mid-1970s and the progressive takeover of Saudi Aramco in the 1974–1980 period. The Saudi government began to spend tens of billions of dollars throughout the Islamic World to promote Wahhabism, which was sometimes referred to as “petro-Islam”. Estimates of Saudi spending on religious causes abroad include “upward of $100 billion”, between $2 and 3 billion per year since 1975.” (compared to the annual Soviet propaganda budget of $1 billion/year), and “at least $87 billion” from 1987-2007.

Its largesse funded an estimated “90% of the expenses of the entire faith”, throughout the Muslim World, according to journalist Dawood al-Shirian. It extended to young and old, from children’s madrasas to high-level scholarship. “Books, scholarships, fellowships, mosques” (for example, “more than 1,500 mosques were built from Saudi public funds over the last 50 years”) were paid for. It rewarded journalists and academics, who followed it and built satellite campuses around Egypt for Al Azhar, the oldest and most influential Islamic university. Yahya Birt counts spending on “1,500 mosques, 210 Islamic centres and dozens of Muslim academies and schools”.

This financial power has done much to overwhelm less strict local interpretations of Islam, according to observers like Dawood al-Shirian and Lee Kuan Yew, and has caused the Saudi interpretation to be perceived as the correct interpretation in many Muslims’ minds.

Khaled Abou El Fadl attributed the appeal of Wahhabism to some Muslims as stemming from: Arab nationalism, which followed the Wahhabi attack on the Ottoman Empire; Reformism, which followed a return to Salaf (as-Salaf aṣ-Ṣāliḥ;)
Destruction of the Hejaaz Khilafa in 1925; Control of Mecca and Medina, which gave Wahhabis great influence on Muslim culture and thinking; Oil, which after 1975 allowed Wahhabis to promote their interpretations of Islam using billions from oil export revenue.

Salafis condemn certain common practices as polytheism (shirk) and tawassul of religious figures, such as venerating the graves of Islamic prophets and saints or using amulets to seek protection.[citation needed] They maintain that such practices are bid‘ah or heretical innovations are not permissible and should be suppressed by force. Landmarks claimed in the history of Salafi da’wah are Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d.240 AH / 855 AD) who is known among Salafis as Imam Ahl al-Sunnah, and one of the three scholars commonly titled with the honorific Sheikh ul-Islam, namely, Taqi ad-Deen Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728 AH / 1328 AD) and Ibn al-Qayyim (d.751 AH / 1350).

Many today consider Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as the first figure in the modern era to push for a return to the religious practices of the salaf as-salih.[49] His evangelizing in 18th century Arabian Peninsula was a call to return to the practices of the early Muslims. His works, especially Kitab at-Tawhid, are still widely read by Salafis around the world today, and the majority of Salafi scholars still reference his works frequently.

According to the As-Sunnah Foundation of America, the Salafi and Wahhabi movements are strongly opposed by a long list of Sunni scholars. The Saudi government has been criticised for damaging Islamic heritage of thousands of years in Saudi Arabia. German government officials[87] have stated that Salafism has a strong link to terrorism but have clarified that not all Salafists are terrorists. The statements by German government officials criticizing Salafism were televised on Deutsche Welle broadcasts for the week of April 18, 2012

Deobandi cult

In Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the Saudi Wahhabi movement has been able to recruit and subtly convert large number of Deobandi Hanafi Muslims to promote and implement Wahhabi agenda. While Wahhabis happen to be ghair muqallid (i.e., they don’t follow any specific imam for juurisprudence), Deobandis are Hanafi Muslims, i.e. they follow Imam Abu Hanifa.

Deobandi is a puritanical, revivalist movement in Sunni Islam under the Hanafi School. It is centered primarily in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and has recently spread to the United Kingdom and has a presence in South Africa. The name derives from Deoband, India, where the school Darul Uloom Deoband is situated. The movement was inspired by the spirit of scholar Shah Waliullah (1703–1762), while the foundation of Darul Uloom Deoband was laid on 30 May 1866. Shah Waliullah, the founder of Deobandi sub-sect of Sunni Islam in South Asia, was influenced by Ibn Taymiyyah, who also inspired Abdul Wahab, founder of Wahabism in Saudi Arabia.

Deobandi scholars adopted Shah Waliullah (1703-1762) as their spiritual patron. Shah Waliullah is probably the most revered Islamic thinker among the Sunni Muslims of South Asia and Afghanistan. His ability to interpret the Quran and adjudicate among the various strands of Islamic jurisprudence was such that he declared himself a qayem al-zaman, a semi-divine personality given the mission by Prophet Muhammad himself to reform the faith. He travelled to Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) to learn the jurisprudence of Imam Malik and the other great jurists of Islam.

A renowned Deobandi scholar Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi in his book Shah Waliullah aur unka falsafa quotes Shah Waliullah as writing that Prophet Muhammad PBUH ordered him in person that he should ‘bind’ all the schools of Sunni fiqh together and not reject hadith. The great reformer then set out to combine the teachings of Hanafi, Maliki, Shafei and Hanbali Islam without denigrating any one of the schools. He was averse to accepting hadith, but in obedience to the Prophet, he selectively permitted the validity of hadith.

Gradually Darul Uloom Deoband became the second largest focal point of Islamic teachings and preaching after the Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Through organisations such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Tablighi Jamaat its ideology has spread and the graduates of Darul Uloom Deoband and other Deobandi seminaries in Pakistan have opened up thousands of madrasas throughout South Asia as well as in the UK, US and other countries.

Some 15 per cent of Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims would consider themselves Deobandi and according to Heritage Online, nearly 65% of the total seminaries (Madrasah) in Pakistan are run by Deobandis, 25% by Sunni Sufi/Barelvis, 6% by Ahle Hadith (Wahhabi/Salafi) and 3% by various Shia organizations. However, since because of better organization and generous funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other Arab countries, Deobandis and Wahhabis in Pakistan have been able to convert a large number of Sunni Sufis/Barelvis to Deobandi and Wahhabi cult. This subtle conversion was made possible through the Tablighi Jamaat, Jamaat Islami, Sipah-e-Sahaba and evangelical preachers such as Dr. Israr Ahmed, Mufti Taqi Usmani, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Farhat Hashmi etc. The Deobandi movement in Pakistan is a major recipient of funding from Saudi Arabia since the early 1980s.

According to The Times, about 600 of Britain’s nearly 1,500 mosques are run by Deobandi affiliated scholars, and 17 of the country’s 26 Islamic seminaries follow Sunni Deobandi teachings, producing 80% of all domestically trained Deobandi and semi-Wahhabi clerics.

Main Deobandi groups of Pakistan and India

Sipah-e-Sahaba
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, currently operating as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ASWJ-Deobandi) is a banned Deobandi sectarian organization, and a formerly registered Pakistani political party. Established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi Deobandi, its stated goal is to primarily to deter major Shiite influence in Pakistan in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.The organization was banned by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 as a terrorist organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. In October 2000 Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was quoted as saying that “Sipah-e-Sahaba stands shoulder to shoulder with Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jehad.” A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable described JeM as “another SSP breakaway Deobandi organization.”

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (alternately Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) English: Army of Jhangvi) is a Deobandi militant organization which is nothing but another alias of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. Formed in 1996, it has operated in Pakistan since Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) activist Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors. The group is considered a terrorist organisation by Pakistan and the United States, and continues to be involved in attacks on Shi’a civilians and protectors of them.Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is predominantly Punjabi. The group has been labelled by intelligence officials in Pakistan as a major security threat.

Taliban
The Taliban (“students”), alternative spelling Taleban, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. It spread into Afghanistan and formed a government, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until December 2001, with Kandahar as the capital. While in power, it enforced its strict interpretation of Sharia law, and leading Muslims have been highly critical of the Taliban’s interpretations of Islamic law. The Taliban were condemned internationally for their brutal treatment of women. The majority of their leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism, while Pashtunwali, the Pashtun tribal code, also played a significant role in Taliban legislature.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (the TTP) (Taliban Movement of Pakistan), alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Deobandi militant groups based in the northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. In December 2007 about 13 groups united under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud to form the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Among the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s stated objectives are resistance against the Pakistani state, enforcement of their interpretation of Deobandi sharia and a plan to unite against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan. The TTP declares that the Afghan Taliban movement leader Mullah Omar as its Commander of the Faithful, and Mullah Omar has never objected on TTP’s crimes against Pakistani civiliains and army. Both Pakistna and Afghan Taliban share primarily Deobandi interpretation of Islam and are predominantly Pashtun.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) is a Deobandi organization, part of the Deobandi movement. The JUI formed when members broke from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in 1945 after that organization backed the Indian National Congress against the Muslim League’s lobby for a separate Pakistan. The first president of the JUI was Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. No JUI leader has issued a fatwa against the Takfeer of Shia Muslims by Deobandi militant groups Sipah Sahaba or Taliban.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is an Deobandi organizations in India. It was founded in 1919 by Abdul Mohasim Sajjad, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Ahmed Saeed Dehlvi, and Abdul Bari Firangi Mehli.

Deobandis vs Wahhabis/Salafis

Wahhabis or Salafis are ghair muqalids (don’t follow a pritcular imam of jurisprudence) and believe taqleed (following of a partiuclar Imam of Fiqh) to be shirk (polytheism), differ from Sunnis on almost every thing and issue except devotion to Sahabas (companions of the prophet). Deobandis, while they follow the Hanfi fiqh, their beliefs are simiarl to Wahhabis Salafis on issues like tawassul istighasa, Noor Bashar, ilme-e-ghaib of the prophet, opposition to graves and shrines of Sahaba and Ahle Bait. Another issue is bidah, Sunnis (Sufis/Barelvis) believe bidah is categoried into good and bad where as Deobandi follow Wahabis regarding this, i.e., consider every bidah to be evil.

Initially there were some important differences between Deobandis and Wahhabis/Salafis. These differences (listed below) are now fast diminishing because of fast converstion of Deobandis to Wahhabi Salafi cult.

Maulana Qasim Nanotvi, the founder of Deoband, was a disciple of Haji Imdadullah, whom the Sunni Sufi Barelvis too appreciate as well. Deobandis of the initial era did not outrightly reject Sufism although for them Sufism was an internal mediation, they remained opposed to building and visiting of shrines. Wahhabis, however, blatantly despise Sufism, they pronounce takfeer on some of the biggest Sufis such as Ibne-Arabi. Deobandis are Hanafis while Wahabis are mostly Ahle-Hadith and ghair muqallid. Some moderate Deobandis believe in tawasul, ie asking Allah through the medium of the Prophet and other pious people, while wahabis reject tawasul altogether. However, there are similarities too. Not unlike Wahhabism, Deoband was formed to undercut the allegedly deviant innovatory (biddah) practices that crept inside of Sunni Sufism in the name of tariqat which did not conform to Deobandi and Wahhabi puratincal shariah. It focuseed on Quran, Hadith and Sahabis and held these three paramount vis-a-vis tariqat and subscribed to the saying of Shah Wali Ullah that shariat without tariqat is mere philosophy and tariqat withour shariat is heresy and disbelief. Abdul Wahab also fought innovatory practices, shedding much bloodshed and levelled many graves in doing so which are still seen as harsh and uncalled for by some Deobandis. Wahhabis inflicted brutality and cruelty upon Sunnis and Shias in enforcing their agenda, that is exaclty what Deobandis are doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan when they attack and destroy shrines etc. Wahhabis and Takfiri Deobandi of today are followers of people like Albani who had made a living out of critically examining the lives of mujtahid imams especially Abu Hanifa to further his own ideas and aims. The same mentality is in his followers who do not hesitate in the least in pronouncing Hanafis or Malikis etc as kaafirs and rejectors of the hadith.

The well known Deobandi scholar, Mawlana Mnazoor Nomani who used to participate in many debates against Sunni Muslims writes: “We should see these “so called muslims” who are grave worshippers and Tazia worshippers. Shaitan has put these “Mushrikana” acts in their hearts that they are not willing to listen to the teachings of Quran and Hadith”. “ When I look at these people ( so called muslims) then only I understand shirk of the previous ummah. If these people ( so called muslims) were not there among the muslim population, then it would have been very difficult for me to understand the shirk of the previous ummah’. ( Al Furqan ( A monthly Deobandi Magazine ) , Editorial , For the month of Jamadi ulaa, 1372 AH , page 30 , published from Lucknow).

Shaykh Ismail dehalvi says prophet is dead and his body has mixedwith soil. He also says prophets should be treated like an elder brother or a land lord. To make his belief clear about prophets he says “the creation big ( like prophets) or small, they are all like cobbler in front of Allah.( Tafwiyatul Iman). The “imam e rabbani” of Deobandis , Shaykh Rashid gangohi says “ The aqida ofShaykh Ismail dehalvi was sahih ( correct/ sound) The imam e rabbani of the deobandis also said “To keep and read this book tafwiyatul iman is the core of islam” [ Fatwa Rashidiya]. Shaykh Ismail Dehalvi wrote “ what is the difference between Abu Jahal and those who use intercession of prophet” [Tafwiyatul Iman]. Shaykh Rashid Gnagohi said it is impressible to say Ya Rasul Allah [ Fatwa Rashidiya]. The deobandis are totally against mawlid . Shaykh Rashid gangohi said that deobandis should not participate even in those mawlid gathering in which authentic narrations are discussed and no non shariah activity takes place.

1. Wahabis and Deobandis both declare istighathaas (intercession) as Kufr and shirk, thereby labeling the Sunni Sufi and Shia Muslims as kafir and muhrik.

2. Wahabis declare killing Sunni Sufi Muslim and taking their property as legal and Shaykh Ismail dehalvi also killed Muslims of the north west region [India-pakistan border] and his followers forcibly married Sunni Pashtun women.

3 Wahabis and Deobandis, both, use the word mushrik (polytheists) and innovators (biddati) for Sunni and Shia muslims.

4 Wahabis and Deobandisboth believe in destroying all elevated graves of Muslims. In past the scholars of both the groups have done this in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc.

Deobandi Fatwa in support of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahab

According to various fatwas and pracices of Deobandic clerics, Wahhabis and their spiritual leaders are okay to be followed.

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab [ra] was a reputable and God-fearing Aalim of the eighteenth century aligned to the Hanbali Madhab. Sheikh enjoyed unique acceptance and love across the spectrum of social class. Sheikh, in conjunction with the royal family of the time, was responsible for rekindling the love for the Qur’aan and Sunnah in the populace of the Arabian peninsula. Unfortunately, subsequent to the death of the Sheikh, his opponents embarked on a vehement campaign of concocting erroneous beliefs and views and attributed them to the Sheikh. This, in an attempt to discredit the Sheikh and to bring about discord between his followers. http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/13400.html

Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, says,”the followers of Muhammad Ibne Wahaab Najdi are called Wahaabi. He held excellent beliefs and his creed was Hanbali. Although he was rather of harsh temperament but he and his followers are good people.” (Fataawa Rasheediyah, Page 111, Vol. 1).

Manzoor Numani, has in his book “Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahaab and the right-guided ulama of India“, published 10 years ago and endorsed by Qaari Muhammad Tayyab, sought to prove that there was no ideological difference between Sheikh Abdul Wahaab Najdi and the ulama of Deoband and the Najdi Wahaabi and Deobandis were really one and the same.

Accoding to a fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband:

Question: 5177 India
Assalamualaikum, Mufti sahab, I am khaleel 23 year old,And i want to know that what should be our Aqeeda about the Barelvees,because i have seen them criticising Deoband seminary in their Books&in their speeches.They write very Wrong about Deoband Ulama.And they call NAJADI TO DEOBAND ULAMA.And i want to know what is NAJAD.And also What should be our Aqeeda about JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI HIND.
Answer: 5177 Jul 19,2008
(Fatwa: 994/834=B-1429)

Najdi is called one who is attributed to a great reformer and scholar Hadhrat Shiakh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi (رحمۃ اللہ علیہ). This great reformist was accused of many things; therefore the opponents attribute us to him for irritating us. It is useful to study the book ?Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab ke khilaf propaganda aur Hindustan ke Ulam-e- Haq per uske asaraat? written by Hadhrat Maulana Manzoor Nomani.
(2) If you study the ?Dastoorat? of Jamat Islami Hind, then you will come to know that many of their thoughts are deviated from the right path. Also, if you study the book: ?Khilafat w Mulukia? you will know how misleading thoughts they have about the companions of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم).
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta’ala) knows Best

Darul Ifta,
Darul Uloom Deoband

http://darulifta-deoband.org/showuserview.do?function=answerView&all=en&id=5177

Maulana Muhammad Manzoor Numani (1905-1997) said:

“We should see these “so called muslims” who are grave worshippers and Tazia worshippers. Shaitan has put these “Mushrikana” acts in their hearts that they are not willing to listen to the teachings of Quran and Hadith”. “ When I look at these people ( so called muslims) then only I understand shirk of the previous ummah. If these people ( so called muslims) were not there among the muslim population, then it would have been very difficult for me to understand the shirk of the previous ummah’. [Al Furqan ( A monthly Deobandi Magazine ) , Editorial , For the month of Jamadi ulaa, 1372 AH , page 30 , published from Lucknow].

Mamati Deobandis

The “Mamati Deobandis” (those who believ that Prophet Muhammad is a helpless, dead man in his grave) are particuarly pro-Wahhabi, violent and intolerant group. In fact, Mamati Deobandi’s beliefs are similar to some Salafis and a lot of Salafis find the Mamatis views to be more in line with Salafism than with Hayati Deobandis.

Criticism of Wahhabis by Deobandis

There’s also some criticism of Wahhabis by Deobandi scholars. Husain Ahmad Madani(1879-1957CE) in al-Shahab al-Shaqab:

Where he claimed that Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi preached ‘patent falsehood’ (‘aqa‘id-i batila), killed numerous Sunni Muslims and forced many others to accept his ‘false’ creed (‘aqa‘id-i fasida). He referred to him as a ‘tyrant’ (zalim), ‘traitor’(baghi), and ‘despicable’ (khabis), and labelled him and his followers as the ‘despicable Wahhabis’ (wahhabiya khabisia). [Cited in Mahfuz ur-Rahman Faizi, Shaikh Muhammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Ke Bare Mai Do Mutazid Nazren, Varanasi: Jami‘a Salafiya, 1986, p.i.]

He wrote that: “Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi had declared the wealth of all Muslims, including Sunnis, who did not follow him as property that could be rightfully looted (mal-i ghanimat), and their slaughter as a cause of merit (sawab), considering all but his own followers as apostates.”

This is why, he claimed, the Arabs ‘detested’ Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi and his followers, their hatred for them ‘exceeding their hatred for Jews, Christians, Magians and Hindus’. ‘Undoubtedly’, Madani asserted: Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi had committed such heinous crimes that ‘such hatred for him is a must’. [Cited in Qadri, op.cit., p.136.]

Anwar Shah Kashmiri insisted that Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi was ‘stupid’ (bewaquf) and had ‘little knowledge’ (kam ‘ilm), because of which he was ‘quick to declare other Muslims as kafirs’.

Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri: the ‘Wahhabis’ as deviant, and claimed, referring to Mu-hammad bin ‘Abdul Wahhab Najdi, that ‘neither he nor any of his followers and clan are among our teachers in any of our chains of transmission in Islamic knowledge, whether in jurisprudence, Hadith, Qur’anic commentary or Sufism’. [‘Gangohi Fatwas on Wahhabism’]

Before Al Muhannad was written , the Deobandis had good view of Ibn Abdul Wahab Najdi al Tamimi and his movement. But when Mawlana Khaleel Ambethvee wanted to please the scholars of Alus sunnah , he said “we deobandis, are against Ibn abdul wahab najdi and his movement. Mawlana Khaleel went ahead and pin pointed the wrong belief held by Wahbabis. One of the wrong belief he pointed was ” wahabis ascribe Allah to a direction and a location”. Strange enough, the same belief of Allah having a direction and a location was also held by Mawlana Ismaeel Dehalvee. Other beleif which Mawlana Khaleel, thought to be “ wahabi belief” was held by Ismaeel Dehalvee and quotes supporting Mawlana Ismaeel Dehalvee can be seen in Fatwa Rashidiya.

Sunni fatwa against Deobandis

In Pakistan and India, many Sunni cleircs have issued fatwa against Deobandi and Wahhabic clerics and militants. There is also a fatwa of three hundred Sunni Ulama against Deobandis. The Deobandis, because of their contempt and insult towards all saints and ahle bait are described as Nasibis (enemies of Ahle Bait) and Kharijis Takfiris (those who decllare othrers as Kafir). The Unanimous Fatwa of Three Hundred Ulama was published by Muhammad Ibrahim of Bhagalpur. It said that Deobandis should be declared non-Muslim minority: In March 1953, a poster was put up on walls in Karachi titled: “Demands: Deoband sect should be declared a separate minority”. Among other things it said: “Just as Sikhs originated from Hinduism, but are not Hindus, and Protestants came from Roman Catholicism, but are not Catholics, similarly, the Deobandi sect originated in the Sunni community, but are not Sunnis. The representatives of this minority sect are Mufti Muhammad Shafi, Sayyid Sulaiman Nadawi, Ihtasham-ul-Haqq, and Abul Ala Maudoodi, etc.” After this it was demanded that this sect be declared a non-Muslim minority. It was signed by 28 persons
(see Tulu`-i-Islam, May 1953, p. 64).

It is, however, a fact that the Wahabis and Deobandis, today, occupy the leadership ranks of fanatical Islam sweeping South Asia and are supported whole-heartedly by the Saudi and Pakistani establishment; and, their Madrasas, main one being in Karachi, turn out scholars in their thousands, indoctrinated in this cult.

Watch this video by Indian Sunni Sufi/Barelvi cleric in which he criticizes intolerant ways of Wahhabis/Salafis and Deobandis:

[youtube id=”dm04qDWlzLE” width=”600″ height=”340″ position=”left”]

Useful idiots: Deobandis, as imperial servants of the UK and US:

So it is important to know which books do deobandis themselves rely to know the history/ biography of their leaders.

1) Sawanag Ahmedi wa Tawareekh Ajeeba – About Life of sayed ahmed barewli and Ismaeel Dehalvee – By Munshi mohammed jafar Thaneswari

2) Hayat Tayyeba — About Life of sayed ahmed barewli and Ismaeel Dehalvee — By Mirza Hairat Dehalvee
Mawlana Manzoor Nomani al Deobandi writes:
“ Hayat Tayeeba of Mirza Hairat Dehalvee is an authentic and reliable biography of Shah Ismaeel Dehalvee “ (Al Furqan, Shaheed Number, 1355 AH , page 51)

About biography of Sayed Ahmed Mawlana Hasan ali Nadvi writes: “ Tawareekh Ajeeba is the first book about the life history of syed ahmed through which much can be known about the life of syed ahmed sahib” ( Seerat syed ahmed , page 8)

Munshi Thaneswari writes: “ Few of the historians have presented syed sahab in bad picture. They have potrayed him as an enemy of British government . To remove this doubt and deception I decided to present the facts from the life of syed sahab so that people can see the truth. Upon examining his life history it can be seen clearly that at least at 20 places using proof from SHARIAH , syed sahab instructed his followers not to revolt against britishers “( Sawang Ahmedi , page 226, Steam press, Lahore)

So here we have his biographer writing that syed sahab never revolted against British and we have deobandi scholars potraying syed sahab as a freedom fighter! And when asked to prove their claim , all they have is Nothing !
Read further: “ It becomes clear from this that syed sahab was never in support of jihad against British. He used to think this government as his own government. There is no doubt in it that if British government was against syed sahab, then syed sahab would not have received support which he was getting in his fight against sikh. The British government wanted syed sahab to reduce the influence of Sikh” ( Sawang Ahmed , page 139)

And now read this to be surprised: Mawlana Manzoor Nomani al Deobandi writes: “ It is very famous that he did not proclaim any Jihad against British, instead in his meeting at Calcutta or Patna he gave his consent for supporting British government and this is also well known that British government also supported him at many instances”
(AL FURQAN , SHAHEED NUMBER , 1355 AH , PAGE 78)

To get more surprises read this from the same book: “ And this is also true that during his stay at Calcutta , one day when Mawlana Ismaeel Dehalvee was giving lecture ( waa’z) , one man asked a fatwa to mawlana that whether it is permissible to declare jihad against British govt? The mawlana replied it is not correct in any way to declare jihad against this just and impartial government” ( Sawang Ahmedi page 57)

The same incidence has also been recorded in Hayate Tayyeba: “In Calcutta , when Mawlana Ismaeel was giving lecture about Jihad and about the atrocities of Sikh then someone stood up from the gathering and asked “ why don’t you give fatwa to do jihad against the britishers”. He replied” it is not wajib ( compulsory) to do any jihad with them .( aap ne jawab diya – un per jihad karna kisee tarah wajib nahee ). First of all we are under their shelter and secondly they do not make any hinderance in fulfilling our religious obligation. We all total freedom under this government . In fact if there is any attack on this government then it is FARD upon muslims to fight that enemy and save our BRITISH Government from any kind of hardship “ ( Hayat tayyeba , page 29 , farooqi printing press , delhi)
“ On what basis can we do Jihad against British government and kill our shariah law”? ( Sawanh Ahmedi , page 71)

Read further: “ Lord Hastings was very happy with the doings / achievements ( karguzariyon) of sayed Ahmed. A tent was erected between the two armies and three men made a treaty; Ameer Khan , Lord Hasting and sayed ahmed sahab. Sayed Ahmed Sahab had great diffciculty in bringing “ameer kahn”into right frame “ ( sayed sahab ney ameer khan jo badee mushkil sey sheeshy mein utara tha) ( Hayate Tayyeba page 294)

Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi writes: “Once the group of syed sahab and his followers was passing through boat. They saw a British rider who was waiting with lots of food in Big containers. (URDU== palaki ) He arrived near boat and asked where is “ padari sahab” . Hazrat replied from the boat” I am here “. The British rider got down the horse, took his hat in his hand and reached on the boat. After inquiring well being, the British rider said “I am waiting for you since three days and had appointed my men to look for your group. They told me that today your group will be reaching here , so I was busy getting food prepared for you since sunset. Sayed sahab ordered the food to be taken in utensils. The food was distributed among the group and the British rider stayed for two- three hours and then left the place”
( Seerat sayed ahmed Ahmed Shaheed , page 190 , By Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi)

This is the Urdu wording..

“ sayed ahmed sahab ka qafila kashtiyon per sawaar ho kar ek maqam say guzar raha tha ki itaney mein dekhtaey hain ki ek angrez ghoday per sawaar chand palikiyon mein khana rakh kashti key qareeb aaya aur poocha ki padre sahab kahan hai. Hazrat ney jawab diya “main yahan per mawjood hoon”. Angrez ghodey per sey utara aur topee haath mein lekar kashtee per pahooncha aur mijaz purse eke baad kaha ki teen roz sey mainey apaney mulazim yahan khadey kar diye they ki aap ki ittila karein. Aaj unhonay ittila ki kee aaghalab yeh hai kli hazrat qafiley ke saath aaj tumhary makaan ke samey pahoonchey, yeh ittila pa kar gharoob aftaab tak main khaney ki tayyari mein mashgool raha , tayyar kar key laya hoon . Sayed sahab ney hukm diya ki khana apaney bartanon mein muntaqil kar liya jai. Khana le kar qafiley mein taqseem kar diya gaya aur angrez do- teen ghantay tahar kar chala gaya”

Can anyone explain why was this British soldier waiting for three days for sayed ahmed sahab? And when this soldier said : where is padari sahab, prompt came a reply , I am here! There was no strange feeling when a British called a mawlana as “ padree sahab” .

And above this , the deobandis spread on internet that , Ismaeel Dehalvee was fighting against British!

Sayed Ahmed Barelwi himself tells about his mission: “I have been blessed with an ilham that I should fight with sikh and end their existence .” (Sawanh Ahmedi page 180)

He also said “My fight is not with muslims or Kuffar , but my fight is with Sikh . I have no enmity with British government

Now read what Mawlana Rashid Gangohee says: “ Hazrat Mawlana Rashid Ahmed said that he was informed by Hafiz jaani that he was one of the member of that group. Many miracles were seen to be performed by sayed sahab. Maulvi Abdul Hay lucknowi, maulvi Isameel Dehalvee and maulvi Hussein Rampuri were also members of the group and all these were in the ship. Sayed SAHAB DID HIS FIRST JIHAD AGAINST MUSAMMA YAAR MUHAMMED KHAN , WHO WAS THE RULER OF YAGISTAN” ( Tazkiratur Rashid , vol 2 , page 270)

Readers may decide whether Yaar Mohammed Khan is the name of some Muslim or some Sikh?

It may also be recalled that Sayed Ahmed sahab left battle front in between and was found sitting in some cave ! When his followers found him and asked him why he has left the battle field , then he said , he has been commanded like this! So at one place he says , he has been given ilham to fight sikh and later he says he has been commanded to leave battle field, On the same post it was shown how this sayed ahmed sahab destroyed those Muslim graves which were elevated!

How serious was this Deobandi Maulana in his fight against Sikh, can be read here.

“When sayed sahab had enough people with him , then with consultation from Mawlana Isameel, and using influence of shaykh Ghulam Ali rayees , Allahabad , he informed Lt Governor of the north western region that we are planning to do Jihad with sikh , does Govt has any objection to this? The Lt Governor replied that as long as our sovereignty is not effected , we are not bothered” (Hayate Tayyeba, page 302)

This is cause Jihad for British govt! See, how Sayed sahab is taking permission from British rulers and calling it jihad !

Finally, he met his Waterloo in 1831 when the Sikhs under Kunwar Sher Singh stormed his citadel at Balakot. The great mujãhid fell in the very first battle he ever fought. His corpse along with that of his second in command was burnt, and the ashes were scattered in the winds. Wahhabi/Deobandis hail him as a shaheed.

So the bottom line of this article and references proves that the the Deobandi cult in Pakistan and India is the political continuation of the Saudi Wahhabi/Salafi cult. Both cults are Khariji and Takfiri in their approach to Takfeer (apostatizing of all non-Wahhabis, non-Deobandis) and violent in their Jihadist agenda. While there may be subtle difference of jurisprudence (muqallid and ghair muqallid), politically and practically, there is not much difference between them. Deobandis have nothing to do with the real Sunnis, i.e., real Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’at

One Snake With Two Heads (must read this sharing)

During 1980s, the CIA-planned, Saudi-funded, ISI-executed Jihad in Afghanistan resuled in excessive funding and military training for sudents and clerics of Deobandi seminaries in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There was also an influx of Wahhabi Jihadist militants from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries. All of these factors resulted in cooption and subtle conversion of Deobandi cult to Wahhabi cult. The dominant Hizbe Islami of Hekmatyar, a flag-bearer of modernist-Islamist thinking of Maududi and Hasan al-Banna, lost favour with the Pakistani establishment in the mid-1990s. In its place, the Taliban of Mullah Umar, trained in the traditional Deobandi jurisprudence, were installe by Pakistann army. In Kashmir, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hizbul Mujahideen has been eclipsed by Harkat-ul-Ansar (Mujahideen) of Deobandi persuasion.

In a parallel development, the Wahabi or Ahle Hadith warriors have gained strength. The most effective jehadi outfit based in Lahore is Lashkar-e-Tayba (now renamed as Jamaat ud Dawa), functioning as a subordinate branch of Dawat al-Irshad, an organisation with contacts in the Arab world, collecting jehad funds among the expatriate Muslim communities in the West. It has training camps in Afghanistan and Azad Kashmir and is arguably the most resourceful militia fighting in Kashmir. It has contacts in Central Asia through its training camps in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden has strengthened the old Wahabi connection with the Deobandi Taliban rulers.

In addition to recruitment of Deobandis in Pakistan, Saudi Wahhabis have also recruited the the Naqshbandiya movement in the Muslim-populated North Caucasian region in Russia. The Naqshbandis who originally follow the shrine-revering mystical order of the Naqshbandiya, are inundated by Saudi Wahhabi funding and ideology. The uprising in Chechnya and its incursion into Dagestan is turning the Naqshbandi followers to the more strict orthodoxy of the Saudi-based Wahabi order. CIA-Wahhabi operations in Chechnya are transforming the mystical faith into a militant Wahhabi one, just like what they did to Deobandis in Pakistan.

All three movements, the Deobandi, the Ahle Hadith-Wahabi, and Naqshbandi, are against biddah (innovation) in Islamic rituals. They oppose the eclecticism that developed among Muslims under the Mughals and wished to separate local accretion from the pure Islamic faith. The founder of the Naqshbandi order, Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (known as Mujaddad Al Sani), compelled the Mughal king Jehangir to persecute the Sunni Muslim mystical orders that had developed a spiritual consensus and peace with Hindus and Sikhs. The other preoccupation of the Naqshbandis in India was opposition to the Shiite faith developing in the South of India and in the northern province of Oudh. Shaikh Ahmad had decreed that the Shiites were apostates and had to be put to the sword. Annemarie Schimmel in her book: Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, tells us that that Shah Waliullah, the spititual patron of the Deobandis, in his youth was greatly inspired by the anti-innovation, anti-Shiite thought of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi. It seems that the antecedents of Shah Waliullah were derived from a Salafist and Naqshbandi inspiration while his followers were inclined by his teachings to Wahabism. Shah Waliullah also invited Pashtun ruler of Afghanistan Ahmed Shah Abdali encouraging him to do violent Jihad against Hinddus and Shias of India. This sowed the seeds of a tripartite Deobandi-Wahabi-Naqshbandi alliance that has now come into being. In Pakistan, the alliance is particulary manifested in the Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance.

John K. Cooley in his book : Unholy wars – Afghanistan, America and international terrorism, reveals that Mullah Umar and Osama bin Laden first met in 1989 in a Deobandi mosque, Banuri Masjid, in Karachi, and presumably formed an alliance based spiritually on the traditional closeness of the Deobandis, who follow the Hanafi school, with the Wahabis, who accept only hadith under Imam Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah and Abdul Wahab. Thus the protection offered to Osama by the Taliban, and the threats delivered by Pakistan’s Deobandi leaders of SSP-ASWJ-LeJ, JI and JUI to American citizens in support of Osama bin Laden, seem to spring from a historical interface between the two schools of Islamic fiqh.

The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Sunni Barelvi, following the Hanafi fiqh of Ahmad Raza Khan (1876-1931 AD) who led a successful revolt in India against the stringent teachings of Deobandi-Wahabi school of thought. The stronghold of Sunni Barelvism remains Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan in terms of population, but increasingly the state-controlled mosques are being given to Deobandi clerics. Because of the rise of the Deobandi militias, and their funding by the Arabs for their anti-Sufi, anti-Shiite doctrine, the province is rapidly losing its Barelvi temperament. The Tablighi Jamaat which holds its annual congregation in Lahore has become a powerful influence favouring a Deobandi point of view. It gathers 2 million people in its congregation but it is important to note that over 80 percent of its attendants are Pakhtun from Peshawar and the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.

Conclusion
Both Deobandi and Wahhabi schools, established only couple of hundred years ago, have radically mutated Islam to one having a very cold, heartless and violent Jihadist core, focused on enforcement of Wahhabi and Deobandi Shariah and Khilafah on all people through the use of force.

Source: Compiled from various sources

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