Author: Sayyed Musleh Uddin
Deoband: The Mother of Religious Schools in the Indian Subcontinent (Part Nine)
Imam Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari (MABH)
As previously mentioned, the founders of Darul Uloom Deoband were, in terms of theology and doctrine, followers of Imam Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari and Imam Abu Mansur Maturidi (may Allah have mercy on them both). Imam Abul-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Isma‘il al-Ash‘ari (MABH), a descendant of Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari (MABH), was born in Basra in 260 AH and passed away around 330 AH in Baghdad.
He was born in an environment dominated by the intellectual tumult of the Mu‘tazilah, whose school—regarding which various interpretations exist about the origin of its name—initially aimed to articulate Islam and its fundamental tenets through reason and rationality. However, after the translation of works by Greek naturalists and philosophers, the Mu‘tazilah began applying Greek philosophical methods to Islamic principles and sought to merge the realms of religion and philosophy. This ultimately led them to deny certain Islamic beliefs and to distort others by rational reinterpretation. Such a situation could not last long.
Since Islam is a universal and living religion, it needed to adapt to new intellectual contexts. There had to arise individuals from within the Muslim community who, recognizing the need to revive Islam on solid foundations through rational evidence for its doctrines and by purging all non-Islamic elements from the religion, would defend Islam against internal and external challenges. The initiator of this revival was Imam Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari.
In his youth, he joined the Mu‘tazilah and became a student of Abu ‘Ali al-Jubba’i, even representing his teacher in theological debates. However, as he grew more interested in the views of jurists and traditionalists, he spent considerable time examining the arguments of both intellectual schools. Ultimately, after much reflection and assessment, he ascended the pulpit of the Grand Mosque of Basra and publicly declared that he had renounced the Mu‘tazilah and their beliefs, and that henceforth he would oppose the Mu‘tazilite movement.
Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (MABH)
Around the same time that Imam Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari was analyzing and systematizing theological doctrines in Iraq based on the traditions of the Sunnah, Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmoud al-Maturidi of Samarqand (d. 333 AH) was active in Transoxiana, promoting and debating theological issues. In jurisprudence and legal theory, he followed Imam Abu Hanifah (MABH). Not much is known about his life, but it is believed he was born during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil—who opposed the Mu‘tazilah and supported the Ahl al-Sunnah and Hadith—and grew up during the rule of the Samanids.
He studied under four prominent scholars: Shaykh Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq, Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn ‘Abbas (known as the faqih of Samarqand), Nasir ibn Yahya al-Balkhi, and Muhammad ibn Muqatil al-Razi—all of whom were students of Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH).
Imam Maturidi authored numerous works in the fields of Qur’anic exegesis, theology, and legal theory. His most renowned works include Ta’wilat al-Qur’an, Kitab al-Tawhid, and Kitab al-Maqalat, all of which have been highly praised by scholars. In Ta’wilat al-Qur’an, he sought to establish Sunni theology using both rational and textual methods, successfully providing a sound foundation for it. He was the first theologian to address the sources of human knowledge in a theological work like Kitab al-Tawhid, and he strove to ground his system on a solid philosophical basis.
He paid special attention to the works attributed to Imam Abu Hanifah, such as al-Fiqh al-Akbar, al-Fiqh al-Awsat, and his testament, and defended Abu Hanifah’s theological views with rational and theological arguments. The results of Imam Maturidi’s work were not much different from those of Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari. The best way to describe their approaches is that Ash‘ari chose the middle path between the Mu‘tazilah and the Ahl al-Hadith, while Maturidi chose the middle path between the Ash‘arites and the Mu‘tazilah.
In recognition of his contributions to the principles of creed and to the systematic articulation of theological topics in the manner of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah, later followers of the Ash‘ari school dubbed him Imam al-Huda (the Guide), Dafi‘al-Dalalah (the Repeller of Misguidance), and Muslih al-Iman (the Reformer of Faith). Since he had taken up the defense of Sunni doctrines in the East against the Mu‘tazilah even before Abul-Hasan Ash‘ari, and although most people followed Imam Abu Hanifah in jurisprudence, in theological matters they followed Imam Maturidi. In other regions, however, many Hanafis followed the Ash‘ari school in theology.
Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (MABH)
Shaykh Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Ahad Sirhindi (d. 1034 AH / 1624 CE) and Shah Waliullah Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahim (d. 1176 AH / 1762 CE) were among the other thinkers who had a profound influence on the founders of Darul Uloom Deoband.
Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Ahad al-Faruqi Sirhindi was born in 971 AH / 1564 CE in the city of Sirhind in the present-day Indian state of Punjab. He began his education at the age of four by memorizing the Holy Qur’an and studied the elementary sciences under his father. Later, in Sialkot, he studied logic, philosophy, theology, and legal theory under Mawlana ‘Abd al-Karim Sialkoti. He learned hadith from Shaykh Ya‘qub Sirhindi and Qadi Bahlul Badakhshi and graduated at the age of seventeen.
After Salim ascended the throne with the title Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir, he wrote in a letter to Shaykh Farid Bukhari, Jahangir’s chief patron:
“Now that the glad tidings of the removal of the obstacle to the Islamic state and the news of the enthronement of an Islamic ruler have reached all people, the Muslims find it obligatory upon themselves to support and assist the ruler and promote the Shari‘ah and strengthen the community.”
Aurangzeb ‘Alamgir, the grandson of Jahangir who was intellectually affiliated with the family of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, was deeply influenced by his reformist ideas and actively propagated them.
Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi was affiliated with the Naqshbandi order, which, due to its intellectual vitality and spiritual influence spreading from India to the broader Muslim world, is considered one of the most distinguished Sufi orders of the Indian subcontinent. The Naqshbandi order originated in Central Asia and is attributed to Ahmad Ata Yassawi (d. 510 AH / 1116 CE), later gaining popularity through Baha al-Din Naqshband.
The central doctrine of the order is the unity of witnessing (wahdat al-shuhud)—a form of spiritual unity with God that culminates in union, not in essence, but through faith and love. This doctrine was refined in Central Asia by ‘Ala al-Dawla Simnani (d. 736 AH / 1336 CE) and was further developed and expanded by Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.
Continues…
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[1] Ayyub ‘Alī, 1362 [Solar Hijri], pp. 368–370.
[2] Ḥalabī, 1376 [Solar Hijri], p. 4951.
[3] Muḥammad Ṭayyib, 2009, p. 69.
[4] Ghāzī, 2009, p. 181.
[5] Sirhindī, 1383 [Solar Hijri], p. 173.
[6] ‘Azīz Aḥmad, 1366 [Solar Hijri], p. 60.
