Deoband is on the world map thanks to a famous institution that was established here in 1866. Manzar Bilal of TwoCircles.net, a Darul Uloom’s graduate visited Deoband recently to give us a glimpse of life in this city and its famous madrasa. First part of the seven part series.

By Manzar Bilal TwoCircles.net,

Famous for all the wrong reasons, Deoband is a city in the district of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. It is located at about 150 km North of Delhi. Deoband used to be surrounded by thick forests called Devi Van, or 'the Forest of the goddess' and with the passage of time it became Deoband.

Deoband is one of the ancient cities in the country. Maulana Zulfiqar Ali counted it in his book among those towns which came up after the deluge of Noah. The presence of Muslims in the city is since early 13th century. According to the census of 2001, the city has a population of 1, 61,706. Muslims constitute 65% of the population. It has an average literacy rate of 70%.

There are hundreds of mosques in the city. Some of them were built during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal rule. Masjid Qila reminds us of the time of Sultan Sikander Lodhi (1488-1517 A.D.), Masjid Khanqah came up during the regime of Akber (1555-1605 A.D.) and Masjid Abul Ma’li during the reign of Aurungzeb (1657- 1706 A.D.).

Deoband is on the world map because of Darul Uloom, one of the most important and influential schools of Islamic Studies. It is best known all over the world for contribution of great Islamic scholars and authorities of Islamic jurisprudence and also for the centre of publication of books and publishing houses. The adjoining areas of Deoband have a large number of relics and tombs of great figures of Islamic history of the Indian subcontinent.

Besides Darul Uloom, Deoband has several other educational institutions. Among those- Darul Uloom waqf, Madrsa Asgharia, Jamia Imam Anwer, Jamia Tibbiya, College of Unani Medicine, Inter College, Tehsil School, Islamia Higher Secondary School, Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Public School, Vidya College, B.ED College and Madani Technical Institute deserve special mention.

When you get down from the train at Deoband station, you will be welcomed by rickshaw-wallahs crying ‘Darul Uloom, Darul Uloom, Darul Uloom’ and sometimes your luggage will be snatched and a rickshaw selected for you. When you sit on the rickshaw, they will drive it so fast in narrow streets that if you are new you will be scared but fear not as they are the experts.

After some minutes traveling by rickshaw from the station you will reach Tehseel office where the main market of the city called ‘Mina Bazar’ is located. Here you will find both Muslims and non-Muslims shopkeepers sitting in their shops. From right here you will encounter a sea of young men with skull caps. These are Madarsa student who have come to market for their needs.

When you proceed further, you will see a number of book stalls, publishing houses and shops of other things related to education on both sides of road where daily students of madrasas throng. Books worth of lakhs of rupees are dispatched every day from here to different part of the country as well as abroad. Presence of thousands of student not only of Darul Uloom but also of a large number of madarsas patronize several garment shops, hotels and tea stalls providing business opportunity to residents of the area.

Though Deoband is a world famous town and it has succeeded in drawing people form across the global still it is not a developed city though for the last few years it is getting better. Many new colonies are coming up. The pucca roads have been constructed from streets to streets and some parks are also built where people can take in fresh air but there is a lot to do concerning hygien and cleanliness as you will find garbage on the roads at several places including near Darul Uloom.

If you go to other side of the city, there are bus halts, hospitals, banks, telephone exchange and offices. This is Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur road, which divides the area into Muslim and Hindu majority population on either side of the road.

Thanks to the Muslim population, Muslims have been occupying the chairman post of the municipal board of the city. Years back, late Maulana Habibur Rahman Usmani, the ex-rector of Darul Uloom was the chairman for several years and now it is headed by Maulana Haseeb Siddiqi who is a product of Darul Uloom.

“Muslims are financially in moderate position in the city as by the virtue of many educational centres literacy rate is good here but there are also a number of those who are working on daily wage and pulling rickshaws” said Nadeemul Wajdi, editor of Urdu monthly Tarjuman-e-Deoband.

“Muslims and Hindu are living here have friendly relations and they are busy in their own works. Some years back Praveen Togadia visited the city and try to spread the poison of communal tension but local Hindus did not give him positive response. Hence, the environment of the city remained calm and peaceful” he added.

Noted Urdu journalist and grandson of Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Maulana Azhar Shah Qaiser said: “This historical city has been an example of communal harmony. In 1992 when violence spread out in several parts of the country a student was gunned down by police as he came out of Madarsa campus which angered the students but administration of Darul Uloom controlled them. In my opinion, it is because Muslims and Hindu are living in almost separate areas and also it is a place of Sufi saints and religious personalities who always made efforts for the cause of good relation between the communities.”

Part 4 of the seven part TwoCircles.net series on Darul Uloom Deoband

Hosting thousands of students, Darul Uloom Deoband has plenty of living rooms for boarding students in numerous hostels. These rooms are of different category; rooms of single bed, two, three…till twelve beds. Dare Jadeed, Ruwaq-e- Khalid, Shaikhul Hind Manzil, Shaikhul Islam Manzil, Hakimul Ummat Manzil, Afriqi Manzil and Darul Quran are some of the magnificent building in Darul Uloom campus.

Students are given the places in hostels on account of their marks they get in finals and if new then in the entrance test. Better marks in the exam translate to better room. Thus if a student was in room of sixth bed ,for example, last year and he gets good marks in annual exam, he is eligible to change his bed and get place in a room with only five beds.

Daily instruction in this world famous Islamic seminary is divided into six periods, four in the morning session and two in the afternoon session but in Daur-e Hadeeth (final year of Arabic) there are two additional periods; one is after Maghrib prayer and second is after Isha prayer.

Fifth year student Shafqat Ali is from Araria, Bihar. His day starts with offering Fajr prayer followed by recitation of some verses of the glorious Qur’an.

“Between Fajr prayer and class time, we do not have much time. Therefore, after finishing recitation of Qura’n, we become busy in preparation of breakfast with my friends. We try to reach class before period bell is rung because if teacher enter the class room before us, he would mark me absent and next day he may punish,” Ali said.

“After completion of fourth periods, we have three hours hiatus. After getting lunch from the mess, we eat with our friends, then we find some time for siesta. Having offer Zuhar prayer once again, we are ready for classes,” added Shafaqat Ali.

“Only between Asr to Maghrib we have time to go out of campus for a walk otherwise whole day busy in academic activities, after Maghrib we revise our lessons while after Isha we prepare for next day classes” said Shakir Azam, a sixth year student from Nepal.

Students of first to fourth years revise their lessons after Maghrib and Isha under the watchful eyes of their teachers at Masjid-e-Rasheed. Teachers also take attendance every day and the absent students are accountable before the director of education while students of fifth year to seventh year tend to their lessons on their own by group discussions. Final year students attend the classes not only after Maghrib but also after Isha till late night. They are so busy lives that they do not find sufficient time to sleep.

“Hum log Daure Hadeeth(last year of fazilat course) main hain isliye daurte hi rahte hain .. From first period we start to attend the class and take breath of rest in late night” told Sarfaraz who came here on educational visa from Bangladesh.

This is Zaki Anwar standing in queue for receiving lunch from mess. He seems somehow embarrassed.

“I do not have enough time for completion of my homework but it is not less than a tragedy that I have to spend my valuable time here every day. I think Darul Uloom should take immediate positive decision regarding two things; first for ending the queue system for food and launch new style as in other institutions because this system kill our precious time, second for changing the food items as we are provided with the same thing every day for lunch and dinner. Therefore, we have to cook additional items which take much time,” said Zaki Anwar from Bijnor, UP.

It is to be noted that Darul Uloom provides lunch and dinner to all boarding students. In both lunch and dinner they are given breads and Qorma and also Biryani three times in a month.

Educational environment at Darul Uloom is high. Not to speak about class time, students are busy in studying and memorizing their books every time even a number of them after Asr which is free time for enjoy. To study till 12pm is daily routine for students but in exam season there is no difference of day and night.

“During class days we concentrate on our current lessons but when exam schedule is declared, we have to make extra ordinary efforts for covering previous lessons to perform well in exam. This is my final year so we want get good marks because we want to take admissions in post-graduate class here and it depends on good marks as only some students are selected on the basis of marks obtained in final exam,” expressed Ghufran from Darbhanga, Bihar.

Though students have busy lives here but they do find some times for their extra curricular activities. They take parts in Anjuman activities to improve their speaking and writing skills. There are many Anjumans (clubs) almost for every district’s students a separate one which have libraries. These Anjumans hold weekly programs on every Thursday for their members and also publish wall magazines where they practice their writing ability. Several elocution competitions and essay competitions during the year are also organized by the Anjumans to increase the interest among student.