The Tradition of the Scholars of Deoband

Over the past twenty years, global geopolitics have brought the Deoband movement and its scholars into prominent public attention. Understanding who the Deoband scholars are, what they believe, and their positions on various issues can be complex and confusing for journalists, academics, and even ordinary Muslims. With many attempting to grasp Deoband’s teachings in a fragmented or superficial way, Barbara Metcalf aptly observes that “the need to understand Deoband and other Islamic movements in their own terms…continues to be of great urgency in the plural, global world of today.” This English translation of Qāri Muḥammad Ṭayyab’s work, Maslak Ulama-i-Deoband, seeks to address this need by providing a clear and accessible explanation of the movement, its scholars, and its intellectual and religious positions.