‘Deobandiat is a globally accepted phenomenon’

A lecture on ‘Global Deobandiat, Tableeghi Jamaat’, organised by the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue of International Islamic University (IIUI) Islamabad, was held at the Allama Iqbal Auditorium Faisal Mosque Campus on Friday.
Dr Dietrich Reetz, a Berlin-based German scholar of South Asian Islam, said the Deoband school of thought was accepted globally and the Tableeghi Jamaat was the vehicle which spread the Deobandiat worldwide. He said Deobandiat in South Asia related to Maulana Muhammad Zakria, who was very much influential in this part of the world.
According to Dietrich, Deoband school of thought in South Africa is mainly promoted by the trading community and the seminaries following the philosophy of Deoband are able to produce so many scholars in South Africa, Malaysia, United States and United Kingdom.
He also highlighted the perception prevailing in the West about the phenomenon of Tableeghi Jamaat in the context of western modernisation paradigm, where they considered Islamic movements against the promotion of economic development, social advancement and liberal democracy.
Speaking on the occasion, IIU President Dr Mumtaz Ahmad said the Tableeghi Jamaat had defined the very guidelines which were not formally controlled by the defined bureaucracy.
Dawah Academy Director General Prof Dr Sahibzada Sajid-ur-Rehman was the chief guest on the occasion while Islamic Research Institute DG Dr Zafar Ishaq Ansari, IRD Director Coordination Dr Talib Sayal and a large number of students and academicians attended the event.
The lecture concluded with a question and answer session.