An Islamic seminary was founded in 1866 at Deoband (in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India) which is considered one of the most conservative seminaries of Islamic teaching. As per ‘Organizer’ the mouthpiece of the RSS (which controls Hindutva forces / BJP which is ruling in many States and at center in India) the Taliban, which has recently taken over Afghanistan, follows the Deobandi school of thought and Mullah Omar, the founder of Taliban, received a doctorate in Islamic studies from one of the branches of the Deoband as mentioned at
https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2021/8/17/Yogi-Adityanath-Govt-Allots-Land-in-Deoband-for-Construction-of-ATS-Commando-Centre.html . The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) center (as per BJP) is being opened in Deoband “Amid the Taliban’s savagery” hence there is no surprise that the opposition in India has termed it as an act of polarization as reported at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/up-govt-setting-up-ats-training-centre-in-deoband/articleshow/85399064.cms
Whatever has happened in Afghanistan on August 15 (when the Taliban took over power militarily from the Afghan government) is rightly linked to Deoband because the Deoband came into existence eight years after the Indian uprising of 1857-58. During this uprising the Mughals / Muslims (with the help of mainly Marathas) tried to overthrow the Britishers who had removed them from power in 100 years (starting from Battle of Plassey in 1757). Hence Deoband was an attempt to again bring Islamic rule in India. This endeavor of religion to establish State or control State is extremely important even in contemporary world hence the ‘Taliban in Afghanistan’ episode should be understood as given below:-
(1)- Religion controlling the State is nothing new. It first started with Jainism which is a religion based on non-violence hence was started by its founder ‘Tirthankara’ (Prophet) who was a ruling King (Rishabh Dev, the Adinath) because in modern times also one can practice Jainism (or any other non-violent religion) by giving monopoly of violence to the apparatus of sanctioned physical coercion of the powerful State. But Adinath was part of the State hence later on its last Tirthankara Mahavir did not assume State power (maybe he anticipated democracy !). Here one anecdote is quite educational. In around 1996-97 late Digambar Muni Maharaj Tarun Sagarji came to my native place Kota (Rajasthan) and in his ‘Pravachan’ ( religious discourse) at Mahavirnagar he said that ‘Jainism can be practiced only by those who’s ‘Teji’ (something like power) is more than the ‘Teji’ of Kshatriyas (warriors / military power of the State) and Brahmins (power of civilian element of the State). Why Jains have failed in this regard, is a different story.
(2)- This was practiced by Sikhism too which kept spiritual power above temporal power when Maharaja Ranjeet Singh (who ruled in first half of 19th century over area from Sutlej river to area beyond Indus in Pakistan and even reached up to Kabul) was ordered to be whipped by ‘Akal Takht, because the Raja had married a Muslim woman and became apostate (though this punishment was revoked when Ranjit Singh submitted to this punishment). But like Jainism, the Sikhism also does not have much of the following hence they are not so much influential in contemporary world.
(3)- Islam is the most modern religion because it worships the abstract which is in consonance with modern science & technology which gives preference to abstract over concrete (as father of modern science Copernicus proved in 16th century through observation & reasoning that senses are delusionary and Earth revolves round the Sun and not vice-versa). This differentiates merely secular-democracy (which was in Athens also in around 4th century B.C.) with modern secular-democracy. Moreover in democracy people are supreme and Islam is the only religion suited to democracy because Muslims through religion are expected to keep State power under their control (as Deoband is doing).
(4)- But Deoband is committing two fundamental mistakes in this matter:-
(i)- Deoband is not understanding that in the secular democracies, religion does not die but remains (as is the case with Christianity in Western world led by the USA) as a custodian of the values of the society which keeps it relevant to ‘this-worldly matters’ and at the same time allows it to be concerned with ‘other-worldly-matters’. Therefore Deoband should support and adopt ‘human rights (generally as per ICCPR of the UN and even as per Sharia) friendly secular democracy’ for modern free mind (which only is the guarantee for progress of modern science & technology which is the most powerful tool for peace, progress and prosperity of the people with justice when used intelligently).
(ii)- Deoband should understand that (the Caliphs as were in Turkey or Baghdadi the self appointed Caliph of ISIS, Ayatollah in Iran or Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar etc in new Taliban government in Afghanistan) they were / are all part of the State hence unable to achieve the real objectives of Islam. In other words the Deoband can’t succeed in its mission unless it develops Islamic religious leaders who will not be part of the State (as Jainism did through last Tirthankara Mahavir).
(5)- In order to achieve this the Deoband should do the following:-
(i)- There are 4 major religious groups in this world namely Christians, Muslims, Chinese and Hindus. The 3 major religious groups have one military (Christian West through NATO and Chinese & Hindus due to their one country). This ‘fragmented military power of the Muslims’ is the main reason that hundreds of millions of Muslims are bleeding and weeping profusely from Myanmar to NAME (North Africa and Middle East). Hence first of all the Deoband should try for ‘One military power for Muslims (OMPM) for Muslim majority countries especially to solve military related problems of the Muslims all across the world.. This OMPM can be on the pattern of NATO or any other defense model.
(ii)- This OMPM should be used to solve the problems in NAME region (Syria, Yemen etc) by enforcing secular democracy in these country by getting election conducted under OMPM
(iii)- The Deoband through OMPM should demand that there should be one State of Israel – Palestine in which all the displaced Palestinians (refugees etc) should be allowed to live as its citizens.
(iv)- As per principle of Islam, the Deoband should insist on ‘no interest’ in Muslims world and instead of present national & international currencies (in which Muslim world is dealing) and which are based on fiscal deficits under the pressure of unbridled usurers (the interest earners), the Deoband should insist on ‘one currency for entire Muslim world’ with adequate asset back up of gold. This will be facilitated by contemporary practice of internet banking which is reducing the cash requirement of the countries hence gold requirement for asset backup of currency is also very less and can easily be managed.
(v)- But the Deoband will not achieve anything unless it first contributes to solving the following four major problems of the country where it is situated namely India. First, the Deoband should demand ‘dual citizenship’ for about 160 million forcibly displaced Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims (and their children) during partition and should further demand Plebiscite in J&K (as mandated not merely by UN resolution but also by ‘Instrument of Accession’ the IoA of J&K to India) and in Balochistan, the IoA of which was taken by Pakistan through military pressure.
(vi)- Most of the countries are incurring public debts under the pressure of unbridled usurers. In order to stop this objectionable practice the Deoband should not only demand but should ensure that a writ petition is filed in the Supreme Court of India to forfeit all the public debts which are beyond consolidated funds of the Union & State Governments in violation of Article 292 & 293 of the Constitution of India by taking excuse of unconstitutional ‘Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act’ (FRBMA) . In this writ petition a prayer should also be made to repeal FRMBA.
(vii)- Unlike political problem with Pakistan (due to Kashmir problem) India’s problem with China is legal hence the Deoband should demand that Indo-China border dispute should be referred to ‘UN Judicial Commission’ for its peaceful resolution.
(viii)- The Deoband should demand the recovery of about Rs. 1,000 Lakh Crore income tax (about 45 % of over 2,200 Lakh crore and increasing ) from about one million fake farmers (as mentioned at http://www.newsnation.in/article/121125-news-nation-disclosure-on-blackmoney-kharabpati-farmers-take-agriculture-route-t.html and https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Prominent-people-hiding-taxable-income-Jaitley/articleshow/51408323.cms ) which should be utilized for solving all the economic problems of India.
It is hoped that the Deoband will fill the vacuum which no other religion is filling-up regarding providing a modern human-rights friendly religion commensurate with secular democracy.
