Afghanistan has been making headlines for the last many days due to the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of Taliban. You would be surprised to know that Taliban is a Deobandi Islamist movement. The Taliban is based solely on the ideology of Deobandi and it’s more than enough to prove how dangerous Deobandi ideology is. Taliban is notorious for carrying out mass executions, forcing women and girls into sexual slavery. Despite repeated claims by the Taliban that they have changed, we can barely believe them as their attitude towards women, gays, human rights and civil liberties are all outliers. The Taliban is fringe.
As far as Deobandi is concerned, it is an Islamic revivalist movement within Sunni (primarily Hanafi) Islam that was constitued around the Darul UloomIslamic seminary in the town of Deoband, India, where the name derives from, during the late 19th century. The seminary was founded by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and several other figures in 1866. What’s strange is that an estimated 15-25 percent of Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims consider themselves Deobandi. It speaks a lot about the kind of Jihadi and Hindu hating elements we are surrounded with here in India.
Apart from this, Deobandi-affiliated groups such as the TTP, SSP, LeJ, etc. have a militant character. The Tehreek-e-Taliban in Pakistan has a “militant character”. Deobandi Islam is the most popular form of pedagogy in the Pashtun belt on both sides of the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, prominent Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders have studied in Deobandi seminaries. Deobandis or the Deoband school are involved with illegal activities. The Darul Uloom Deoband has consistently supported the civil actions of the Taliban.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (the TTP), alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. In December 2007 about 13 groups united under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud to form the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Among the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's stated objectives are resistance against the Pakistani state, enforcement of their interpretation of sharia and a plan to unite against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.
The TTP is not directly affiliated with the Afghan Taliban movement led by Mullah Omar, with both groups differing greatly in their histories, strategic goals and interests although they both share a primarily Deobandi interpretation of Islam and are predominantly Pashtun.
Last year, another organisation linked with the Deobandi named Tablighi Jamaat came into the limelight when it became the source of COVID-19 hotspot in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz. Many people of the Markaz misbehaved with nurses and medical staff. They even spit on local residents of Nizamuddin. The Tablighi Jamaat (Society of Preachers) was founded by a Deobandi Islamic scholar Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in Mewat, India, in 1926. Many countries in Central Asia see its puritanical preachings as extremist and have banned Tablighi Jamaat.
Since the 9/11 attacks, the US Government has closely monitored Tablighi Jamaat. As per US officials, the teachings and beliefs of Tablighi Jamat have worked as a motivation for many Muslims to join radical Muslim groups. Rizwan Farook, one of the perpetrators of the 2015 San Bernardino attack, was a student of the teachings of Tablighi Jamaat.
Many Pakistani security analysts and Indian investigators have stated that the founders of terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were members of the Tablighi Jamaat. Going by the intelligence estimates, more than 6,000 Tablighis were trained in Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist camps in Pakistan.
What’s interesting is that some of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack had stayed in the premises of the Tablighi Jamaat centre in New Delhi. Not only this, the Tablighi Jamaat was also suspected of involvement in the Godhra train burning in 2002 that led to the killing of 59 Hindu pilgrims.
In Russia, a counter-terrorism operation in February 2020 led to the arrest of seven Tablighis and dismantled the terrorist cell affiliated to the Tablighi Jamaat. As per Russian intelligence, the terrorist cell was involved in the spread of materials and radicalization. Since 2009, the Tablighi Jamaat has been banned in Russia. Not only this, the Supreme Court of Russia also recommended the Tablighi Jamaat to be included into the list of terrorist groups monitored by the Kremlin.
The Tablighi Jamaat does not believe in the idea of secularism and democracy and believes in strict allegiance to Islamic lifestyle. According to Law enforcement officials, Tablighi Jamaat's presence across the globe and its apolitical stance have been exploited by militant groups. Some people have described Tablighi Jamaat as a "trans-national Islamist network". Apart from this, the Tablighi Jamaat has been described as "a conduit and a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-i-Taiba".
As per Alex Alexiev, "perhaps 80 per cent of the Islamist extremists have come from Tablighi ranks, prompting French intelligence officers to call Tablighi Jamaat the 'antechamber of fundamentalism.
Tablighi members who have been charged with terrorism include:
Zacarias Moussaoui (charged in the United States in the 11 September attacks)
Hervé Djamel Loiseau (French citizen found in Afghanistan)
Djamel Beghal (Algerian-born French citizen and Al Qaeda member who was convicted of plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris)
In a foiled January 2008 bombing plot in Barcelona, Spain, some media reports stated that a Muslim leader in the city said that that the fourteen suspects arrested by police in a series of raids (where bomb-making materials were seized) were members of the Tablighi Jamaat. Other terrorist plots and attacks on civilians that members of Tablighi Jamaat have been connected with include the Portland Seven, the Lackawanna Six, the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, the 7/7 London bombings, the 2007 London car bombs, and 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack.
American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) concludes the group bears similarities with Islamist groups in that it adheres to strict Islamic norms and seeks to spread Islam to the whole world.
Deobandi is a threat not only to India but to terrorist's safe haven Pakistan. The Islamic country termed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) (Army of Jhangvi) a militant organisation which was a Deobandi militant organization. Formed in 1996, it operated in Pakistan as an offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP). The group is considered a terrorist group by Pakistan and the United States. It was involved in attacks on civilians and protectors of them. The group has been labelled by intelligence officials in Pakistan as a major security threat.
Similarly, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) is a banned Pakistani militant organization, and a formerly registered Pakistani political party. In October 2000 Masood Azhar, another terrorist, and founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was quoted as saying that "Sipah-e-Sahaba stands shoulder to shoulder with Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jehad." A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable described JeM as "another SSP breakaway Deobandi organization.
To conclude, Deobandi is the root of most of the terror outfits in India and in foreign countries. Its ideology is a threat for humanity and should be banned in unison.
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