Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind or Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind ( ) is one of the leading organisations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti and Sanaullah Amritsari.
The Jamiat was an active participant in the Khilafat Movement in collaboration with the Indian National Congress. It also opposed the partition of India, taking the position of composite nationalism: that Muslims and non-Muslims form one nation. As a result, this organisation had a small break-away faction known as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, which decided to support the Pakistan movement.
The constitution of the Jamiat was drafted by Kifayatullah Dehlawi. As of 2021, it is spread over various states of India and has established institutions and wings such as the Idara Mabahith-e-Fiqhiyyah, the Jamiat National Open School, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Halal Trust, the Legal Cell Institute and the Jamiat Youth Club. Arshad Madani succeeded his brother Asad Madani as the president in February 2006, however the organisation split into the Arshad group and Mahmood group in March 2008. Usman Mansoorpuri became the president of the Mahmood group and continued to serve the position until his death in May 2021. Mahmood Madani succeeded him as the interim president before being appointed the president on 18 September 2021. Arshad Madani serves as the president of Arshad group.
History Inception and development On 23 November 1919, the Khilafat Committee held its first conference in Delhi which was attended by Muslim scholars from all over the India. Afterward, a group of twenty-five Muslim scholars from among them held a separate conference in the hall of Krishna Theatre, in Delhi, and formed the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind. These scholars included Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi, Kifayatullah Dihlawi, Muniruzzaman Khan, Mohammad Akram Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti, Dawood Ghaznavi and Sanaullah Amritsari. Other scholars included Abdul Haleem Gayawi, Azad Subhani, Bakhsh Amritsari, Ibrahim Darbhangawi, Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Imam Sindhi, Muhammad Asadullah Sindhi, Muhammad Fakhir, Muhammad Anees, Muhammad Sadiq, Khuda Bakhsh Muzaffarpuri, Khwaja Ghulam Nizamuddin, Qadeer Bakhsh, Salamatullah, Sayyid Ismail, Sayyid Kamaluddin, and Taj Muhammad.
Jamiat, also romanised as "jam'iyyat", is a term in an Islamic context referring to an assembly, league or other organisation. The word originated from the Arabic word for gathering (جمع), and is used in Urdu as a noun.
The first general meeting of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was held at Amritsar on 28 December 1919, at the request of Sanaullah Amritsari, in which Kifayatullah Dehlawi presented a draft of its constitution. Abul Muhasin Sajjad and Mazharuddin are also mentioned among the key founders. A common misconception exists that the Jamiat was founded by Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and his other colleagues including Hussain Ahmad Madani, however this is not true as they were jailed in Malta at the time the organisation was founded.
When the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was founded, Kifayatullah Dehlawi was appointed interim president and Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi was made an interim secretary. The Jamiat formed its first governing body at its first general meeting, which was held at Amritsar. The second general meeting of the Jamiat was held during November 1920 in Delhi, where Mahmud Hasan Deobandi was appointed the president and Kifayatullah Dehlawi the vice-president. Hasan died several days after (on 30 November) and Kifayatullah continued to serve as the vice-president whilst concurrently serving as interim-president, until he was permanently appointed president on 6 September 1921. The scholars of the Darul Uloom Deoband associated with the Jamiat only after Mahmud Hasan Deobandi was released, and they had no substantial role in its establishment. It is now considered a major organisation belonging to the scholars of Deoband.
Governance The earliest principles and constitution of the Jamiat were written by Kifayatullah Dehlawi. In the first general meeting in Amritsar it was decreed that these be published and opinions gathered from a group of scholars in attendance, and that it then be discussed again at the next meeting. The principles and constitution were ratified in the second meeting, held in Delhi and presided over by Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. There it was decided that the organisation would be called the "Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind", its headquarters located in Delhi, and its stamp state, "Al-Jamiat al-Markaziyyah li al-Ulama il-Hind" (). It aimed to defend Islam from any external or alien threat; to guide common folk in politics through the lens of Islamic precepts; and to establish an Islamic court, the Darul Qadha.
The first governing body of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind was formed in Amritsar. Its members included Abdul Majid Badayuni, Abul Muhasin Sajjad, Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Hasrat Mohani, Khuda Bakhsh, Mazharuddin, Muhammad Abdullah Sindhi, Muhammad Fakhir Allahabadi, Muniruzzaman Khan, Mohammad Akram Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti, Muhammad Sadiq Karachivi, Ruknuddin Dāna, Salamatullah Farangimahali, Sanaullah Amritsari, Sayyid Muhammad Dawood Ghaznawi and Turab Ali Sindhi.
The first working committee was formed over 9 and 10 February 1922, in Delhi. It consisted of nine people; Abdul Haleem Siddiqi, Abdul Majid Qadri Badayuni, Abdul Qadir Qusoori, Ahmadullah Panipati, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Hasrat Mohani, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Mazharuddin and Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. In March 1922 the number was increased to twelve, and Abdul Qadeer Badayuni, Azad Subhani and Ibrahim Sialkoti were added to the working body. The Jamiat elected Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri and Nisar Ahmad Kanpuri as the vice-presidents on 15 January 1925.
The Jamiat has an organisational network which is spread across India. It also has an Urdu daily newspaper, the Al-Jamiyat. The newspaper was banned by the British government of India in 1938, but was restarted on 23 December 1947 with Muhammad Miyan Deobandi appointed its editor. The Jamiat propounds a theological basis for its nationalistic philosophy, which is that Muslims and non-Muslims have entered upon a mutual contract in India, since independence, to establish a secular state. The Constitution of India represents this contract. This is known in Urdu as a mu'ahadah. Accordingly, as the Muslim community's elected representatives support and swear allegiance to this mu'ahadah, so too is it the responsibility of Indian Muslims to support the Indian Constitution. This mu'ahadah is similar to a previous similar contract signed between the Muslims and the Jews in Medina.
Independence movement On 8 September 1920, the Jamiat issued a religious edict, called Fatwa Tark-e-Mawalat, boycotting British goods. This was authored by Abul Muhasin Sajjad and signed by 500 scholars. During the British Raj, the Jamiat opposed British rule in India and participated in the Quit India Movement. Since its inception in 1919 it aimed for a "British-free India". It formed an institution called "Idārah Harbiyyah" () during the civil disobedience movement.
The Jamiat's scholars were arrested frequently, and its general secretary Ahmad Saeed Dehlavi spent fifteen years of his life in jail. The Jamiat secured pledges from the Muslim community that they would avoid using British cloth and enrolled about fifteen thousand volunteers to participate in the Salt March. Kifayatullah Dehlawi, the co-founder of the Jamiat, was imprisoned in Gujarat jail for six months in 1930 for participating in the civil disobedience movement. On 31 March 1932, he was arrested for leading a procession of over a hundred thousand people and imprisoned in Multan jail for eighteen months. The general secretary of the Jamiat, Muhammad Miyan Deobandi, was arrested five times and his book Ulama-e-Hind ka Shāndār Māzī () was seized for discussing the struggles of Muslim scholars against the ruling people, including the British Raj. Hifzur Rahman Seoharwi, another scholar of the Jamiat, was arrested multiple times for campaigning against British colonialism. He spent eight years in incarceration.
Partition of India Hussain Ahmad Madani, the principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband (from 1927 to 1957) and the leading Deobandi scholar of the day, held that Muslims were unquestionably part of a united India and that Hindu-Muslim unity was necessary for the country's freedom. He worked closely with the Indian National Congress until the Partition of India was carried out. In 1945, a faction emerged within Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind that supported the creation of Pakistan and the All Indian Muslim League. This faction was led by a founding member of the Jamiat, Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was a member of the All India Azad Muslim Conference, which included several Islamic organisations standing for a united India.
Ishtiaq Ahmed states that, in return for their support, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind obtained a pledge from the Indian leadership that the state would not interfere with the Muslim Personal Law. The former Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru agreed with the pledge, however, he believed that Muslims should first reform these laws. Despite these concessions, during the Partition of India, there erupted riots all over the country which resulted in wholesale carnage and numerous Muslims were killed; Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind played a key role in securing the life and safety of Muslims. Syed Mehboob Rizwi says that the general secretary of the Jamiat, Hifzur Rahman Seoharwi, "faced the grave conditions with unusual spirit, daring, resolution, and exerted pressure on the leaders and officials, and accomplished the great exploit of restoring peace and order, and dispelled fear and apprehension from the hearts of terror-stricken Muslims."
Following India's independence, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind reassessed its political role and decided to disengage from electoral politics. The organisation reaffirmed its commitment to the preservation of Muslim faith and culture, officially transitioning to a non-political entity on March 20, 1948.
Split into JUH-A and JUH-M In March 2008, after the death of its former president Asad Madni, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind split into two factions. The division was caused by differences between Arshad Madani and his nephew Mahmood Madani after Arshad Madani was accused of being involved in anti-Jamiat activities. A contemporaneous report by the Hindustan Times alleged that Arshad "had dissolved elected units and disintegrated its democratic structure to establish his personal rule." Consequently, on 5 March 2006, Arshad was dismissed as the president of the united Jamiat, leading him to form a new executive committee which he claimed to be the true Jamiat. The existing Jamiat was led by Mahmood Madani, and on the 5 April 2008 this faction appointed Usman Mansoorpuri as their first president. The first general secretary of the Arshad faction was Abdul Aleem Farooqui, who also served as the tenth general secretary of the united Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind from 1995 to 2001.
Centenary The Jamiat celebrated its centenary in November 2019. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) held the centenary celebrations in Azakhel over two days starting on 7 April 2017. It was attended by Saleh bin Abdul-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh.
Anti-terror edict