NEW DELHI: Taliban‘s international minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited the Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur on Saturday, assembly Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani and different senior officers of the seminary. Muttaqi expressed gratitude for the nice and cozy reception and optimism about India-Afghanistan ties. “I’m grateful to all of you for the nice and cozy welcome given to me by everybody in Deoband and the love showered upon me. I’ll pray to God that India-Afghanistan relations enhance additional,” he mentioned, as quoted by information company. ANI.The Afghan chief highlighted the importance of academic and cultural ties, noting that no political discussions came about however that historic connections have been celebrated. As per information company ANI, Maulana Arshad Madani emphasised the historic function of Afghanistan in India’s independence wrestle and reassured that Afghanistan wouldn’t enable terrorists to make use of its soil. towards India. This go to is a part of a week-long journey to India by Muttaqi, marking the primary high-level delegation from Kabul for the reason that Taliban took energy in 2021.
What’s Darul Uloom Deoband?
Darul Uloom Deoband, established in 1866 in present-day Uttar Pradesh, is one in all South Asia’s most influential Islamic seminaries. It was based by students together with Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Maulana Rashid Muhammad Gangohi to teach Muslim youth in a rigorous, orthodox understanding of Islam, often known as Deobandi. Islam. The seminary was initially a part of an anti-colonial motion aimed toward revitalizing Islam and resisting British rule in India. Over the many years, Deobandi faculties unfold all through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and different elements of South Asia.
The Afghan connection: How Deobandi Islam reached Afghanistan
Whereas Darul Uloom Deoband is in India, its teachings unfold throughout the border into Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pashtun communities have been instrumental in establishing Deobandi seminaries alongside the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in accordance with The Dialog. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 accelerated this course of as Deobandi madrassas, supported by Pakistani authorities and funding from Saudi Arabia and the CIA, educated Afghan refugee youth who would be a part of the anti-Soviet resistance.Many of those college students later grew to become key figures within the Taliban. The motion’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and different Taliban leaders have been educated in Deobandi-inspired seminaries in Pakistan, adopting a model of the ideology that included ultraconservative Wahhabi. influences, as per NPR. Whereas the Taliban determine as Deobandi, students on the unique Indian seminary emphasize that their interpretation diverged from classical Deobandi teachings. “The Taliban say they’re doing what we did in India. The best way we kicked the British out of India, that is what the Taliban are doing in Afghanistan,” mentioned Maulana Arshad Madani again in 2021 when the Taliban took management. over Afghanistan, clarifying that there isn’t a organizational hyperlink between the seminary and the Taliban, as per NPR.This go to of Taliban’s international minister comes amid efforts to enhance India-Afghanistan relations, as Muttaqi emphasised hopes for elevated exchanges and cooperation, together with in regional initiatives just like the Chabahar port in Iran. The go to reinforces the soft-power and cultural dimension of diplomacy between the 2 international locations whereas acknowledging the centuries-old academic and spiritual hyperlinks that join them.