Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
source
Name	Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Formation	1919
Headquarters	Delhi
Region served	India
Language	Urdu
Leader title	President

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is an Indian Islamic scholarly organization established in 1919 that has played a significant role in religious, social, and political affairs in South Asia, with connections to figures and movements across the subcontinent. Founded during the late colonial period, it engaged with leaders and events including Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Maulana Shibli Nomani, All India Muslim League, Indian National Congress, Khilafat Movement, and Non-Cooperation Movement. Over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries the organization has interacted with institutions such as Aligarh Muslim University, Darul Uloom Deoband, Jamia Millia Islamia, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and political actors like Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Abul Kalam Azad, and Sardar Patel.

History

Founded in the aftermath of World War I, the body emerged amid debates involving Khilafat Movement, Simon Commission, Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, and leaders such as Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Mahmud Hasan Deobandi. During the colonial era it navigated tensions between All India Muslim League and Indian National Congress while maintaining scholarly ties with Darul Uloom Deoband, Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, and regional ulema networks in Lucknow, Hyderabad State, Bengal Presidency, and Punjab Province (British India). In the 1940s it addressed partition-related crises connected to Mountbatten Plan, Direct Action Day, Great Calcutta Killings, and the creation of Dominion of Pakistan, while leaders engaged with Abul Kalam Azad and international actors like League of Nations observers. Post-1947 the organization participated in public debates around Indian Constitution, Article 370, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act controversies, and communal episodes such as Babri Masjid demolition and responses to 1984 anti-Sikh riots, 2002 Gujarat riots, and 1992–1993 Bombay riots.

Ideology and Objectives

The organization is rooted in Sunni Hanafi jurisprudence associated with scholars from Darul Uloom Deoband, Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, and engages with Islamic legal texts including works by Imam Abu Hanifa and Al-Mawardi. Its stated objectives have combined preservation of Islamic law in matters of personal status, promotion of Urdu and Arabic learning through madrasas, and protection of Muslim civic rights in India, positioning itself vis-à-vis parties like Indian Union Muslim League, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and civil institutions such as Supreme Court of India and National Human Rights Commission (India). The organization’s jurisprudential stance has intersected with debates involving Shariat, Hanafi school, Darul Qaza, and comparative positions taken by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S), and international councils like Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Organizational Structure and Leadership

The group’s governance includes a consultative council, scholars’ assemblies, provincial branches in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and offices in cities such as New Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, India, Kolkata, and Mumbai. Prominent historical figures associated with leadership include Ahmed Riza Khan, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, A. K. Fazlul Huq (in political collaboration), Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Hafiz Abdul Salam, and post-independence leaders who engaged with Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Pranab Mukherjee on minority rights. The institution has produced jurists who have worked with educational bodies like Board of Islamic Studies (Jamia Millia Islamia), legal petitions in the Supreme Court of India, and representatives in municipal bodies and state legislatures alongside parties such as Indian National Congress and Janata Dal splinters.

Activities and Social Services

Activities span religious education via networks of madrasas, orphanages, and hospitals interacting with NGOs such as Aga Khan Foundation and initiatives tied to UNICEF and UNESCO in literacy drives. The organization has run fatwa desks, mediation committees in communal disputes like incidents in Ayodhya, Muzaffarnagar riots, and relief operations during disasters including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 1999 Odisha cyclone, and floods in Assam. It has collaborated with universities including Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia on curricula, and engaged with advocacy groups like Sikh Human Rights Group and secular nonprofits in legal aid clinics and vaccination campaigns coördinated with state administrations in Kerala, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

Political Positions and Legal Interventions

The organization has issued public statements and filed petitions addressing citizenship and secularism disputes involving the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, National Register of Citizens, and protections under the Indian Penal Code and Constitution of India. It has opposed separatist narratives associated with All India Muslim League legacy while supporting constitutional remedies advanced by leaders like Abul Kalam Azad and litigated in forums including the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court, and human rights commissions. In electoral politics it has sometimes supported candidates from Indian National Congress and regional alliances, and has publicly critiqued policies advanced by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders such as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on secularism and minority rights.

Factions and Internal Disputes

Since the late twentieth century the body experienced internal splits and factionalism reflecting alignments with figures analogous to national personalities; disputes often mirror those seen between groups like Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S), and regional ulema coalitions, with leadership contests adjudicated by arbitration committees and occasionally litigated in the Bombay High Court and Allahabad High Court. Rivalries have involved differing stances toward engagement with parties such as Indian National Congress and critiques of policies associated with Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as debates over madrasa curricula influenced by scholars from Darul Uloom Deoband, Nadwatul Ulama, and international seminaries in Deoband, India and Lucknow.

Category:Islamic organizations in India