Rahman - Munazarah Literature in Urdu

Munarah Literature in Urdu: An Extra-Curricular Educational Input in Pakistan's Religious Education Author(s): TARIQ RAHMAN Source: Islamic Studies,
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Islamic Studies 47:2 (2008) pp. 197-220
Munazarah
Literature
in Urdu:
An
Extra-Curricular
Educational Input inPakistan's Religious Education

TARIQ RAHMAN
Abstract
in the religious This article looks at the institution of debate, themunazarah, education sector of Pakistan. It argues that themunazarah occupies an important
position inmadrasah education and the 'ulama* create their identityaround a core of or alien are brought differences from other sects, sub-sectsand heretical beliefswhich
out in the open inmunazarah*. Moreover, certain books and pamphlets embodying are part of the theform of argumentation and otherfeatures of the munazarah madrasah informal, extra-curricular reading material both of studentsand teachersas
it.Thiskindof literature well as religious and, peopleoutside emphasizes differences

are exposed to it to intolerance of the therefore, presumably predisposes thosewho not to ban such literature but to is 'other'. the solution this However, of problem reduceMuslim anger and change government policies in the direction of avoiding
violence.
<<o> Introduction Munazarah is defined inThe EncyclopediaofIslam as follows: "The scientific, in on one the hand, the literary genre particular the theological-juridical, dispute of the strugglefor precedence on the other."1 Asian South Muslims, Among however, it is associatedwith theologicaldisputes almost to the exclusion of the othermeanings given above. Traditionally, the munazarah was held before an audience and often in thepresence of a powerfulpersonagewho sometimes acted as an arbitrator.It "was not only importantfororal theologicaldispute" out the but also entered "theological literature."2 There were rules forcarrying debate (addb al-jadat) and treatisessuch as those laid down in al-Risalah al
1 E. Wagner, "Munazara" inC.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinriches and the lateCH. Pellat, eds.Encyclopedia ofIslam, new edn. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993), 7: 565. 2 Ibid., 7: 566.
198
TARIQ RAHMAN
Samarqandiyyah fi Addb al-Bahthof Shams al-DinMuhammad b. Ashraf al Samarqandi (d. ca. 690/1291), on the subject. In South Asian Islamic educational institutions(madrasahs)al-Sharifiyyah ofAll b. Muhammad Mir al-Sharif al-Jurjani (d. 816/1413) and the Rashldiyyah of Abd al-Rashld b. Mustafa Jaunpuri (d. 1083/1672)are taught. Muhammad Turab All alsowrote a manual inUrdu entitled Mabadi-yiMunazarah (1874) to teach the art and to of those who had taken to arguing with each other on etiquette disputation Urdu.3 However, it isnot fromthe written text inArabic, religious subjects in which has to be mastered with considerable difficulty, that the art of disputation is learned.The most usefulway of learning it is by the example who deliver theFriday sermon provided by the teachersand theprayer leaders inmosques and Urdu books refutingideological opponents which are the focus of this article. Indeed, the art of themunazarah is at the heart of the methodology in themadrasahs as lectureson subjects such as 'aqa'id teaching (beliefs); fiqb (the law) as the selection,emphases and exposition of theahddith
illustrate.
raddf-literature
Since certain featuresof the oral munazarah to be described later enter about religious controversyin circulation in Pakistan, this into the literature called is the munazarah literature in this article irrespectiveof literature was everpresentedorally or not. As itspurpose is refutation(radd) whether it of the argumentsof another sect, sub-sect(thedistinctivebeliefsofwhich are called maslak), heresy or an alien philosophy, it has also been referredto as
(or radd-texts) inmy previous publications.4
Methodology Objective and

The objective of this article is to examine some of themunazarah texts in the which are in circulationamong religious readers,bothwithin Urdu language the and outside madrasahs,with a view to understandingtheir major themes and and how they are likely to influencethe formationof ideological identity one are a touchedupon, its 'other' inPakistan.While number of controversies
major text?an account of an actual munazarah between two Sunni sub
more detail so as to provide a deeper understanding sects?will be presented in munazarah traditionas a heuristicdevice. of the
3Zain Shirazi, "The 'Publicity' of Religious Discourse: The Munazarah and Sastrartha in Colonial North India," paper read at the annual conference of British Association for South Asian Studies, (March, 2005), available at: <http://staff.brad.ac.uk/akundu/basas/conference >. 05/shirazi,%20zian.pdf 4 in Pakistan" in JamalMalik, ed. Tariq Rahman, "Madrasas: The Potential forViolence York: Routledge, Taylor and New and Terror} Asia: in South Madrasas (London Teaching Francis, 2008), 70.
MUNAZARAH IN LITERATURE URDU
199
Urdu emerged as a major language of Islam in South Asia during the thirteenth/nineteenth century5and is also the language of the munazarah. of themunazarah in South Asia, we Thus, when we examine the institution are at the same time examiningonemajor dimension of language-spread in the
subcontinent.
which we
here is that such texts, because of being in Urdu and because of their availability, feed into theworldview of religious people in Pakistan with
are concerned here.
used forthis study is theiravailability The criterionforchoosing the texts and circulation among religiouspeople bothwithin the madrasahs and outside on texts them in Pakistan. Thus, while certain classical themunazarah are which are far less in scholarly absent,others, worth, are present solelybecause they are regularlyprinted and disseminated to the public. The assumption
Review of Literature Relevant for the concerns of this article is an insightful paper by Zain Shirazi read out in the BritishAssociation of South Asian Studies on 12May 2005 now available on the internet arguing that religious disputation was a
"heuristicdevice for the development of religious identities" in north India munazarah However, theonly detailed studyof the during theBritish period.6 as a social institutionin SouthAsia stillremains Avril A. Powell's studyof the debates between theMuslims and theChristian missionaries in north India before 1857.7This book tellsus that the initial missionary attacks on Islam, Din-i Haqq ki Tahqiq (1842) by such as the Urdu tract William Smith (d. 1859) was a and Charles Leupolt (d. 1884),who missionary in India from 1832 to 1874, went unnoticed. However, the missionary Carl Gottlieb Pfander (d. 1868), who argued with the 'ulama* between 1844 to 1847 at Agra, provoked opposition. Finally,Maulvi Al-i Hasan (d. 1287/1870) of Lucknow participated in a munazarah with Pfander in 1848 in Agra.8 Even more publicized was Rahmat Allah Kayranawi's (d. 1308/1891)debatewith Pfander in 1854 at Agra.9 The rancour of these brusheswith Christianitymay have
5 Tariq Rahman, "Urdu as an Islamic Language," Annual ofUrdu Studies,no. 21 (2006), 111. 6 ofReligious Discourse." Zain Shirazi, "The 'Publicity* 7 Avril A. Powell, Muslims and Missionaries in Pre-MutinyIndia (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1993). 8 See, ibid., 191. 9 See for the dtail account of the argumentsof Rahmat Allah Kayranawi in thismunazarah, al Imam al-'Allamah al-Shaykh Rahmat Allah b. Khalil al-Rahman al-'Uthmani al-Kayranawi, Izhar al-Haqq (Doha, Qatar: Idarah Ihya' al-Turath al-Islami, 1983). For itsEngUsh translation see, Maulana Rahmatullah Kairanvi, Izhar al-Haq: The Truth Revealed (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 2003).
200
TARIQ RAHMAN
Debates between Christians andMuslims, between Arya Samajists and Muslims as well as those in betweenMuslim sects or sub-sectsduring the 1920s, are also mentioned by BarbaraMetcalf. One such debate (between to was between Maulana Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (d. 1339/1920)and sub-sects) two Ahl-i Hadith debaters. This debate was carried out by lettersbut the rhetoricaldevices and the tonewas thatof an oralmundzarah.12In addition to sects ofMuslims as well asMuslims and non-Muslims (Arya Samajists and Christians).13 Such public eventsmust have increased the consciousness of differing religious beliefs among urban populations. Thus, according to BarbaraMetcalf:
Pious or among among Hindus a create But that Muslims, respectively. very competition helped familiaritywith was unprecedented in Indian religious issues that history.14 people at the time lamented divisiveness this epistolary debate, there were face-to-face mundzarahs between various
contributed to themilitant resistanceagainstBritish rule in north India in 1857 among theMuslim 'ulamd'}0 However, even after 1857,Muslims and Christians continued to engage in religiousdebates.11
Knowledge of these issues coupled with the increased means of a potential source communicationwhich modernitymakes this <<familiarity,, of increased conflict. It was probably because of this that the British
authorities banned at least some highly inflammable religious literature between 1907 and 1947. The listof suchmaterial includes 26 works against Ahmadls by their opponents;15 13 anti-Shi'ahworks by Sunnls and 2 anti Sunni ones by theShl'ah16aswell as Muslim attacksonHinduism and Sikhism and Hindu attacks on Islam.17 However, the institutionof themundzarah flourished under British rule aswe have seen and thebooks now in circulation in Pakistan are not among those banned either by the British or by the
Pakistani authorities.
Surprisingly, studies of Pakistani madrasahs pay little attention to the

10 See, ibid., 273. 11 See, Barbara D. Metcalf, IslamicRevival inBritishIndia: Deoband, 1860-1990, repr. (Karachi: Royal Book Co., 1989), 214. 12 See, ibid., 212-214. Also see, Zain Shirazi, "The 'Publicity*of Religious Discourse." For Maulana Mahmud Hasan's arguments,see hisAdillah-'iKamilah (Kanpur: n.d.). 13 See, fordetails, Metcalf, IslamicRevival inBritishIndia, 215-234. 14 Ibid., 234. 15 See, Gerald N. Barrier,Banned: ControversialLiteratureand Political Control inBritishIndia, 1907-1947 (Columbia,MI: University ofMissouri Press, 1974), 172-175. 16 See, ibid., 202-203. 17 See, ibid., 184-185,190.
MUNAZARAH
LITERATURE-IN URDU
201
(District Azamgarh, India), everyThursday evening studentsformgroups of or twenty more and make speeches and sing verses (na't) in praise of the Prophet (peace be on him). These speechesuse argumentsand other rhetorical skills to refute the ideas of theDeobandis. In another Barelvi madrasah. Madrasah Ain al-Ulum Ayn [ al-'Ulum] inGaya, Bihar, one group of students act out the role of theBarelvis and theotherofDeobandis. They ask questions ?the very skills one and counter-questions and hone their debating skills Deobandis are defeated.20 needs in amundzarah?till the which is the focus of attention here derives in The kind of literature ways from themundzarah traditionas practiced by the important Urdu-using Muslims of India and Pakistan. As Urdu is understood by most educated Muslims in Pakistan and north India thesebooks are internalizedratherthan of Arabic ones. In some cases the books in circulation are actually transcripts mundzarahswhich took place between rival sub-sectssuch as the one between were written as theDeobandis and Barelvis given below. In other cases they tracts to refute rival sects, sub-sectsor heresies. In such cases the style of directly from the oral genre of themundzarah. Even the acerbityof tone, so
much the characteristic of a face-to-face encounter, is found in the books argumentation, the use of irony, wit, poetry and other rhetorical devices come
who doesmention it inpassing,does not mundzarah. Even thepresentauthor, connectwhat he calls the raddkexts ?Urdu writingsmeant to refute heresies, other sects and sub-sects and alien (Western) philosophies?with the Arshad Alam, an Indian scholar,calls the radd-texts mundzarah tradition.18 of are as not texts because they 'non-dars' included in theprinted Tariq Rahman He too does not explicitly curriculumof the Indianmadrasah he describes.19 connect these texts of themundzarah but does go on to with the institution describe practices which are, indeed, the essence of that institution.For Madrasah Ashrafiyyah inMubarakpur, U.P. instance,he tells us that in the
presumably because the words of the opponent with beliefs which are objectionable are quoted and the response theyevoke isone of antagonismand
anger. That mentioned
earlier term of raddAiterztme for the literatureof religious controversy

here.
iswhy
I use the term mundzarah-literature
as an alternative
tomy
Ideological Divisions Necessitating Refutation Pakistan is a Muslim majority countrybut there are sectarian, sub-sectarian
18 Violence inPakistan," 70-71. See, Tariq Rahman, "Madrasas: The Potential for 19 Arshad Alam, "MakingMuslims: IdentityandDifference in IndianMadrasas" in Jamal Malik, ed. Madrasas inSouthAsia: TeachingTerror ?,51. 20 See, ibid., 55-58.
202
TARIQ RAHMAN
confirmthe estimatesthatgrosslyvary. The Sunnimajority is divided among sub-sects(maslaks) such as theBarelvis,Deobandis, Ahl-iHadith and revivalist groups such as the Jama'at-iIslam!whose views will be described later.The with Shi'ah are also sub-divided into sub-sectsbut these are not significant to because, in the faceof such respect thedisseminationof polemical literature Sunni the of Pakistan do not flaunt their Shi'ah dominance, overwhelming openly on sale all over ideological differencesin public nor is their literature will only be thedebates between Sunniswhich will be the country. Hence, it taken into account in thisarticle.
Muslims of the country.First, there and other ideologicaldivisionswithin the is the Sunni-Shl'ah sectarian division.21Although no official figures are Muslim available, the ShVah are said to be a significant percentageof the total no or of reliable official the However, country. figuresexist to population
was
It is not only the sectsor maslaks which need to refuteeach other; it is also doctrineswhich are regardedas heretical such as those of theAhmadls. The Ahmadls are followers ofMirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1326/1908) of the townQadiyan now in India.He believed himself to be a messiah or a non He believed thatProphetMuhammad (peace be on him) legislative Prophet.22
the 'sear ?one who authenticates or is the most excellent ?of the
Prophets but not the last one (khatam= 'seal' and also 'the end').23The Ahmadls clashed with the otherMuslims initially?Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ? but are now himselfbeing given to debate for survivalas a merely struggling non-Muslimminority in Pakistan. There are only 800 students in Ahmadl madrasahs inRabwah QhangDistrict) but there iswidespread alarm andmany
theories to the detriment of the Ahmadls conspiracy ? certain Western socialism, ideologies capitalism, in Pakistan.24 Moreover, etc.?are individualism,
also refuted by the (ulama\In addition to that, in the contextof 'comparative religions,'other religionssuch asChristianityare also refuted.
to
The number ofmadrasah studentsin thePunjab during 2005, according

police reports, are as follows:25
21 For the rise of the Shi'ah sect see, S.M. H. Jafri, The Origin and Early Development ofShVa Islam (Karachi:Oxford University Press, 2000). 22 A careful study ofMirza Ghulam Ahmad's works, indicates that he was inclined tomake more exuberant claims than suggested by the author.Ed. 23 Y. Continuous: Ahmadi Religious Thoughtand Its Medieval See, Friedmann, Prophecy Aspects of CA: of California Press, 1989). Background (Berkeley, University 24 See, Sajjad Shafiq Butt, "Deobandi Students Surpass Barelvis in PakistanMadrassa: Insightful Statistics," (2006) available at <http://www.watandost.blogspot.com/2006/01/deobandi_
students_surpass_barelvis_in.html >.
25 Source: Ibid.
MUNAZARAH
LITERATURE
IN URDU
203
Number of students Percentage 45.4 45.2 7.8 1.7
Sects/sub-sects Deobandis Barelvis
Ahl-iHadith ShTah
Total
200,246 199,733 34,253

7,333
441,565
The figures Government ofPakistan forroughly the sameperiod, given by the are as follows:26 this time about thenumber ofmadrasahs ratherthan students,
Numberof Madrasahs Deobandis Barelvis Percentage 30.1 23.1 7.9 given 8.1 30.8
3454 2654
Not
(2006)
Ahl-iHadith ShTah
Others jjama'at-i Islami
906
Not
given
Not affiliated
Total
934 3543
11,491
The major maslaks of the Sunnis are the Deobandis and theBarelvis.The Ahl-iHadith, also pejoratively called Wahhabis, are far less innumber. Let us, look at the Deobandi and Barelvi sub-sectsinPakistan. The Barelvis therefore, are followersofAhmad Raza Khan (d. 1340/1921)of Bareilly, a city inU. P. (India). The views of Barelvis which we encounter in the public, and with which we are concerned here, do not derive necessarily from thewritings of Ahmad Raza Khan.27However, because theyare popular theyare the focusof our attentionhere. The centralbeliefof theBarelviswho enter intodebate and discussionwith the others is that theProphetMuhammad (peace be on him) had knowledge of theunseen ('Urn thathe was created fromradiance al-ghayb), or help his followers in lifeand (nur),and thathe had thepower to intercede after death. Moreover, they also believe that the intercessionof saints is possible and they control the events of theworld through mystical, esoteric
means.
The Deobandi movement was founded in 1283/1866 at the madrasah

26 Source: GOP, National Education Census Pakistan 2006 (Islamabad:Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education, Federal Bureau of Statistics, 2006), 215. 27 For a biography of the founderand thedevelopment of his views see,Usha Sanyal,Devotional Islam and Politics inBritishIndia (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996). The views ofAhmad Raza Khan concerning the Deobandis are given inEnglish in ibid., 235-248.
204
TARIQ RAHMAN
called theDar al-'Ulum Deoband at about 90 miles northeast of Delhi by The other great Maulana Qasim Nanautvi (d. 1297/1880) and his associates.28 figure associated with this madrasah isMaulana Rashld Ahmad Gangohi (d. 1323/1905)who is regarded as one of the leaders and exemplars of the The Deobandis regard the intercession of saints, Deobandi school of thought. theveneration of tombs,and otherpracticesof folk Islam as sinfulinnovations with theBarelvis, however,was that (bid'ah).The major point of controversy theybelieved that theProphet (peace be on him) had only asmuch knowledge of the unseen as God gave him and thathe was made of earth like ordinary
human
The Deobandl-Barelvi differences led to munazarahs which will be described inmore detail below.However, evenmore importantlyithas led to strainedrelationsbetween the followersof the above twomaslaks inPakistan in the lastdecade ormore. For instance,thenumber of the organizationsof a social and political nature by 2003was 245 out ofwhich 48 were Barelvis and 44were Deobandis. The two sub-sects have had theologicalquarrelswhich led to
to tension.
beings.29
are the While the Deobandl-Barelvi differences major focusof thisarticle, other debated issues, such as the orthodox 'ulama's (Deobandi, Barelvl and Ahl-iHadlth) objections to theviews ofAbu 'l-A'la Mawdudl (d. 1399/1979);31 the refutationof Shi'ah beliefs by SunnI (ulama\ and the objections to Western ideologies,again by the 'ulama/zre also touchedupon inpassing. Munazarah Texts inPakistan andNorth India The Place of the Although not part of the variant form of theDars-i NizamI used in the
madrasahs of South Asia, the munazarah-texts are used in them. One
is from Madrasah Ashrafiyyah (India) where, asmentioned earlier,thesebooks

28 See,Metcalf, IslamicRevival inBritishIndia, p. 88.Metcalf mentioned theyear of foundation of Dar al-'Ulum Deoband to be 1867, however, thewebsite of Dar al-'Ulum Deoband gives the axact date of its establishment to be Muharram 15, 1283/May 30, 1866. See: < http://Darululoom-deoband.com >. Ed. 29 Maulana Muhammad Manzur Nu'mani, Futuhat-i Nu'maniyyah, ed. Maulana Qari 'Abd al Rashid (Lahore:Anjuman-i Irshad al-MusUmin,2002), 30 where he quotes the allegation of the Barelvi munazir Maulana Rahim flahi. See for the details of the exact position of Deobandi Scholars, Maulana Ashraf *AliThanvi, Hifz al-Imdn 'an al-Zaygh wa 'l-Tughyan(Karachi: Maktabah As'adiyyah, 2004; first printedLahore: Anjuman Irshad al-Muslimin, 1980), 104-110. See also, Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, aUMuhannad 'aid H-Mufannad,aka, 'Aqa'id Vlama'-i Ahl-i SunnatDeoband (Lahore: Maktabat al-'Ilm,n.d.), 50-60. Ed. 30 New Statesman for See, details, (24 September2001). 31 See, fordetails, SayyedVali Reza Nasr, Mawdudi and the Making ofIslamicRevivalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996),passim.
example
MUNAZARAH
LITERATURE
IN URDU
205
were "extremelypopular with students."32 The books were written to refute the doctrines or maslak of theDeobandis and theAhl-i Hadith. What the studentslearn are the centralbeliefsof their maslak and the arguments used to the "identity which is created in such a setting support them.And, therefore, is at once oppositional, depending on the negation of the other, feedingon a senseof beingwronged, and committedto the 'trueIslam' of their maslak"*3 The present author also found themundzarah-texts significantin the madrasahs of Pakistan. First, the printed syllabi of severalmadrasahs had books to refutethe beliefsof theAhmadis aswell as rival sects (Sunnisversus
Shi'ahs and
Deobandis andAhl-i Hadith) aswell as revivalistinterpretations of Islam such as thoseof on Government Mawdudi. The of Pakistan'sReport Dirii Maddrds3* lists several such books including Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi's ? ? which remains Shrah beliefs Hadiyyat al-ShVah35 a polemical book refuting in print.36 After 2002, however,madrasah teachersdo not admit to teaching which could incite sectarianviolence. However, themaslak is still anything taught and the views of themajor theorists?who contributed in varying degrees to the controversies between the maslaks and other ideological ? arewell known. The studentsalso make debates speeches and learn the art of the mundzarah from the fierypreachers who harangue their listeners mundzarah. passionate sermons in the styleof the through The books about ideological controversyare in circulation since theyare regularlyprinted and, besides themadrasah, they are read by other religious readers.Readers, therefore, form theirviews about religion, as well as their own religious identity, from thesedisputationsand polemical tracts. There are alsomundzarahs on the internetincludingthe one between the Sunnis and the Shlcah on some points held in Manchester in 1999.37 Some of them, including one between theBarelvls against theDeobandis and the Wahhabls (which are = on called "BdtilFirqahs" false sects)andwhich took place 31 July2006 is also available.38 Others are available on <http://www.Haqchaaryaar.net/
32 Alam, "MakingMuslims: IdentityandDifference in IndianMadrasas," 51. 33 Ibid., 59. 34 See GOP, Dim Madam ki Jdmi* Riport [Urdu: The Complete Report ofReligious Saminaries] Government of Pakistan,Ministry of Education, Islamic Education Research Cell, (Islamabad: 1988). 35 Maulana Muhammad Ashrafiyyah,n.d.).
36 See Annexure 1 below.
the reverse);
and
sub-sects
among
Sunnis
themselves
(Barelvls,
Qasim Nanautvi, Hadiyyat al-ShVah (Multan: Idarah-'i Talifat-i
37
See, "Manchester Munazzrifo. 1999," available at: <http://www.ahlulhadeeth.net/php/

>.
See, "19 munazarahs of Ahl-e-Sunnat 'Ulama's with Batil Firqas (like Deobandi Wahabis)," at < http://www.nooremadinah.net/forumnoor/topic.aspPTOPICID* 1823>.
modules.php?
38
and
206
Munazara.html >
TARIQRAHMAN
and can be downloaded. Some of the sites are visited by many people.39 It is not possible to claim whether this learningexperience makes those exposed to them less tolerantof the religious "other" than they would have been if theyhad read other books of a religiousnature. However,
that the munazarah cannot be denied. creates or increases the possibility of sectarian antagonism
PublicDomain Religious Writings in the

nor are they Most writings on Islam in SouthAsia are not about controversies aboutHadith, and polemical. They are commentarieson theQur'an (tafsir); Sirah, Islamic law (SharVah) and theological studies of various kinds. In addition, there are a largenumber of books on various themesof folk Islam: Nur Namahs, Karbala Namahs, JangNamahs, and so on. The Nur Namahs traceout the creation of theworld itself as contingent upon the being of the on was be it is made of radiance (nur).The believed, Prophet (peace him)who, versifiedbooks in Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and other languagesare about the presence of the nur, or the spiritof the majesty of theProphet (peace be on him) in the phenomenal world from eternity. The "Karbala" and "Jang" Namahs are about theBattle ofKarbala (61/680)between the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah Imam and (r.60-64/680-683) Husayn ibn All the maternal the of be (d. 61/680), grandson Prophet (peace on him). As mentioned earlier, these stories in verse are found inmost of the languages used by theMuslims of South Asia. The present author has mentioned those in Pashto42and Sindhi43in some detail.Yet Urdu,40Punjabi,41
another are books about the Islamic sub-genre These books, again in verse, are meant languages. law and practices in these to instruct Muslims about
the ritualsof Islam and provide guidance to live according to Islamicnorms of behaviour. Like the chapbooks on folk Islam, they too are in Punjabi,44 Balochi47and Brahvi.48 This sub-genre, which may be called Sindhi,45 Pashto,46 the "SharVahguide books," findsits crowning achievement in the Urdu work
39For example, < >.
40 Muslims of See, Tariq Rahman, Language, Ideologyand Power: Language Learning Among the Pakistan andNorth India, revisededn. (Delhi: Orient Language, 2002), 208. 41 See, ibid., 386. 42 See, ibid., 356-360. 43 See, ibid., 328-329. 44 See, ibid., 381-386. 45 See, ibid., 328. 46 See, ibid., 356-358. 47 See, ibid., 431-432. 48 See, ibid., 429-430.
www.yarasool.info
MUNAZARAH
LITERATURE
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207
called theBahishtiZewar49ofMaulana Ashraf 'AllThanvl (d. 1362/1943) and theBahdr-iShari'at.50 This book is in 20 volumes. The first17were written by Ali Rizvi Qadiri (d. 1367/1948),a disciple ofAhmad Raza Khan, and Amjad his death.The formeris aDeobandi the remainingthreeby his disciples after work and the lattera Barelvi one.While the formeriswritten in simple Urdu are so as not terms in verdicts and and the unequivocal (fatdwd) given synoptic to confuse the reader, the lattercontainsdetailed legalopinions and statements of faithwhich presume both learning and familiarity with the style of reasons used these the culamd\ for the Bahishti Possibly by argumentation
Zewar
another formof popular religious literatureis that which deals with after-life or One Ahwdli of themost popular books Ndmahs (calledQiydmat Akhirat). in circulation is theUrdu translationof SayyidQutb's Mandzir-i Qiydmat1 which is an exposition of belief in the lifehereafterand, hence, at a higher intellectuallevel than theordinarypopular books of thisgenre. Moreover, this is not a polemical work nor does it use the disputationist style of the mundzarah. Itmerely selectstextsfromthe Hadith to describe Qur'an and the heaven The the hereafter, and book confirms beliefs which hell, redemption.
are already current among Pakistani Muslims.
is very well
known
even
among
those who
are not Deobandis.
Yet
All the sub-genresof Islamicwritingsmentioned above are outside the scope of thepresent article.They have beenmentioned here in order tomake it clear that the mundzarah texts are not the only kind of learning input available to religiousPakistanis.
TheWorld of the Mundzarah

The purpose of themundzarahwas to convince theopponent of the falsity of his views. This was done by appeal to sacred textsand deductions from their implications. The debater, called mundzir, began with courtesies and honorificswith names and, though the honorifics remained till the end, the courtesiesgave place to anger, insinuations and insult. Both partiesoftenended was persuaded to abandon their by apostatizing the other and neither position. was claimed by the partywhich was reportingthe events. Victory However, in some cases the official judge of the proceedings decided in favourof one party. In stillother cases the assembled audience cheeredone partywhich was
49 Maulana Muhammad Ashraf 'AliThanvi, Ash Mudalal wa Mukammal Bahishti Zewar [Urdu: The Original Complete Heavenly Ornament], 11 parts, reprint (Karachi:Muhammad Mushur 'Allwa Muhammad Munir 'Ali, 1384/1964). 50 Maulana Amjad 'AllQadiri Rizvi Bahar-i Shari'at, reprint(Lahore: Ishtiaq Printers, 1996). 51 Sayyid Qutb, Mandzir-i Qiydmat, Urdu trans, fromArabic, Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Maktabah-'i Zafar, 1975). (Gujrat:
208
TARIQRAHMAN
thendeemed to be thevictor. wit and, of In all such discourses, rhetoric,figuresof speech, sarcasm, As the language of themundzarah in Pakistan and north India isUrdu, a languagewhich contains a vast tradition of amorous 'ghazal poetry, the disputants (mandzirs)use coupletswhich they otherwise condemn for their
aesthetic, amorous and erotic references. Polemics course, arguments from the Qur'an and theHadith are used to prove a point.
was not of immediateeducational value because the atmosphereof the actual

event was competitive, argumentative and belligerent. However, despite the
theweapons of the debaters but very often these degenerate into acerbic personal attacks, slander, and allegations of apostasy and heresy on the opponent and even vitriolic invectives. Although the purpose of themundzarahwas declared to be heuristic, it
and oratory
are very much
anger and the polemics, the mundzarah contributed to the educational made thenature of thedoctrinaldisagreementsclear.The discourse because it which went with it brought out in the open what might have hairsplitting been taught in themadrasah or in a religious familybutwhich did not come into reliefin the absence of other,dissenting, opinions. It is, indeed,because of
tradition that sectarian and sub-sectarian orthodoxy defines the mundzarah
marks boundaries, and stands in opposition to itsrivalorthodoxies. itself, Major Religious Controversies Among South Asian Muslims The Shrah-Sunni debate is found in a large number of books. The most famous refutationof ShTah beliefs from the SunnI point of view is the Hadiyyat al-ShVahbyMaulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautvl. The book is in print and is being used in theDeobandl madrasahs and read bymany others was first though it published during the author's lifetime. The styleofwriting is like thatof amundzarah though theShi*ahpoint of view isnot fromamember of that sectbut is mediated throughthe Maulana's are are At places Shi'ah opponents mentioned and faults found in thinking.
their mundzarah
indecent person has taught him the art of mundzarah that he gives an The purpose of the book is to refute ShTah argumentwithout proof?"52 beliefs ?that the leadership of theMuslims descended to the Caliph All Fatimah al-Zahra' (d. 11/632) theProphet's (d. 40/661) and his children from are who called the ahU bayt.A number of other beliefs, that the daughter, more than the thirty has which ithas at present; that parts (sipdrahs) Qur'an the first three caliphs were usurpers and, therefore,should be criticized
52 Nanautvi, Hadiyat al-ShVah,335.
practices.
For
instance,
he
says at one
point,
"and which
IN LITERATURE URDU MUNAZARAH
209
Muslims descended to 'All and that the spiritual leadershipof the (tabarra),55 can cancel, put in abeyance or to imams who his heirs, the then (leaders), Qur'an and so modify all religious injunctionsincludingeven theordersof the
on ?
themunazarah in referenceto the Shi'ah opponent's works which are cited repeatedly in the book. In this context itneeds to be mentioned that remarks ?are ones cited here and others ?the of the Shi'ah writers equally acrimonious and thepersonages reveredby the Sunnis are held up to criticism which necessarilyappears to be harsh to Sunnis. which are the focus of this The debate between the Sunnis themselves, article, are given inmany books. One such book, summarized by Arshad Alam, giving theBarelvi view against theDeobandis is called Zalzalah.5*The who graduated from the book iswritten by Arshad ul Qadiri (d. 1423/2002) the Mardrasah Barelvi madrasah called Ashrafiyyah inMubarakpur in 1944. He refuted theDeobandl maslak in a number of books. Zalzalah was first widely in India and Pakistan. The book published in 1972 and is circulated Deobandl well known with the argumentthat theProphet (peace be on begins ghayb) except as much as him) did not have knowledge of the unseen ((ilm~i God granted him. After referringto passages from the Deobandl 'ulama' claiming this,he points out that theDeobandis neverthelesscredit theirown Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, Ashraf ?Muhammad Isma'll (d. 1246/1831), leaders ?with such esoteric 'All Thanvi and Manzur Nu'mani (d. 1418/1997)
and supernatural powers.55
are refuted at length. The writing
takes on the acrimonious
overtones
of
knowledge
The second book Da'wat-i Insaf56 byArshad ul-Qadiri develops the same arguments: theDeobandl belief in themiracles of the elders of their own maslak; the alleged disrespect towards the Prophet (peace be on him) by Deobandl preaching againstvisiting denyinghim knowledge of theunseen; the the graves of saints and denying that they constituteda "spiritual ladder" to Deobandl belief that some of the folkpracticesof thedivine; and, finally,the are innovations (bid'ah).57 IndianMuslims Deobandl Qadiri subjects all these views to criticism and points out that theywere internally inconsistent Deobandis believed in the spiritual because, in fact,the powers and knowledge case unseen were in the of theirpioneers.The books of the written, as he put
53 Tabarra means to dissociate onself from someone; in practice, though, ithas meant criticism,
even denunciation.
54 Arshad ul-Qadiri, Zalzalah (Lahore: Shabbir Brothers, 1998). 55 See,Alam, "MakingMuslims," 52-53. 56 Arshad ul-Qadiri,Da'wat-i Insafpelhi: Maktabah Jam-i Nur, 1993). 57 54. See,Alam, "MakingMuslims,"
210
TARIQRAHMAN
Muslims to decide as to the justiceof the case he presented to it, to enable the
them.58
Another debate is between theAhl-i Hadith (called Wahhabis) and the The Ahl-i Hadith claim to get direct guidance fromthe other Sunni sub-sects. Qur'an, Hadith and the informationabout the sayings and practices of the Companions of theProphet. They do not, at least in theory,bind themselves to follow any of the traditional interpretations of the fiqh: Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi'i.Moreover, evenmore strictlythan theDeobandis, they of the saintsand other institutions and beliefsof folk oppose the intervention are a small in the Ahl-i Hadith Pakistan though Islam.59 However, minority Wahhabism. by theSaudi ideologyof theyaremuch strengthened
Yet another debate which went on
Mawdudi. One of the books in occasioned by thewritings of Abu '1-A'la circulation is by Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlavi (d. 1402/1982) and called Fitnah-'i Maududiyyat.60Another book of this kind is by Mawdudi's famousbook Tafhim Muhammad SajidQuraishi which argues that al-Qur'an is not in accordancewith the established,orthodox principles of Whereas the orthodox practice accepts all the authentic Qur'anic exegesis. of theProphet (ahadith)as true, Mawdudi uses his personal senseof traditions which, in understandingof Islamwhich implies rejectionof those traditions his view, do not conform to the spiritof Islam.Quraishi rejects thisargument to theBible which, therefore, Mawdudi refers and,moreover, alleges that gives to and have Christian been which Jewishscriptures prominence supercededby In the other book, Fitnah, the author claims that Mawdudi deviates from as are the established understood by the (ulama\ meanings of concepts they case he the Islam makes for without referenceto the First, understanding which is works of the traditionaljurists and the 'ulama* misleading. Second, he not does distinguishbetweenworship (Hbadat)and good conduct (mu'amalat) which is a religions deviation. And, third,he denigrates absorption into worship which, again, is misleading. In short, according to Zakariyya, Mawdudi's work is seriously Muslims and, therefore, misleading forordinary as be considered may fitnah.62
58 SeeQadiri, Zalzalah, 182-183. 59 See Muhammad Yusuf Ludhiyanvi, Ikhtilafi Ummat aur Sirat-iMustaqim, revised edn. Maktabah-'i Ludhiyanvi, 1975), 30-32. (Karachi: 60 Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlavi, Fitnah-'iMaududiyyat (Lahore: Maktabah-'i al Qasim, 1975). 61 SeeMuhammad Sajid Quraishi, Tafhim al-Qur'dn Main Ahddith Sharifah par Bad Vtimddi aur Kutab 1422 Khanah-'i BibleparVtimdd (Multan: Majidiyyah, ah), passim. 62 SeeMuhammad Zakariyya, Fitnah-'iMaududiyyat, passim. the Qur'an.61
among
the madrasah
'ulama* was
IN LITERATURE MUNAZARAH URDU
211
Mawdudfs own criticism of the traditional method of madrasah education on the grounds that itdoes not use the observational and inductive methods of obtaining knowledge is well known.63However, while he is methods of knowledge, the 'ulamd* impatientand dismissiveof the traditional of who oppose him catch every argument his and test it according to their
received interpretations and refute itwith horror.
Mundzarah Book The Case Studyof a Paradigmatic

term "paradigm" is being used in Kuhn's meaning of "models or The book described below is a representative way example of the examples."64 a mundzarah is conducted and what the emotional tone of such an event is. However, the summarized argumentsgiven below do not do justice to the book. This summary is based on actual mundzarahs held between the Maulana Muhammad Manzur Nu'mani and a number of his Deobandi debater Barelvi opponents. The mundzarahswere held in severalcities of British India were public events. As the and they Deobandis, who have transcribedthem in thisbook, describe them as victories hence thename of the book isFutuhdt-i are recorded in Futuhdt-i Nu'mdniyyab. The following mundzarahs The
Nu(mdniyyah.
Munazarah-': Munazarah-': Munazarah-': Munazarah-': Munazarah-': Munazarah-'i
Duru
1928
Sanbhal1928(
Lahore Gaya 19336; 193668
Bareli 193569
Silanwali 1936/u
They are described below as succinctlyas is consonantwith the requirement mundzarah itself. of the of providing insightsinto the institution
63 See, SayyidAbu 'l-A'laMawdudi, Ta'limat (Lahore: Islamic Publications, 1974;Revised edn. Delhi: Markazi Maktabah'i Islami, 1991), 60. Also see, IrfanAhmed, "Power, Purity and the Vanguard: Educational Ideology of Jama'at-i IslamiHind" in JamalMalik, Madrassa in South Asia: Teaching Terror?, 149-151. 64 Thomas S. Kuhn, The StructureofScientific Revolutions, revised edn. (London: University of Chicago Press, 1970), 175. 65 Nu'mani, Futuhat-i See, fordetails, Nu'maniyyah, 22-102. 66 173-277. for See, details, ibid., 67 See, fordetails, ibid., 295-419. 68 See, fordetails, ibid., 423-572. 69 See, fordetails, ibid., 577-712. 70 See, fordetails, ibid., 716-875.
212
Munazarah-'i Duru
TARIQ RAHMAN
Duru is a small town in the Naini Tal district of India. The Muslim inhabitantsof this townwere mostly Barelvls. A certain hakim (physician), who was married to a certainPir calledMuhammad Hanlf, had a relative Pir Bakhsh to get the The people of the town forced Bakhsh's sister. marriage was a on Deobandi and this sub-sect(the the grounds that thehakim annulled Deobandis) were disrespectfultowards theProphet (peace be on him), did not believe in the end of prophethood, etc. The hakim, therefore, requestedhis a munazarah with the Barelvls to clear these sub-sect to hold were about his religiousbeliefs.The dates set for the event misunderstandings the 18, 19 and 20th of July 1928.
Maulana Muhammad Isma'il and Maulana Muhammad Manzur Nu'manI
representedtheDeobandis andMaulana Rahim Ilahi representedtheBarelvls. Both parties arrived inDuru on 18 July and the magistrate of the town fixed the time and place of themunazarah. The debate was initiatedbyMaulana Isma'il who praised the Prophet (peace be on him) but pointed out that, despite being perfectas a human being,he was not the creator and onlyGod had that distinction. Rahim Ilahi, in response, attacked an 'alirn of the Deobandis called Maulana Ashraf All Thanvl. After this the munazarah
proper started.
Here
theDeobandi
Nu'manI while the Barelvls are representedby Rahim Ilahi. The gist of the ?made by AshrafAll Thanvl inHifz al argument is theDeobandi claim ? Iman that the Prophet (peace be on him) did not have knowledge of the unseen (Himal-ghayb)except that much which was given to him byGod. The Barelvls contested this and especiallyobjected to the languageused byAshraf All Thanvl who said, while arguingthatall beingshave asmuch knowledge of theunseen asGod gives them,that theProphet (peace be on him) had asmuch knowledge of the unseen as God gave him and that animals, insanepersons, etc. also had some knowledge of the unseen which God gave them.The Maulana Thanvl an apostate Barelvls found this so offensivethat theydeclared an unbeliever (kdfir).71
a claim which on other occasions carry out with the munazarah, they make to when too, but there is no independent means verify this claim. However, are starts the Deobandis Manzur the munazarah represented by Maulana
compiler claims that the Barelvls did not want to
The munazarah lasted for three days. Besides the knowledge of the unseen, the end of prophethoodwas also discussed. The Deobandis clarified
71 Maulana Ashraf 'AllThanvi, his,Hifz al-Iman 'an See, ibid., 30; See for the correctposition of 104-110. al-Zayghwa 'l-Tughydn,
IN MUNAZARAH LITERATURE URDU
213
that theydid believe thatProphetMuhammad (peace be on him) was the "seal of the Prophets" (Khdtamal-Nabiyyin)but the "Seal" was to be used both Here, again, theBarelvis objected to the languageused in thewritings of the Deobandis. They contended that the Barelvi argument that chronology in itselfdid not confervalue was meant to denigrate the Prophet (peace be on him). The mundzarah lasted threedays and, at least according to this account, the Barelvis very aggressivelyand repeatedly condemned theDeobandis as Urdu and Persian, some Both thedebatersused couplets in unbelievers (kdfir). course of in the their them of arguments.In the end thedebate very amorous, mundzarahwas to be held in endedwithout any consensus except thatanother Sanbhal fromthe22nd till the24th ofOctober 1928. Munazarah-'i Sanbhal
chronologically and qualitatively i.e. he was the best, or most exalted, too.
Sanbhal is a town inDistrictMuradabad, U.P., in India. The mundzarahwas held here on 24 and 25October 1928.This time theBarelviswere represented by Maulana Hashmat 'All and the Deobandis, as before, by Maulana Muhammad Manzur Nu'mani. Once again the subjects discussed and the more written statements about particularpoints debaters asked each other for than before. The Barelvis celebrated theirvictory after the thirdday but, was only to cover theirdefeat. according to theiropponents, this Munazarah-'i Lahore
arguments used were much the same as before. On this occasion, however, the
This mundzarah was scheduled to be held at Lahore in January 1933 but did not takeplace. According to the Deobandis theBarelvis forced the authorities to cancel it in view of the possibility of violence. The Deobandi arguments which were to be used to refutetheBarelviswere published in the formof a pamphlet and this is reproduced in the Futuhdt-i NumdniyyahJ2Here the Deobandis argue that Ahmad Raza Khan had apostasized Shah Isma'il Shahid as Deobandi sub-sect(ormovement) (d. 1246/1831) well as thepioneers of the Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanutvi, Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanvi. This fatwd was sent to the 'ulamd* ofMakkah andMadinah in 1323/1905 and they endorsed it.The Deobandis argued that was obtained by quoting statements this endorsement from theworks of the abovewriters out of context.Thus, when the 'ulamd* ofArabia were apprised of the true import of theworks in question, they took back their earlier
72 295-419. Nu'manI, Futuhdt-i Nu'mdniyyahy
214
TARIQ RAHMAN
verdict.They did this,however, afterasking twenty six questions inArabic which were answered in writing in the same language by Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri (d. 1346/1927).These are given in the originalArabic as well asUrdu translationin a book which is in circulation inPakistan.73 Munazarah-'i Gaya Gaya is a city in the province of Bihar in India. The mundzarah was held on were represented 20-21 February 1936.The Deobandis, as before, byMulana Maulana Manzur Nu'mani while the Barelviswere represented Hashmat by All. Here, too, theDeobandis spentmuch energy on refutingthe Barelvi
charge
subjectsunder discussionwere the same as before and a number ofwritten was were exchanged.This time,however, on the second day there statements was somuch unpleasantness thatthe authoritiesintervened and themundzarah
stopped.
that their pioneers,
such as Maulana
Nanautvi,
were
apostates.
The
Munazarah-'i
Bareli
This was held at Bareli between 27-30 April 1935 in the Madrasah Jami'ah a was an act of great considered Barelvi stronghold, Rizviyyah which, being moral courage by theDeobandis. Maulana SardarAhmad argued on behalfof theBarelvis and, as usual,Maulana Nu'mani on behalf of the Deobandis. The mundzarah continued for four days. In the end Muhammad Shabbir, the Secretary of the Islamic Commercial Committee, Lucknow and the patron and judge of themundzarah gave his verdict that theDeobandis were not hereticsas alleged by theiropponents.74 Munazarah-'i Silanwali
were subjects dwelt upon the same and the arguments were also the same. The
Silanwali is a small town in district Sargodha, now in Pakistan. This mundzarah was held here. The debater on behalf of theBarelviswas Maulana Hashmat All and the Deobandis were represented by Maulana Manzur was elected and termsand Nu'mani. It began in February 1936.A president conditions, including the time to be given to each debater,were agreedupon. were the same as before.This time too there The subjects and the arguments was much heated debate and the atmospherebecame very hostile by the end of
the mundzarah. 73 Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri,al-Muhannad 'aid 'l-Mufannad aka 'Aqd'id 'Ulamd-'i Ahl-i
Sunnat Deoband, 74 See, Nu'mani, passim. Futuhat-I Nu'mdniyyah, 289-291.
IN MUNAZARAH LITERATURE URDU
215
These mundzarahs have been given in some detail so as to give some idea of how the debate was governed by rules.However, once emotions were
descended from arguments to polemics and even to stirred up, the opponents invectives. Their relevance as extra curricular reading material for madrasah
studentsand general readersof a religiousorientation is testified by the fact that theyare still in print. It should be mentioned here thatnot all books in circulation inPakistan, even about religious controversies, follow the discursive features of the which nearly imitatesacademic munazarah. Some are descriptive in a style writing. IkhtildfiUmmat, for instance,has been written from a Deobandl munazarah tradition.75 point of view but isnot in the
TheMunazarah andReformin ReligiousEducation inPakistan

As brought out in the previous sections, the institutionof themunazarah which He at the core of the different brings out the ideological differences and the Islamic sub-sects fromnon sects, identity,as differentiated (maslak) Islamic and secularMuslim identities,among PakistaniMuslims. However, only the studentsof madrasahs are taught the art of disputationwhile other of thiskind.Other people are, religiouspeople do not get any formaltraining to which take mundzarahs however, exposed place from time to time and, more often, to the books based upon themwhich have been mentioned versions ofmundzarahs and the earlier.They are also exposed to the internet audio-tapes of some famous eventsof thiskind. Above all, since every leader of prayers (imam) picks up the verbal style of the mundzarahs, the
congregations
to argumentation of thiskind. As such, it is surprisingthat themunazarah and the books on refuting

opinions (mundzarah-ttxts) are not mentioned in any proposal on
of Friday
prayers
and other
such events are often also exposed
other
reforming Islamic education in Pakistan. The InternationalCrises Group (ICG), for instance, has written several reports about the madrasahs and Islamicmilitancy in Pakistan. The assumptionof the ICG, in common with other Pakistanis, is that modern education can counteract the tendency towardsviolence which religiouseducationwill presumably create.Thus one
report says: There precedents that show thatmodern education can coexist with these two features of madrassah education. NGOs such as National Rural Program have helped some local communities to transform their are many
Support
75
See n. 59 above.
216
TARIQRAHMAN
madrassahs by including modern education. The religious identity remains intact but there is less emphasis on traditional subjects.76
Christopher Candland, who has published on this very subject, points out, however, that many madrasahs do "teach these subjects" (naturalsciences, computer studies, etc.) but thatmodern education "is not a guarantee of an militantswho were involved in the mind."77 Indeed, the Islamist enlightened 9/11 attacks had generally attended secular educational institutions.78
However, Candland too does not recommend
curriculum" based on those teachingsfrom the seared texts which teach one to "how relate peacefullywith other communities through goodwill and
tolerance."79
anything
except an "alternative
donorsworking on themadrasahs of Pakistan Many officialsand foreign blame theDars-i Nizami, which theyclaim, is stagnantand very conservative because some texts in it come from the 13th century.80 However, these texts are about purely theologicalmatters which do not emphasize jihad to the exclusion of other duties.Moreover, because theybelong to themedieval age they do not refer to contemporary eventswhich Muslims regard as being unfriendly acts towards them.Among these are the creation of Israel by dislocatingPalestinianArabs from theirhomes, thediscriminatory policies of Israelis towards them later,thepost-9/11occupation of the US and itsallies of Islamic lands such asAfghanistan and Iraq.These contemporaryrealitiescreate
and sustain the anti-Western backlash among Muslim countries which we are
Dars-i Nizami but the scoresof pamphletswritten witnessing and it is not the in thepolemical styleof the munazarahwhich are sold outsidemosques which
make
Dars-i Nizami is inArabic and ismemorized (though,like Moreover, the textbooks in secular institutions, they are not meant to be memorized) while themunazarah texts are inUrdu and are internalized.They provide ready made arguments which the debater or preacher can use easily andwhich the
76 ICG, Pakistan:Madrassas, Extremism and the Military (Islamabad: InternationalGisis Group, 2002), 29. 77 Chistopher Candland, "Pakistan's Recent Experience in Reforming Islamic Education" in Malik, Madrassa inSouthAsia: TeachingTerror111. Jamal 78 See, O. Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (New York: Columbia University Press, in association with, the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, 2004), 310. 79 Candland, "Pakistan'sRecent Experience inReforming IslamicEducation," 111. 80 The curriculum is described in Francis Robinson, The Ulema ofFarangiMahall and Islamic Culture in SouthAsia (Lahore: Ferozsons, 2002), 249-251. More details are inG.M.D. Sufi, al Evolution ofCorriculum in the Muslim Educational Institutionsof India (Delhi: Minhaj Being the Idarah-'iAdbiyat-i-Dilli, 1941), 17.
people
more
intensely
aware of them.
MUNAZARAH LITERATURE IN URDU
217
audience understands and responds to emotionally.Also, theDars-i Nizami of Islam. It does precedes theDeobandl, Barelvl andMawdudl interpretations not even dwell upon the Shf ah-Sunnl differences nor does it refer to the heresies of the present time. It ismainly concernedwith theological matters and these are far removed from the antagonisticreligious identities which are in conflict with each other in Pakistan today. In short, it is not theDars-i which creates the Nizami, which consistsof theQur'an, Hadith and exegesis sectarian intolerance among themadrasah studentsbut themunazarah texts which are extra-curricularand, therefore, normally ignored by would-be
reformers of madrasahs. For the same reasons,
staple fare is not the canonical textsof Islam nor the eclectic and tolerant A large writings of the mystics,would also tend to be sectarianand intolerant. number of religious readers, however, confine themselvesto prayerbooks, the and of Qur'an chapbooks mystical or folk Islam. Thus, even among religious readers, it cannot be claimed that the texts described above are the only informal learning experience available to Pakistanis.What can be suggested, munazarah textsaremore liable however, is that thosewho are exposed to the to develop a disputatious, intolerant religious identitythanothers.To sumup,
the munazarah texts rather than mainstream
those religious
readers whose
the acerbityand friction which makes thePakistani religious scene amatter of concern for those who aspire forpeace and amity in the country. These pamphlets and books will not form part of any scheme for curricular reform since they are not part of theDars-i Nizami. Indeed, no college or university course on Islam evenmentions them and,while some madrasah syllabido referto themas supplementary material, not all of reading
them do so. This means a major cause that madrasah remove of intolerance towards reforms, as presently envisaged, cannot other religious and ideological
religious
education
contribute
to
beliefs. Inasmuch as these are influencedby themunazarah-xtxts,theywill remainpart of thePakistani religious worldview. This being so, can such polemical textsbe banned? In view of theBritish ?it would be ground and banning itselfwent with authoritarianism81 measure. Itwould provide the Islamists unrealistic to suggestsuch an extreme with another grievance,undermine democratic values further, and probably backfireas such literature will thengo underground. Working with the 'ulama*to reduce the volume of suchwritings could have positive results. But, above all, let us remember that ideological differences have always been a part of the Islamicworld and, indeed, of all
81 Barrier, Banned: Controversial Literatureand an Political Control in British India 1907-1947,
passim.
experience
of banning
controversial
literature
such
literature went
under
218
TARIQRAHMAN
religions and secular ideologies all over theworld and in throughoutknown now in Pakistan, as theyhave sometimes history.They are being translated been in the past, in violence because of governmentpolicies. For instance, people were recruited in the name of jihad to fightthe proxy wars ofUSA against the SovietUnion's military occupation ofAfghanistan in the 1980s. across the line of control in Likewise, theywere encouraged to infiltrate Kashmir, etc. Being armed and inspiredwith religious zeal, such people subsequently indulged in sectariankillings in Pakistan and are now tryingto whole country.These are impose a code of lifetheyregardas sacredupon the political and economic matters and the solutions must be political and ? economic. Curricular reform which does not touchupon the especially that informal input into religious education?will hardly change the present realitiesinPakistan.
o o o
MUNAZARAH LITERATURE IN URDU
219
ANNEXURE-1
Madrasah Students Books Prescribed asReadingMaterial for

Deobandis82
Christianity AhmadiBeliefs
Hai? 'Isd'iyyat kiyd Madhhab; Qdidiydni Qddiyaniyyat

and 6 other books.
MuhammadTaqi jMaulana
'Uthmani Muhammad Abu! Hasan Abu'l Hasan Ilyas Barni 'AllNadvi 'AllNadvi
Unbelief*
Kashmakash
aur kl \lsldm Maghribiyyat
Socialism/
Communism
books and 8 other aurIslam Ishtirdkiyyat IslamaurIshtirdkiyyat

and 2 other books. Hadiyyat al-Shi'ah
Mas'ud' Maulana
Alam Nadvi Kandhalvi Qasim
Maulana Muhammad Nanautvi Maulana Gangohi
Shfism
al-ShVah \Hiddyat
and 6 other books.
Rashid Ahmad
Barelvi Beliefs
Muhammad
14books including those by

Manzur Nu'manI
beliefs' \jd'izah; Other 'false 'Ilmi Muhdsbah; batilah) (firqdha-'i Madhhab Maudiidi
and 11 other books.
AbuKhalid;
Qazi Mazhar Husain; Qazi Mazhar Husain
BARELViS83
Books under "Taqabul-i Adyan* (comparative religions) are not specified except for the author in his field studywas informed that themain book that is taught in
Amjad 'Ali Qadiri RizvL
Brelvi madaris (various
in this connection isBahar-i SharVat (vol. 1), byMaulana
AHL-I HADlTH84
mentioned
Their selection of books on "Taqabul-i Adyan9 and "Radd-i Firq Bdtilah" are also not in the report._
Adyan wa Madhdhib19 (research on religions and ideologies)._
SHI'AH85 selection of booksundertheir The Report does notmention their category "Tahqiq4
82 SourceGOP, DiniMadaris kiJami'Riport, 71-74. Though given under the label of refutationof "unbelief," the book refutes and criticizes West dominates Muslim countries through theirown elite. modernity and argues that the 83 75 Ibid., 84 Ibid., 91-92. 85 Ibid., 93. *
220
TARIQRAHMAN
Dars-i NizamL Not all of themare These books are not part of the traditional written in the munazarak style.However, their purpose is to refute the
doctrines of others.
ft ft ft

Rahman - Munazarah Literature in Urdu

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Munarah Literature in Urdu: An Extra-Curricular Educational Input in Pakistan's Religious Education Author(s): TARIQ RAHMAN Source: Islamic Studies,

Islamic Studies 47:2 (2008) pp. 197-220

Educational Input inPakistan's Religious Education

it.Thiskindof literature well as religious and, peopleoutside emphasizes differences

Methodology Objective and

MUNAZARAH IN LITERATURE URDU

Surprisingly, studies of Pakistani madrasahs pay little attention to the

earlier term of raddAiterztme for the literatureof religious controversy

I use the term mundzarah-literature

The number ofmadrasah studentsin thePunjab during 2005, according

Sects/sub-sects Deobandis Barelvis

200,246 199,733 34,253

The Deobandi movement was founded in 1283/1866 at the madrasah

is from Madrasah Ashrafiyyah (India) where, asmentioned earlier,thesebooks

Qasim Nanautvi, Hadiyyat al-ShVah (Multan: Idarah-'i Talifat-i

See, "Manchester Munazzrifo. 1999," available at: <http://www.ahlulhadeeth.net/php/

PublicDomain Religious Writings in the

are not Deobandis.

TheWorld of the Mundzarah

was not of immediateeducational value because the atmosphereof the actual

are very much

IN LITERATURE URDU MUNAZARAH

are refuted at length. The writing

takes on the acrimonious

IN LITERATURE MUNAZARAH URDU

Mundzarah Book The Case Studyof a Paradigmatic

compiler claims that the Barelvls did not want to

IN MUNAZARAH LITERATURE URDU

that their pioneers,

IN MUNAZARAH LITERATURE URDU

TheMunazarah andReformin ReligiousEducation inPakistan

to argumentation of thiskind. As such, it is surprisingthat themunazarah and the books on refuting

such events are often also exposed

MUNAZARAH LITERATURE IN URDU

MUNAZARAH LITERATURE IN URDU

Madrasah Students Books Prescribed asReadingMaterial for

Hai? 'Isd'iyyat kiyd Madhhab; Qdidiydni Qddiyaniyyat

aur kl \lsldm Maghribiyyat

books and 8 other aurIslam Ishtirdkiyyat IslamaurIshtirdkiyyat

Alam Nadvi Kandhalvi Qasim

Maulana Muhammad Nanautvi Maulana Gangohi

14books including those by

Amjad 'Ali Qadiri RizvL

Brelvi madaris (various

in this connection isBahar-i SharVat (vol. 1), byMaulana

Adyan wa Madhdhib19 (research on religions and ideologies)._

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