An Open Call to UK Deobandis

Islamabad’s recent Palestine conference brought forth a defining moment from Mufti Taqi Usmani — one of the most senior voices in the global Deobandi movement. With the Gaza Strip under siege, the scholar declared it obligatory for Muslim leaders to declare jihad against Israel, urging action beyond resolutions and peaceful protests grounded in Islamic principles.

This was not a fringe statement. It was a call from a scholar at the heart of the Deobandi tradition — a tradition with a long, blood-stained history of resistance against injustice. And yet, across the United Kingdom, where the Deobandi network of mosques and madrasas is vast and influential, the response has been disappointingly muted.

Your Leader Has Spoken

Deobandi institutions in the UK — in cities such as Leicester, Blackburn, and Dewsbury — take pride in their lineage to scholars like Taqi Usmani. But in the face of daily atrocities in Gaza, too many remain silent, hesitant, or apologetic.

Your leader has spoken. Now you must follow suit.

Bring the Mandate to the Mimbar

This fatwa — this urgent call for clarity — must be brought to your Friday pulpits. Let your congregations understand what jihad truly means: not chaos, not terror, but the removal of oppression. The Deobandi tradition does not shy away from this word — it defines it. The West has reduced it to a caricature, something to be feared or dismissed. You must reclaim it.

Jihad, as envisioned by Taqi Usmani and generations of Deobandi scholars before him, is an Islamic duty in the face of injustice — and Palestine is the crisis that demands it today.

Have You Forgotten Your History?

Have you forgotten that your religious ancestors fought British colonialism with the same spirit?

In 1857, before the seminary at Deoband was formally established, leading scholars like Maulana Imdadullah Makki and Maulana Qasim Nanautwi took up arms against the British.

Decades later, Maulana Mahmood Hasan, known as Shaikhul Hind, launched the Silk Letter Movement — a covert plan to coordinate a global uprising against the British in alliance with the Ottoman Empire and Afghan leadership. His arrest and exile to Malta did not break his resolve.

These were not extremists — they were scholars, jurists, teachers — but when the moment demanded it, they embraced jihad as a legitimate, dignified resistance.

The British understood this all too well. In an internal intelligence report from 1871, the colonial government described the Deoband seminary as a “nursery of jihad.” Another report from 1915 warned, “The most danger to British rule in India lies not in Congress or the Muslim League, but in the religious leadership of the Deoband.”

A colonial official in the early 20th century noted with alarm:

“The Deobandi mullah is far more dangerous than the gun-toting rebel. His pen has more fire than their powder.”

In the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements of the 1920s, Deobandi ulema issued fatwas for political resistance and rallied India’s Muslims to stand for justice.

And let us not forget the executions. British records themselves document how ulema were hanged from trees for refusing to remain silent under imperial rule. This was jihad in its truest form — principled, sacrificial, and grounded in Islam.

You are not calling for chaos — you are asking for the same military intervention the world demanded for Ukraine when it was invaded. And yet, when you raise your voice for Palestine, you are silenced under the shadow of “extremism” and threats to your institutions. But let us be clear: the same British establishment that now polices your speech once executed your ulema for resisting its colonial tyranny. You cannot remain shackled by the fear of censorship from a state that has historically persecuted your scholars. Silence is not an option. Courage is the only path — the path your forebears walked with dignity, faith, and unflinching resolve.

This is Your Moment

In 2025, the battlefield is no longer Delhi or Lucknow — it is Gaza. And while the tools may differ, the obligation remains. Yet Deobandi mosques in the UK — institutions built on the legacy of sacrifice — now hesitate to even affirm the Islamic stance on it.

If you remain silent now, when innocent blood runs in Palestine and your leader has raised the call, then what meaning does your claim to the Deoband tradition even hold?

The call to jihad is not reckless — it is principled. It does not call for vandalism or rage. As Mufti Taqi Usmani reminded us: Islam forbids harming the innocent or damaging property. But it demands Military intervention from the armies of the Muslim world.  And it demands that leaders — especially those with platforms — speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable.

So to the Deobandi leadership in the UK: this is your moment. Say what must be said. Reclaim what must be reclaimed. And stand, as your forebears did, on the side of the oppressed and the right side of history.

R3run Editor.
M Khan