Factors and Consequences of Political Avoidance in the Deobandi Movement of India

Abstract

The Deobandi movement in India, as one of the major intellectual and religious currents within Sunni Islam, has maintained a complex and cautious relationship with politics throughout the country’s contemporary history. The central problem of this study concerns the reasons for and the mechanisms behind the movement’s political avoidance after India’s independence. The primary objective of the article is to explain the social, cultural, historical, and ideological factors that have led the Deobandis to distance themselves from the sphere of political power and instead concentrate on religious reform and the moral cultivation of society. The main research question asks: What factors have contributed to the formation and persistence of political avoidance within the Deobandi movement in India? The article’s hypothesis posits that Deobandi political avoidance is the result of interaction among three key variables: their historically negative experience with colonialism and political engagement; the multicultural and sensitive structure of post-independence India; and their jurisprudential–theological worldview, which defines politics as subordinate to religious ethics. The present research employs a descriptive–analytical method and draws on historical sources, official documents, and sociological studies. The findings indicate that Deobandi political avoidance does not signify political passivity; rather, it reflects a form of conservative action aimed at preserving religious identity in the face of the challenges posed by modern politics and India’s cultural diversity. Consequently, political avoidance in Deobandi thought and practice is less a negation of politics and more a strategy for survival and continuity within India’s multiethnic and secular society.