Deobandīs in Africa - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Moosa, Ebrahim
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
(1,032 words)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The South Asian diaspora includes Deobandīs who have settled in Africa . The name of the movement derives from that of the Indian city of Deoband, northeast of Delhi, where, in the mid-nineteenth century, a reformist madrasa , Dār al-ʿUlūm, was founded by prominent Sunnī scholars in reaction to British colonialism in India, which they considered a threat to Islam. Deobandism today is an orthodox Sunnī tradition (maslak) with a transnational presence. South Asian merchants and professionals of Gujarati Indian ancestry are the major adherents of Deobandism in Africa, but