Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandischool of thought in India. It was founded in 1919 by a group of Deobandi scholars. Mufti Kifayatullah Dehlavi was elected the first president of the organization. The Jamiat was an active participant in the Khilafat Movement in collaboration with the Indian National Congress. It also opposed the partition of India, taking the position of composite nationalism: that Muslims and non-Muslims form one nation. As a result, this organisation had a small break-away faction known as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, which decided to support the Pakistan movement. After the death of its former president Asad Madni, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind split in to two factions. The first faction is headed by Arshad Madani and is known as A group or Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind. The other faction is headed by Qari Usman Mansoorpuri, but is known as Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, as Mahmood Madani being its general secretary.
, the principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband and the leading Deobandi scholar, held that Muslims were unquestionably part of a united India and that Hindu-Muslim unity was necessary for the country's freedom. He worked closely with the Indian National Congress until the Partition of India was carried out. A faction under Shabbir Ahmad Usmani supporting the creation of Pakistan parted ways in 1945 to support the All Indian Muslim League. This faction came to be known as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, and is currently a political party in Pakistan. Scholar Ishtiaq Ahmed states that, in return for their support, the Jamiat obtained a pledge from the Indian leadership that the state would not interfere with the Muslim Personal Law in India. So far, the Indian state has kept its word.
Recent developments
The Jamiat has an organisational network which is spread all over India. It also has an Urdu dailyAl-Jamiyat. The Jamiat has propounded a theological basis for its nationalistic philosophy. The thesis is that Muslims and non-Muslims have entered upon a mutual contract in India, since independence, to establish a secular state. The Constitution of India represents this contract. This is known in Urdu as a mu'ahadah. Accordingly, as the Muslim community's elected representatives supported and swore allegiance to this mu'ahadah, so it is the responsibility of Indian Muslims to support the Indian Constitution. This mu'ahadah is similar to a previous similar contract signed between the Muslims and the Jews in Medina. In 2009, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said that Hindus should not be called kafirs, even though the term only means a "Non-Muslim," because its use may hurt someone. After the death of its former President Asad Madni, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind split into two factions, one being presided by Arshad Madani and the other by Qari Usman Mansoorpuri.
Scholarly works about Jamiat Ulama Hind
Tarikh Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind: Maulana Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi wrote Tarikh Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in 2 volumes which is spread over 941 pages. The first volume was completed on 2 June 1981 and the second volume on 5 April 1999.
