The period of turmoil was crucial. For not only did Kashmir slide headlong into unremitting chaos but its social landscape also witnessed a sweeping crisscrossing of different political ideologies and a drift towards a new Islamic orthodoxy.

Most of the action came in the 1990s. Seminaries and madrassas influenced and inspired by the Deobandi thought, sprang up all over the Valley—their number, a rough estimate says, is 450-500.

Though madrassas in the Valley, in sharp contrast to their counterparts in Pakistan, steered clear of the militant struggle, the effect on the Valley’s traditional religious orientation has been far reaching. Thousands of students graduating from these institutions have started preaching the “pure, intrinsic Islam”, in line with the interpretations of Hazrat Abu Haneefa, the originator of Islam’s Hanfia school of thought followed by the Deobandis. They look down upon the inherent Sufi leanings of the people who visit shrines and seek blessings of the saints as generally antithetical to the spirit of monotheistic Islam, which doesn’t tolerate a worshipful attitude towards even the Prophet, leave alone saints. And their message is not lost on the people and has in fact resonated in the ears of the Kashmir’s new generation bred under the shadow of a rough Kalashnikov culture.

In fact, a decade and a half on, Deobandi Islam has come to dominate the religioscape of the Valley.

Mufti Abdur Raheem, the Grand Mufti of North Kashmir, proudly admits so. “Most Muslims in Kashmir belong to the Deobandi thought,” he says. Mufti Raheem, however, disputes the fact that Deobandi philosophy owes its rise to the extraordinary circumstances of the past two decades. “Deoband influence in Kashmir has been there since the beginning of the last century. Besides, many of our major Darul Ulooms were set up before militancy started in Kashmir”.

He traces the Deobandi influence to the prominent pre-partition Muslim Conference leader of the Valley, Moulana Yousuf Shah, the granduncle of Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

HOWEVER, this resurgence in religious orthodoxy has been in conflict with the existing Kashmiri Islam, traditionally influenced by Sufism. In fact, Kashmiri Islam cannot even be equated with Sufism, which has more of a subcontinental dimension. The Kashmiri Islam, says the Valley’s prominent historian Fida Hasnain, is called Rishut—named after the indigenous saints of Kashmir who are called Rishis.

Flagbearers of Valley’s Rishut are Sheiklul Alam Sheikh Nooruddin Wali, Shiekh Hamza Makhdoomi, Hazarat Bulbul Sahib and Hazrat Naqshbandi Sahib. The Rishis preached an overwhelming devotion to God and Prophet Muhammad and insisted on the values of tolerance and harmony.So, Kashmiris, particularly women, have always been frequent visitors to the shrines where they seek the saints’ blessings and their intercession in the fulfillment of their wishes.

But Deobandi Islam generally discourages this as being violative of the basic tenets of religion. And they are not alone in doing so. Over the past two decades, the Valley has also been witness to the imperceptible rise of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, an apolitical religious group, which believes in the supremacy of the Quran and Sunnah, unmediated by any religious scholar. Jamiat, according to its chairman Moulana Showkat, now owns about 600 mosques and five major Darul Ulooms. One of them located at Batamaloo in Srinagar is affiliated to Madina University in Saudi Arabia. “We also have a membership of one million Muslims in the state, most of whom are well read,” says Moulana Showkat, who was shot at by an unidentified gunmen recently.

Moulana Showkat also doesn’t agree that Ahle Hadith owes its spread to the circumstances of the past 20 years. “The spread of Ahle Hadith is the direct result of the spread of education in Valley,” he maintains.

But the sweep of Deobandi Islam is extensive. It envelops the Valley’s dominant religious and political movements, from the Tabligul Islam to the Jamaat-I-Islami. In fact, Jamaat-I-Islami, J-K’s leading religious, political as well as secessionist organisation has been the chief propagator of the Deobandi thought in Kashmir. Though the organisation was active in Kashmir since the late Forties, its influence did not seep down to the grassroots until the Eighties, the Valley’s last peaceful decade before the onset of the armed separatist struggle in 1989.

Jamaat influence also started from its schools, which by the 1980s had proliferated all over the Valley. That is, despite being denied state patronage by the National Conference leader Shiekh Muhammad Abdullah who had even unsuccessfully moved to close them down. But to its credit Jamaat schools set up under its party organ Falah-i-Aam Trust don’t teach only religion. They were and still are in step with the modern education. Even in the Eighties, Jamaat schools also taught Hindi as a subject right from the primary classes, which was not generally the case in the government run schools.

ON the other hand, madrassas in Kashmir are only a recent phenomenon. They set up base mostly in the Nineties when Kashmir was in the firm grip of separatist militancy. So, their coming cannot be seen in isolation from the larger geo-political situation in the sub-continent, particularly its Afghanistan component.

But over the past few years, the Valley has experienced a renewed groundswell for its Sufi roots. Large sections of the population, particularly in South Kashmir, who were once the dedicated followers of Jamaat-I-Islami, have returned to the influence of Barelvi thought propagated by Abdur Rashid Dawoodi.

Like Sufism, Barelvi Islam does not forbid its followers to seek the blessings of saints, which has been traditionally the way of life for most Kashmiris. And this is also seen as the reason for its fast spread. So the attack on the procession of worshippers — which, according to separatist organisations was the handiwork of Indian agencies—is seen as a reaction against the resurgence of Sufism, which Kashmir observers think has serious implications for the Valley’s prevailing political and religious alignments.

Jamaat-I-Islami, Kashmir

Founded in the late 1940s, it started chiefly as a religion propagation party but rose to become an influential political cadre based party of the state, with steadfast separatist leanings. It drew its clout from its schools set up in every nook and corner of the state. These schools, however, did not limit themselves to teaching religion alone but imparted modern education complete with teaching of Hindi, which in the early Eighties was not a case in government run schools.

The party participated in the state’s electoral process but it hardly managed to get more than a few of its candidates elected to the Legislative Assembly. However, in 1990, Jamaat members led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani resigned from the Assembly and joined the separatist struggle that broke out in late 1989.

Jamiat Ahle Hadith

The apolitical religious group has been active in Valley since the second quarter of twentieth century. Founded by noted Islamic scholar Moulana Anwar Shah, the group was formally registered in 1958 under J-K Society Act. Today Jamiat owns 600 mosques and five major Darul Alooms in Valley, one of which Alquliat-u-Salafia located at Batamaloo in Srinagar is affiliated with Madina University in Saudi Arabia.

It is the only religious group which also has a Darul Uloom in Turtuk situated along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh province. Its present chairman, Moulana Showkat claims the membership of over one million Muslims across the state.

The Deobandi School

This is the Valley’s pre-dominant school of thought, which follows Imam Abu Haneefa’s interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah. Deobandis own approximately 150 Darul Ulooms across Valley and four hundred madrassas. “Most Muslims in Kashmir belong to Deobandi thought,” says the Grand Mufti of North Kashmir Mufti Abdur Raheem.

Over the years, the thought has come to wield a significant influence on the Valley’s religious and political life. Jamaat-I-Islami and Tablighi Jamaat are its main offshoots in Kashmir.

Tablighi Jamaat

An offshoot of the Deobandi school, it has been active in Kashmir for the past several decades. Its adherents are essentially concerned with the propagation of Islam among Muslims. Unlike Jamaat-i-Islami, it has no political agenda and does not believe in a cadre-based structure. It held its biggest congregation in Kashmir at Srinagar’s Eidgah in 1988 that was presided over by Inamul Hassan, the then national head of Tablighi Jamaat. Though no accurate estimates exist, Tabligh is one of the fastest growing organisations in Kashmir.