A hard thwack on the thigh and Sarfaraz makes a lunge. Thud. His opponent lands in the wet mud, face down. Sarfaraz has been practising for a wrestling competition that would be held next week in the adjoining district of Muzaffarnagar. His coach Mohammad Shahideen looks pleased, slaps Sarfaraz on his back and says, “Remember, success comes with a kattar attitude.” Kattar—the word (commonly translated to mean ‘fundamentalism’ or ‘fanaticism’) can put an outsider to Deoband on the guard. Then, Shahideen goes on: Ek se ek kattar milta hai par izzat de aur le sako toh hi jeet jeet kehlati hai.” (Victory comes with grace and respect for all forms of fundamentalism).

It’s then that you realise that kattarpanti or fundamentalism needn’t be as unidimensional as we, outsiders, see it. The 1.77-lakh-strong tehsil of Deoband in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, home to the Darul Uloom, is fiercely proud of the century-old seminary and its brand of ‘fundamentalism’—the right attitude to stick to its values while having the grace to accept others’ beliefs.

For a Deobandi, every new day comes with routine concerns, issues and priorities. And all of this revolves effortlessly around the seminary. Which is why it irks them when the Darul-Uloom is “needlessly drawn into controversies”.

Pandit Jai Prakash, priest of the Balasundari Devi Temple (it is believed that the Pandavas stopped by at this shrine to seek the goddess’s blessings before the Mahabharta war), says maulvis from the Darul Uloom have been an inspiration. Students from the seminary come here everyday to study some of the ancient carvings at the temple. Ask him about the Darul Uloom’s recent fatwa condemning terrorism and the priest says, “It is a shame for the country that an institute like the Darul Uloom has to prove its patriotism time and again.”

... contd.