دیوبند مکتب فکر کا علم الکلام میں منہج: اصول اور طریقہ کار

Abstract

This research article presents a comprehensive and analytical study of the methodological approach (manhaj) adopted by the Deoband School of Thought in the discipline of Islamic Scholastic Theology (ʿIlm al-Kalām). From the founding of Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband (1867 CE) to the present day, Deobandi scholars have constructed a distinctive theological framework grounded in the Māturīdī tradition, engaging critically with questions of the relationship between reason and revelation (ʿaql wa naql), divine attributes (ṣifāt al-ilāhiyya), the doctrine of divine unity (tawḥīd), prophethood (nubuwwa), and eschatology. The article examines the foundational principles of Deobandi kalām theology, its primary and secondary sources, its points of convergence and divergence with other major Islamic schools of thought — including the Barelvī, Salafī/Ahl al-Ḥadīth, and Ashʿarī traditions — and its responses to modern intellectual challenges such as materialism, evolutionary theory, and postmodern religious relativism. Drawing upon original primary sources in Arabic and Urdu, alongside significant secondary scholarship in English, this study demonstrates that the Deobandi theological method represents a coherent, tradition-rooted, and intellectually rigorous contribution to the ongoing development of Sunni Islamic thought in South Asia and beyond.