Arshad Madani

Arshad Madani (born 1941) is an Indian Muslim scholar and the current Principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He succeeded Asad Madni as the eighth president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind. The organization split around 2008, and Madani continues to serve as the president of its Arshad faction.

Early life and education
Arshad Madani was born in 1941 (1360 AH) to the fourth wife of Hussain Ahmad Madani, whom he married after the demise of his third wife and the mother of Asad Madani.

Madani began his education under Hussain Ahmad Madani's authorised disciple, Asghar Ali Sahaspuri, with whom he completed the memorization of the Qur'an at the age of 8, after which he completed a 5-year course in Persian at Darul Uloom Deoband. Then he started his Arabic education in Darul Uloom Deoband in 1955 and completed the Darse Nizami in Darul Uloom Deoband in 1963 (1383 AH).

His Hadith teachers include Sayed Fakhruddin Ahmad, Ibrahim Balyawi, Fakhrul Hasan Muradabadi, Naseer Ahmad Khan, Zahoor Ahmad Deobandi, Mahdi Hasan Shahjahanpuri, Muhammad Tayyab Qasmi, and Abdul Ahad Deobandi. His other teachers in Deoband include Izaz Ali Amrohi, Jalil Ahmad Kairanawi, Akhtar Hussain Deobandi, and Wahiduzzaman Kairanawi. He is the authorized disciple of his elder brother Asad Madani.

Career
After graduating from Darul Uloom Deoband, Madani started his teaching career in Jamia Qasmia, Gaya, in 1965 and did teaching services there for about one and a half years. At the beginning of 1967, he went on a pilgrimage to Madinah and stayed there for about fourteen months.

On his return from Madina, on the advice of his teacher, Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad, in Shawwal 1389 AH (1969 AD), he became a teacher at Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad, and stayed there for 14 years until 1403 AH (1983 AD). Apart from the secondary books, the teaching of hadith books like Mishkat al-Masabih, Sahih Muslim, and Muwatta Imam Malik were also assigned to him to teach. On 21 Dhu al-Qadah 1391 AH, he was also made the convener of the Academic Council along with teaching. On 11 Jumada al-Ula, 1393 AH, he was appointed the Deputy Chief of the Academic Council, and due to his efforts, the advisory committee in Madrasa Shahi approved the classification of Dars e Nizami in 1396 AH, and the educational standard of the madrassa increased. Similarly, on 14 Sha'ban 1396 AH, he was elected as a member of Madrasa Shahi's Appointment Committee.

Madani was appointed as teacher at Darul Uloom Deoband in Dhu al-Qadah 1403 AH (1983 AD). He served as the Deputy Chief of Darul Uloom's Academic Council between 1987 and 1990 AD, and then as the Head of the Academic Council from 1996 to 2008.

In Safar 1442 AH (October 2020 AD), he succeeded Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri as the Principal (Head of the Teaching Faculty) at Darul Uloom Deoband by Darul Uloom's Advisory Committee.

Since 2012, he is a member of the World Muslim League.

Political approach
Arshad Madani has criticized the partition of India and espoused Hindu–Muslim unity, stating: "Our elders from Hindu and Muslim communities went ahead on the path of unity and liberated the country from the slavery of the British, but unfortunately partition also took place. This partition has become a cause of destruction and ruin, not just for a particular community, but for both Hindus and Muslims." He suggests that secularism is the only path to a cohesive and united India.

He asserts that the current prime minister Narendra Modi is not acceptable to all Muslims of India. Muslim hostility to Modi is not softening recently at all as some circles in the Indian news media have suggested. He questions whether Indian Muslims can forgive Modi for his assertion that he initiated and condoned the 2002 Gujarat riots and the ensuing violence against Muslims in India, which Madani calls a mass murder of Muslims. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time.

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 * List of Deobandis