Afghanistan’s Taliban regime foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited the historic Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district on Saturday, describing the seminary as a “major centre for the Islamic world” and expressing optimism about the future of India-Afghanistan relations.
“I am thankful to the Ulema of Deoband and the people of the area for this warm welcome… The future of India-Afghanistan relations seems very bright,” Muttaqi said during his visit.
The Taliban leader is the first senior official from the group to travel to India since it regained power in Kabul following the U.S. troop withdrawal in 2021. Muttaqi arrived in New Delhi on Thursday from Russia as part of a six-day official trip, during which he also met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday.
‘Deoband and Afghanistan Are Spiritually Connected’
Speaking about his visit, Muttaqi emphasised the long-standing spiritual and cultural ties between Afghanistan and Deoband. “Deoband is a big centre for the Islamic world… and Afghanistan and Deoband are connected. We want our spiritual students to come and study here too,” he said on Friday, ahead of the visit.
He also highlighted that Afghan students often come to India for both religious and modern education, adding that institutions like Deoband have a historical relationship with Afghanistan’s Islamic learning traditions.
What Is Darul Uloom Deoband?
Founded in the late 1800s in the town of Deoband, Saharanpur, by Sayyid Muhammad Abid, Fazlur Rahman Usmai, Mahtab Ali Deobandi and others, Darul Uloom Deoband has long been regarded as one of the world’s most influential Islamic seminaries.
The foundation of its current campus was laid by Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, and the institution primarily focuses on manqulat — Islamic studies based on classical texts and traditions derived from the Quran and Hadith.
According to the seminary’s website, it remains “the largest institution for the dissemination and propagation of Islam” in the subcontinent and continues to serve as a leading academic and spiritual hub for Islamic scholars across the world.
The Deoband-Afghanistan Link
The Deobandi school of thought holds deep influence across South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many senior Taliban figures studied at Darul Uloom Haqqania in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province — an institution modelled after Darul Uloom Deoband.
Its founder, Maulana Abdul Haq, had studied and taught in Deoband before Partition, while his son Sami-ul-Haq, often called the “Father of the Taliban,” played a crucial role in nurturing many of the group’s leaders and commanders.
During his media interaction on Friday, Muttaqi reiterated this shared heritage, noting that Deoband has “a long history with Afghanistan.” He said, “Just as our students come to India for engineering and science, they also come here for religious studies.”
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