Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic educational institution set up in 1866-67 in India. It provides Islamic education to students at Deoband schools and Madarsas across the country. On July 6, a social organisation working in the field of child education ‘Manushi,’ presented a letter to the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The letter stated that textbooks in these institutions are filled with content legitimizing sexual crime against children.
The activist who is also a well-known writer of the book, ‘A girl from Kathua’, Madhu Kishwar, demanded intervention from the NCPCR for examining the whole curriculum at these Islamic institutions, maintaining the right to freedom of the children as the authorities at these schools are playing with their minds and finally, a demand to put Darul Uloom under the radar of intelligence agencies.
All the textbooks used in these institutions are in Arabic, Urdu or Persian. Still, the organisation has brought some controversial textbooks from the curriculum to light which has bizarre content. The details to which things are explained in these books is mindnumbing.
The activists presented before the NCPCR, a few illustrative extracts from ‘Bahishti Zevar’ and ‘Peculiar Personal Problems of Men and Women’ which provide a tiny glimpse of sexual perversions contained in these two ‘highly authoritative’ texts, especially with regard to child rights. These books were written by Deobandi idealogue Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who has a massive fan following among Indian Muslims as well as across the Global Ummah, including ISIS, Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Apart from the books some of the references include fatwas in Urdu by Darul Uloom Deoband. The most worrisome part of these teachings and Fatwas are that sexual perversions, which invite rigorous jail terms as they are heinous crimes in most civilized societies, are sought to be normalized through rituals. Rituals such as ‘gusl’ (taking a bath after the act) or keeping extra fasts are recommended if the said acts are committed during the month of Ramzan.
Bizzare statements in the textbooks
Some of the excerpts from the Bahishti Zevar textbook are listed below:
A mere bath after sexual intercourse with a minor girl can legitimise the act. The excerpt reads, “If anyone has sexual intercourse with a minor girl, then bath is not obligatory for her, but in order to make her used to bath she may be required to take bath.” (Page 55)
“If a man indulges in sexual intercourse with a minor girl, a bath will not be obligatory if there is no seminal discharge. (Page 58)”
The book legitimises that a mere bath after the following bizarre form of sex is enough. The book says, “If a man inserts his penis into the naval of a man or woman and there is no seminal discharge, then bath will not be obligatory.”
The cleric even legitimised sexual intercourse with a dead woman, minor girl or animal. The book says, “If anyone committed sexual intercourse with a dead woman or with a minor girl who does not excite passion or with an animal or embraced or kissed anyone or masturbated and in all such cases semen came out, then the fast will be disrupted but recompensation will not be due.”
Thanvi declares that sexual activity for anal pleasure with self is perfectly acceptable and does not disrupt the fast. He said, “…a man inserts something in his excretion hole and it remains out, then the fast will not be disrupted..”.
About sexual intercourse by a woman with a minor or an insane person he wrote, “If a woman subjects herself to sexual intercourse with a minor or an insane during a fast, then compensatory fast and recompensation both will be due.”
To legitimise anal sex the cleric wrote in this book, “If a man enters his penis in the back part (hole) of someone and its top has entered, then fast of both is lost and compensatory fast and recompense becomes due on both.”
The Hindi translation of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s ‘Bahishti Zevar’ (pages 719 and 720), provides the standard simple way to legitimise men having anal sex with men, women or impotent persons – “go have a bath after the act! If the partners in the sex act are both adults, then both need to have a bath or else only the person on whose body semen is discharged needs to have a bath!”
Page 720 also advises that if a sexually aroused woman indulges in sex with an animal, or a reluctant male or uses an external object (such as a wooden stick) for self-pleasure, she need not feel guilty if she has a bath after the act. However, as per real Islamic ethos, even a simple bath is not necessary if the semen of the animal does not enter the woman.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s ‘Peculiar Personal Problems of Men and Women’ brazenly declares that sexual intercourse with an animal, dead person or a minor girl is perfectly legitimate and even a bath is not necessary, if semen has not been discharged. He wrote, “If the male organ is inserted into the private part of an animal or a dead person or a minor girl who is not fit for sexual intercourse, then bath will not be necessary without discharge of semen.”
He legitimised the rape of a woman during fasting hours by saying, “If someone committed sexual intercourse forcibly with a woman, then the woman is liable to compensatory fast and not recompensation, but the man is responsible for both.”
Another bizarre statement in the book says, “If anyone commits sexual intercourse with an animal or a dead body or committed sexual intercourse outside the vagina and it caused no seminal discharge, then the fast is not disrupted. But if there is seminal discharge in such conditions, then the fast will be disrupted and a compensatory fast will be due on him, but recompensation will not be due.”




Referring to the above-mentioned excerpts from the textbooks, the activist told the NCPCR that, ‘These samples are a mere tip of the iceberg. And yet, they provide ample evidence that Darul Uloom Deoband’s teachings are endangering the lives of children, in a very alarming way. These facts do not surface in the public discourse because any mention of atrocities and crimes committed by Muslims under cover of ‘religious freedom’, immediately invites the tag of ‘Islamophobia’.’
Activists demand action
Demanding the intervention of the NCPCR in the said matter the writer demanded the following steps to be taken against Darul Uloom:
- The entire curriculum of Darul Uloom Deoband needs to be examined by an independent body, headed by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge (s), capable of undertaking a non-partisan audit of the course curriculum taught by Darul Uloom Deoband.
- Thousands of young students trapped in Darul Uloom Deoband need to be rescued, deradicalized and admitted into regular schools.
- Past students of Darul Uloom Deoband need to be put on the radar of intelligence agencies because of the dehumanization and radicalization they have suffered at the hands of the Maulanas and Muftis of Darul Uloom Deobannd
The letter has 35 signatories and demands strict action against Darul Uloom and the Madarsa curriculum. Sharing the letter on July 6, Madhu wrote from her official Twitter handle, “Dear Friends, You will be shocked to learn that Darul Uloom Deoband is teaching young students on ways to legitimise and normalize rape, sexual intercourse with minors, animals, dead bodies, impotent persons as well as anal sex with men, women and children. All these acts invite severe punishments under the criminal laws of India and also violate International Conventions for the Protection of Child Rights. Therefore, we have requested that NCPCR should take prompt and stringent action against Darul Uloom Deoband. The letter written by several academicians and professionals has been posted here: We invite other academicians and professionals to join this campaign by confirming their support in the ‘Comments’ section.”
Taking note of the appeal the NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo took cognizance of the matter and initiated action. Kanoongo has already been working tirelessly in making the education system free from the clutches of religious leaders be it any religion. Some of his actions against schools run by Islamic leaders or Missionary groups have been exemplary in the past.

Cases inspired by these textbooks around us
Following the letter against Darul Uloom and teachings at Islamic institutions, we take our readers through some of the cases which deal with the teachings imparted in these textbooks.
For instance, take this case from Uttar Pradeh’s Kanpur where a cleric, teaching at the Madarsa raped his students for years till she studied there and when she left the school he kept calling her for the same. When the girl did not come, the cleric blackmailed her against their intimate clips and pictures. Finally, in January 2023, the victim registered a complaint against the cleric.
A similar case was reported in Bihar’s Motihari where cleric Jamshed Alam raped a minor for 18 months. He was doing this by blackmailing the victim with some morphed pictures clicked by Alam with her. A similar case was reported from Delhi where the cleric raped a minor and to make sure she does not shout, he stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth.
In a case from Hyderabad’s Darul Uloom Madarsa, A 25-year-old Arabic teacher Shoeb Akhtar raped a 10-year-old student in Shastripuram, Hyderabad. After the incident came to light, the Mailardevapally Police arrested the accused on February 7, 2021.
Organiser has been reporting cases of rapes against animals by Islamists. In one such case from Chhattisgarh, a man identified as Hasan Khan raped Gau Mata in Durg.
The video of the said, incident was shared widely on the internet and as a result, the police swung into action. The accused, Hasan was arrested from the Gondia district of Maharashtra on May 30.
Similar cases were reported from Bhilai and Balod districts of Chhattisgarh where accused Mohammad Sahil was booked. A similar case was reported from the Azad Chowk police station area of Raipur district in Chhatisgarh in October 2022. The accused was identified as Mohammad Kamal.
Organiser reported a case from Uttarakhand’s Haldwani where Hindu activists shaved the head of a man identified as Mohammad Nafees after the allegations of raping Gau Mata.
Organiser reported a case of Love Jihad from Haridwar city of Uttarakhand where the accused Mohd Shoaib posed as Sachin to have ‘conversion-nikah’ with the Hindu woman. His family tortured her saying she is a ‘Kaffir’ and will burn in eternal ‘hellfire’ on refusing to follow Islamic religious practices. The accused converted her minor son from the first Hindu husband. He also had unnatural sex with her.
Organiser reported a case from Maharashtra where a Hindu woman filed a police complaint against her husband Mohammad Sahil Sayyed after being tortured for more than two years. Notably, Sahil got this woman converted to Islam and made her follow all the Islamic rituals. She would wear a full-body veil and offer namaz five times a day. He also had unnatural sex with the victim.
Most recently we reported a case from Uttar Pradesh’s Noida where a Punjabi woman converted to Islam for marrying Faisal Khan. Among all her ordeals she stated that Faisal had unnatural sex with her, read details in this report.
Well, these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, we can list a number of cases to support the argument that, all these accused men have drawn their inspiration to commit such heinous acts from the teachings of Madarsa and Islamic institutions only.
These institutions dead with children and allowing them to impart education from their religious textbooks and fatwas will not be rightful. Darul Uloom Deoband is ruining the mental and physical well-being of the children studying there by encouraging young students to grow up believing that sexual perversion and criminal forms of sexual acts are normal and rightful behaviour. All these texts should be banned in a country like India.
(This article was originally produced by Organiser on July 7)
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