Deobandism

The Deobandi movement developed in British-ruled India during the mid-1800s. It is an offshoot of the Sunni Hanafi legal school and takes its name from the Indian Himalayan town of Deoband, the location of an influential madrassa, or religious school. The Deobandi movement aimed to reform and unify Muslims and had elements of anti-colonialism and anti-modernism. The movement found new adherents in Pakistan after India was partitioned.

The Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalists who control most of Afghanistan, grew out of a radical fringe of Deobandism. The Taliban mixed elements of Deobandism with their ethnic-Pashtun tribal traditions. The Taliban's religious code was further forged by its long isolation from the modern world and years of fighting the Soviets, followed by civil war. Under the Taliban interpretation of Islamic law, legal punishments include public executions and amputations and women are banned from education.