ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 sets the background and context of the Tablīghī Jamā‘at (TJ). Focusing on the Deobandi stream of North Indian reformism, it traces how colonial reversals and inter-religious threats prompted a “turn to the ajlāf (ordinary Muslims)” and the embrace of a bottom-up “madrasa and fatwa” model of da‘wa among the founders of the Deoband madrasa. The chapter also discusses the madrasa at Saharanpur and the madrasa of Nadwat al-‘Ulamā’ in Lucknow. The chapter includes an account of Sayyid Abul Ḥasan ‘Alī Nadwī. Though ‘Alī Nadwī was a major figure in the TJ’s formation, few scholars have studied his life and legacy.
