The repeated terror attacks in India and its neighbouring countries have hit an unlikely target. The Darul Uloom, in a recent conclave in Deoband, has pronounced all acts of terror to be un-Islamic. The weight of its voice is significant, given that clerics of Deobandi origin have a powerful presence abroad as leaders of the Muslim community, and that jihadi Islamism, which is proving to be the bane of America, has also traced its roots to this school of teaching. The voice of alarm, and the dissociation it seeks to make with the extreme streak of Islam, makes apparent the discomfort and the dilemmas of the religious leadership. These have been evident for a while in efforts within India to secularize education in madrasahs, in the condemnation of terror attacks on places of worship and the fatwa issued against militant outfits naming themselves after the Prophet. But to make sure that this voice reaches those for whom it is meant, it is perhaps necessary to take the exercise beyond the making of pronouncements. For the very fact that these are having to be made, and that sermons from mounts and training camps in distant Afghanistan are making such a profound impact on the Muslim youth points to the failure of the community’s leadership to feel the pulse of its people.

Much of the success of the Deobandis’ denouncement of extremism will depend on the leadership’s ability to spread the message of moderate, mainstream Islam. And this would be difficult if the pursuit of the vision of a pristine religion allows free reign to the forces of conservatism. It should not be forgotten that a return to an ideal form of Islam is also a principal aim of the radical extremists who may now be preoccupied with hitting out at the majority or ridding Islamic states of American occupation. The religious leadership will manage to drive some sense into the misdirected youth only with the promotion of greater freedoms and liberties within the community and the strengthening of the hands of democracy. The condemnation of violence forms the first step towards the defeat of terrorism. It is encouraging that the need for it has been felt and the thrust towards it provided by the community itself. Socio-economic backwardness lies at the root of the disorder. Together with the harsh words against terror, the leadership also needs to show the community the direction away from the morass.