In India, for instance, after the last Muslim ruler was deposed by the British in 1857, Muslims found themselves in the minority in a country dominated by Hindus. The Deobandi Islamic movement came into being shortly afterward, in 1867, as a response to this situation. It was founded as a means to provide Muslims in the Indian subcontinent with a set of rules to live by, in order to preserve Islam in a country where Muslims were a minority. Toward this end, the Deobandis trained a core of ulama to issue fatwas, or legal opinions, to make sure that Muslims in India conformed to their very rigorous and conservative interpretation of Islam (Kepel, Jihad, 223). In this, the Deobandis became very similar to the Wahhabis and in the later part of the twentieth century established close ties with them in the context of US-sponsored activities in Pakistan (57–58).

XREF: Parallels the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia, also a conservative reformist response to perceived Islamic decline.

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 729