From the Masjid to the Maiḳhana: Satire in Deoband’s Tajallī, c. 1949–1974

Abstract

This paper examines the satirical column “Masjid se Maiḳhane Tak” (From the Mosque to the Tavern) that featured regularly in the Islamic periodical Tajallī. Launched by Maulana Amir Usmani, a scholar and litterateur associated with the seminary Dar ul-Ulum Deoband, Tajallī challenged binaries between the literary and religious in Urdu print. While Usmani described Tajallī as an aḳhlaqī (ethical) and mazhabī (religious) periodical, with a transregional readership spanning Deobandi intellectual networks across South Asia and beyond, it was the periodical’s tanziya (satirical) column that garnered widespread popularity among Urdu readers. Published under the pseudonym Mulla Ibn al-Arab Makki, “Masjid se Maiḳhane Tak” showcased Usmani’s skill as an essayist who could blend Urdu poetic idiom with a novel-like narrative (Qadri 1996). The column’s provocative overtones targeted a range of themes including Persianate Sufi traditions, forms of popular piety among Indian Muslims, and most notably scholarly ineptitude within the Deobandi religious community. Unlike contemporary satirical works from secular writers that mocked the “Maulvi” for his rigidity and pedantic demeanour, Tajalli’s column recast the religious scholar as a figure capable of wit, irreverence, and self-reflexive commentary. My presentations argues that “Masjid se Maiḳhane Tak” initiated an inter-play between pious sensibilities and literary modernity, inviting Muslim readers to ridicule religious authorities within Islamic parameters (Schwweizer et al, 2022). By situating the column within the broader context of twentieth-century Urdu satirical literature, this study highlights “Masjid se Maiḳhane Tak” as a critical, yet underexplored, force in the development of modern Islamic print culture and its distinctive literary expressions.