Islamic Movements in South Asia: 50 MCQs

Multiple-Choice Questions

1 Which religious reform movement was founded by Shah Waliullah’s intellectual tradition and later influenced several South Asian revivalist movements?
(a) Brahmo Samaj (b) Arya Samaj (c) Deoband movement (d) None of these

2 In which year was Darul Uloom Deoband established?
(a) 1857 (b) 1866 (c) 1875 (d) None of these

3 Where was Darul Uloom Deoband established?
(a) Delhi (b) Lucknow (c) Aligarh (d) None of these

4 Who was among the principal founders of Darul Uloom Deoband?
(a) Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi (b) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (c) Muhammad Iqbal (d) None of these

5 Which scholar was another prominent founding figure of Darul Uloom Deoband?
(a) Abul Kalam Azad (b) Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (c) Altaf Hussain Hali (d) None of these

6 What was a major objective of the Deoband movement?
(a) Promoting colonial administration (b) Abandoning Islamic scholarship
(c) Preserving and teaching Islamic religious sciences (d) None of these

7 Which institution is closely associated with the Barelvi movement?
(a) Nadwatul Ulama (b) Darul Uloom Deoband (c) Aligarh Muslim University (d) None of these

8 Who is regarded as the principal intellectual founder of the Barelvi movement?
(a) Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi (b) Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi
(c) Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (d) None of these

9 Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi was based primarily in which city?
(a) Lahore (b) Bareilly (c) Delhi (d) None of these

10 Which year is associated with the birth of Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi?
(a) 1856 (b) 1866 (c) 1875 (d) None of these

11 Which movement emphasized the study of Hadith and religious reform in the Indian subcontinent and was associated with scholars such as Siddiq Hasan Khan?
(a) Aligarh movement (b) Brahmo movement (c) Ahl-i-Hadith movement (d) None of these

12 Which Indian city became a major centre of the Aligarh movement?
(a) Aligarh (b) Deoband (c) Bareilly (d) None of these

13 Who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College?
(a) Muhammad Iqbal (b) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (c) Abul Kalam Azad (d) None of these

14 In which year was the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College inaugurated?
(a) 1864 (b) 1875 (c) 1877 (d) None of these

15 The Aligarh movement primarily promoted:
(a) Modern education among Indian Muslims (b) Rejection of all scientific learning
(c) Withdrawal from educational institutions (d) None of these

16 Who founded Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow?
(a) Muhammad Ali Jauhar (b) Shibli Nomani alone (c) A collective of Muslim scholars and reformers
(d) None of these

17 In which year was Nadwatul Ulama established?
(a) 1885 (b) 1894 (c) 1906 (d) None of these

18 Which scholar was closely associated with Nadwatul Ulama and its intellectual development?
(a) Shibli Nomani (b) Raja Ram Mohan Roy (c) Dayananda Saraswati (d) None of these

19 Which movement was founded by Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi in 1926?
(a) Khaksar movement (b) Ahl-i-Hadith movement (c) Tablighi Jamaat (d) None of these

20 What is the primary emphasis of Tablighi Jamaat?
(a) Electoral politics (b) Personal religious reform and propagation of faith
(c) Armed revolution (d) None of these

21 Tablighi Jamaat originated in which region?
(a) Mewat (b) Bengal (c) Sindh (d) None of these

22 Which movement was founded by Abul A’la Maududi in 1941?
(a) Khudai Khidmatgar (b) Tablighi Jamaat (c) Jamaat-e-Islami (d) None of these

23 Where was Jamaat-e-Islami founded in 1941?
(a) Lahore (b) Delhi (c) Karachi (d) None of these

24 What was a major objective of Jamaat-e-Islami under Maududi’s leadership?
(a) Promoting an Islamic social and political order (b) Establishing a purely secular religious organisation
(c) Rejecting all political participation (d) None of these

25 Which organisation was founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to represent Muslim political interests in British India?
(a) Indian National Congress (b) All-India Muslim League (c) Khilafat Committee (d) None of these

26 In which year was the All-India Muslim League founded?
(a) 1905 (b) 1909 (c) 1906 (d) None of these

27 Where was the All-India Muslim League founded?
(a) Dhaka (b) Lahore (c) Delhi (d) None of these

28 Which movement sought to defend the Ottoman Caliphate after the First World War?
(a) Aligarh movement (b) Khilafat movement (c) Deoband movement (d) None of these

29 Who were two prominent leaders of the Khilafat movement in India?
(a) Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali (b) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Viqar-ul-Mulk
(c) Maududi and Iqbal (d) None of these

30 In which period did the Khilafat movement become prominent in British India?
(a) 1857–1859 (b) 1905–1909 (c) 1919–1924 (d) None of these

31 Which movement was associated with Haji Shariatullah in Bengal?
(a) Aligarh movement (b) Faraizi movement (c) Tablighi Jamaat (d) None of these

32 What was a central concern of the Faraizi movement?
(a) Promoting European political institutions (b) Establishing a modern university
(c) Encouraging observance of obligatory Islamic duties (d) None of these

33 Who led the Mujahidin movement in the northwestern frontier region during the nineteenth century?
(a) Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi (b) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (c) Ahmad Raza Khan (d) None of these

34 Which scholar is associated with the reformist movement known as the Ahl-i-Hadith in South Asia?
(a) Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi (b) Siddiq Hasan Khan (c) Haji Shariatullah (d) None of these

35 Which organisation was established by the Deobandi scholars in 1919 to promote Muslim religious and political interests?
(a) Muslim League (b) Jamaat-e-Islami (c) Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (d) None of these

36 Which political organisation was established in 1945 by Deobandi scholars who supported the creation of Pakistan?
(a) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (b) Indian National Congress (c) Khudai Khidmatgar
(d) None of these

37 Which movement was founded by Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the North-West Frontier Province?
(a) Khilafat movement (b) Khudai Khidmatgar (c) Faraizi movement (d) None of these

38 What was a defining characteristic of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement?
(a) Armed separatism (b) Opposition to education (c) Nonviolent resistance
(d) None of these

39 Which term is commonly associated with the Khudai Khidmatgar volunteers?
(a) Red Shirts (b) Blue Shirts (c) Green Guards (d) None of these

40 Which reformist movement in South Asia sought to combine Islamic learning with modern educational approaches?
(a) Only the Khilafat movement (b) Aligarh movement (c) Only the Faraizi movement (d) None of these

41 Which institution was founded in 1892 by a group of Muslim scholars in Lahore to promote Islamic education?
(a) Islamia College Peshawar (b) Darul Uloom Deoband (c) Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam
(d) None of these

42 Which South Asian scholar wrote Al-Faruq, a biography of Umar ibn al-Khattab?
(a) Shibli Nomani (b) Abul Kalam Azad (c) Muhammad Iqbal (d) None of these

43 Which scholar was associated with the Nadwatul Ulama and wrote extensively on Islamic history and biography?
(a) Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi (b) Shibli Nomani (c) Haji Shariatullah (d) None of these

44 Which movement became particularly influential in rural and urban Muslim communities through small groups travelling for religious outreach?
(a) Aligarh movement (b) Faraizi movement (c) Tablighi Jamaat (d) None of these

45 Which movement sought to reform Muslim society through modern education and engagement with Western sciences?
(a) Aligarh movement (b) Tablighi Jamaat (c) Khudai Khidmatgar (d) None of these

46 Which South Asian movement is particularly associated with the revival of Sufi devotional practices and reverence for the Prophet (PBUH)?
(a) Deoband movement (b) Barelvi movement (c) Aligarh movement (d) None of these

47 What was a major historical context for the emergence of many nineteenth-century Muslim reform movements in South Asia?
(a) The expansion of the Mughal Empire (b) The beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate
(c) Colonial rule and changing social conditions (d) None of these

48 Which statement best describes Islamic movements in South Asia?
(a) They have included diverse educational, spiritual, reformist and political approaches
(b) They have all followed one identical ideology (c) They have all rejected modern education
(d) None of these

49 Which factor contributed to the growth of Islamic educational movements in nineteenth-century South Asia?
(a) The complete disappearance of religious institutions
(b) Concerns about preserving Islamic learning amid political and social change
(c) The abolition of all local languages (d) None of these

50 The study of Islamic movements in South Asia requires attention to:
(a) Religious ideas alone, without historical context
(b) Political history alone, without religious ideas
(c) Their social, political, educational and intellectual contexts
(d) None of these

Answer Key

1 (c) Deoband movement
2 (b) 1866
3 (d) None of these
4 (a) Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi
5 (b) Rashid Ahmad Gangohi
6 (c) Preserving and teaching Islamic religious sciences
7 (d) None of these
8 (a) Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi
9 (b) Bareilly
10 (a) 1856
11 (c) Ahl-i-Hadith movement
12 (a) Aligarh
13 (b) Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
14 (c) 1877
15 (a) Modern education among Indian Muslims
16 (c) A collective of Muslim scholars and reformers
17 (b) 1894
18 (a) Shibli Nomani
19 (c) Tablighi Jamaat
20 (b) Personal religious reform and propagation of faith
21 (a) Mewat
22 (c) Jamaat-e-Islami
23 (a) Lahore
24 (a) Promoting an Islamic social and political order
25 (b) All-India Muslim League
26 (c) 1906
27 (a) Dhaka
28 (b) Khilafat movement
29 (a) Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali
30 (c) 1919–1924
31 (b) Faraizi movement
32 (c) Encouraging observance of obligatory Islamic duties
33 (a) Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi
34 (b) Siddiq Hasan Khan
35 (c) Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
36 (a) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
37 (b) Khudai Khidmatgar
38 (c) Nonviolent resistance
39 (a) Red Shirts
40 (b) Aligarh movement
41 (c) Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam
42 (a) Shibli Nomani
43 (b) Shibli Nomani
44 (c) Tablighi Jamaat
45 (a) Aligarh movement
46 (b) Barelvi movement
47 (c) Colonial rule and changing social conditions
48 (a) They have included diverse educational, spiritual, reformist and political approaches
49 (b) Concerns about preserving Islamic learning amid political and social change
50 (c) Their social, political, educational and intellectual contexts