The ‘ulama of Deoband — named after a sleepy north Indian town where a group of scholars established a madrasah to safeguard and propagate sacred knowledge — are adherents of one of the four imams of fiqh: Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shafi‘, Imam Malik and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal; and follow the Ash‘ari and Maturidi schools of creed. As epitomes of Shari‘ah and Tariqah, the ‘ulama of Deoband were and are practitioners of a strict fiqh-based Tasawwuf, and follow the Chishti, Naqshbandi, Qadri and Suhraw