This innovative book analyses the growth of Deobandi Islam, a religious sect whose followers include extremist groups, through the frame of a counterculture in conflict with mainstream Muslim society. Due to its relationship with the Taliban, close links to al-Qaeda, and worldwide reach through the 'Tablighi Jamaat' (Proselytization Group), the Deoband Madrassah Movement has come to acquire global significance. In Pakistan, Deobandi schools have increasingly been associated with the rise of an intolerant and militant strain of Islam linked with terrorist activities.

In this important study, Muhammad Moj explores the Deobandi sect within Islam and its relationship to Pakistani society in an innovative way. The Deoband Madrassah Movement (DMM) has largely been studied as a political and religious reform movement, but this book interprets it rather as a counterculture, drawing on the counterculture theory of Milton Yinger.

Using analyses of Deobandi journals and interviews with madrassahs and college students, this book comprehends the DMM from a broader perspective to discover the reasons behind its clash with the mainstream society in which it operates.