The objective of this chapter is to highlight the conflict between the DMM and the majority of Muslims in Pakistan. Unlike the previous chapters that identified the presence of countercultural tendencies in the history of the DMM, this chapter presents a direct comparison of the values and practices of folk Islam with those of Deobandi Islam. The chapter elaborates how the DMM has employed the theology of Islam to condemn and castigate the established religious and sociocultural beliefs and practices of mainstream Muslim society in Pakistan.

As mentioned in the introduction to this book, a large majority of Pakistani Muslims follow folk Islam – a charitable version of Islam broadly linked to spiritual and sufi traditions. For this work, folk Islam represents mainstream Muslim society, whereas the Deobandi sect, followed by about 20 per cent Pakistani Muslims, epitomizes a counterculture. The current chapter identifies the most prominent beliefs and practices of folk Islam as well as popular customs that have been condemned by the Deobandis. The chapter not only presents the arguments of Deobandi scholars in this regard but also compares their views with the perspectives of non-Deobandi ulama, mostly from the Barelwi sect that generally represents folk Islam in Pakistan. The latter viewpoint has been included to highlight the justification and continuation of these beliefs and practices by the majority of Pakistani Muslims.

For this discourse on the DMM's countercultural approach, the views and fatawa of three prominent Deobandi scholars – Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863–1943), Abdul Haq (1912–88) and Yousaf Ludhianvi (1932–2000) – have been selected to represent the Deobandi persuasion.