Through its gendered vision, Dar ul-Uloom, Deoband, provides a partial explanation of the stridently patriarchal interpretations of Islam that are projected by its clerics as normative and binding. But these interpretations are fi ercely contested by many other Muslims, including prominent Indian Muslim women's groups, as both unjust and un-Islamic. This study focuses on such an interpretation by a well-respected cleric Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863-1943) in Nikah [Marriage] in Islam, which deals specifi cally with issues related to Muslim women in the context of various rules concerning Muslim marriage.