Correct, missed him. The fifth one was Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiyani, but of course he is not a deobandi.
Neither did Ashraf Ali Thanvi repent, neither did Khalil Ahmed Ambethvi repent, neither did Rashid Ahmed Gangohi repent. The fatwa of kufr is on these three. Now whether they did Tawbah before they died Allah knows best. Shariah rulings are on the apparent and in absence of a Tawbah from any one of them they are deemed kafirs. Just like if a Hindu dies he/she is deemed a kafir.
1. Zayd writes a book which contains blasphemy towards RasulAllah ﷺ. 2. He is informed of his blasphemy. 3. He refuses to acknowledge the blasphemy. 4. Instead, he justifies it. 5. He does not repent or retract from it. 6. Thirty three major scholars of Makkah and Madinah declare Zayd a kafir. 7. Zayd publishes two further works to defend his blasphemy. 8. Two hundred and sixty eight other scholars also declare Zayd a kafir. 9. There is no recorded repentance from Zayd till he died. 10. His followers publish the book to this day, along with the blasphemy. Why won't Zayd be considered a kafir? Give me one good reason.
1. Ashraf Ali Thanwi Devbandi insulted RasulAllah ﷺ in his book 'Hifz al-Iman'. It is published to this day with the insult. 2. Insulting RasulAllah ﷺ is kufr. 3. Thanwi was alerted but he defended his kufr. 4. No tawbah is recorded from him. 5. So ostensibly, he died on kufr. 6. Allah Knows best if he did tawbah but rulings are on the apparent. 7. So he is ruled a kafir. 8. If he did do tawbah secretly, Allah Knows that and he won't be seen as a kafir in the Sight of Allah. 9. But the legal ruling upon him in the world is that he is a kafir and this is what over 300 scholars ruled in his time. 10. The last known position of an individual is evidence. --- This is similar to a Jew or a Christian today. Someone could ask: how can you say for sure he is going to hell? The reply is: only Allah Knows his final state, i.e. did he accept Islam. If he did, Allah will deal with him accordingly. But in the world, he will be treated as a kafir in that his janazah will not be performed, supplications will not be made for him and he will not be buried with Muslims. If we did not rule on the apparent, then no one could ever be ruled a Muslim or kafir! You could not even say Zayd died a Muslim because you do not actually know his final state! --- So the worldly ruling on Thanwi is he died a kafir. Especially because he wrote two separate works after being alerted to his kufr and made no tawbah therein.
