Haq Nawaz Jhangvi ( ur, حق نواز جھنگوی, ''Ḥaq Nawāz Jhangvī''; 1952 – 23 February 1990) was a Pakistani cleric who founded the Anjumane Sipahe Sahaba on 6 September 1986.

Biography

Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was born in 1952 in Chela, a village in the

Jhang District Jhang District (Punjabi and ur, ) is a district of Faisalabad division in the Punjab province, Pakistan. Jhang city is the capital of district. Geography Jhang District has a triangle-like shape, with its apex at the narrow southwestern co ...

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

, into a small land-holding family of the

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

Sipra Sipra (also known as Sapra, Sipru, Sipraw or Supra) is a Jat clan in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Notable people * Saqlain Anwar Sipra Muhammad Saqlain Anwar Sipra is a Pakistani politician who had been a Member of the Provincial ...

clan, and he memorized the Qur'an by heart in two years before studying Qur'anic recitation and

Arabic grammar Arabic grammar or Arabic language sciences ( ar, النحو العربي ' or ar, عُلُوم اللغَة العَرَبِيَّة ') is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with ...

and pursuing higher Islamic studies at the ''Darul Ulum''

Kabirwala Kabirwala ( ur, , Punjabi ), is a town of Khanewal District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The town is the headquarters of Kabirwala Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district. Kabirwala was 118th biggest city, with a populatio ...

, where he spent five years, and ''Khair ul Madariss''

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

, where he spent seven years mainly focusing on

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

, becoming an imam at a

Toba Tek Singh Toba Tek Singh ( pnb, , ur, ) is a city and capital of Toba Tek Singh District in the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is surrounded by cities of Gojra, Kamalia, Rajana, Pir Mahal and Shorkot. History The city and district is named af ...

mosque and later a

khatib In Islam, a khatib, khateeb or hatib ( ar, خطيب ''khaṭīb'') is a person who delivers the sermon (''khuṭbah'') (literally "narration"), during the Friday prayer and Eid prayers. The ''khateeb'' is usually the prayer leader (''imam''), ...

in a Jhang mosque, in 1973. Jhangvi joined the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam during that time, and before he began focusing his preaching against Shia, he was active in the Khatm-i Nabuwwat movement against Ahmadis. After the 1979

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

, Jhangvi began attacking the Iran by accusing it of exporting its revolution. He directed his attacks against Shia beliefs and civilians, as well as against Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's Supreme Leader. Locally, he targeted the Shah Jewna family and the district administration and became extremely popular among local residents. Jhangvi also began preaching and became popular among Sunnis, who were willing to support him in his cause. He became vocal against local Shias. Jhangvi founded Anjuman-i Sipah-i Sahabah in Jhang on 6 September 1985. On 23 February 1990, Jhangvi was assassinated by suspected Shia militants.

Legacy

SSP members

Riaz Basra Riaz Basra (1967 – 14 May 2002) was, with Akram Lahori a.k.a. Muhammad Ajmal and Malik Ishaq, a founder of the militant organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi during 1996. Career Riaz Basra was born to Ghulam Muhammad and Jalal Bibi in Chak Chah Than ...

and Akram Lahori formed their own organization in 1996,

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ; ur, ) or "Army of Jhangvi", is a Deobandi Sunni supremacist, terrorist and jihadist militant organisation based in Afghanistan. The organisation operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan and is an offshoot of anti-Shi ...

, named after Jhangvi, a group known as one of the most lethal sectarian groups in Pakistan. Masood Azhar, a radical Islamic scholar and one of the most wanted men by India for his activities, has been described as "an old devotee of Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi." His son Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi is also a politician and want to continue his father's legacy, but describes himself as less sectarian when it comes to the Shias.Reuters (21 December 2016)
"Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi confesses sectarianism in his past"
''The Express Tribune''. Retrieved 21 April 2020.

Bibliography

Authored works

*''K̲h̲ut̤bāt-i amīr-i ʻazīmat : bānī-i Sipāh-i Ṣaḥābah Maulānā Ḥaq Navāz Jhangvī kī maʻrikatulārāʼ taqārīr kā majmūʻah''. Collections of speeches in many volumes collected by S̲anāʼullāh Sʻad Shujāʻābādī.

Books about him

*''Maz̲hab ahl al-Sunnat va-al-Jamāʻat aur Maulānā Ḥaq Navāz Jhangvī kī shahādat'' by Qāẓī Maz̤har Ḥusain, 32 p. On his death. *''Amīr-i ʻAzīmat : ḥayāt'' by Muḥammad Ilyās Bālākoṭī, 319 p. Biography.

References