Sufi Muhammad bin Alhazrat Hassan (1933 – 11 July 2019) was a Pakistani cleric and

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

Islamist militant, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a militant group (declared a terrorist outfit and banned in 2002) vying for implementation of

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

in Pakistan. It operates mainly in the Dir region,

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

, and Malakand districts of

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

. Sufi Muhammad was jailed for sending thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to fight the U.S. intervention in 2001. However, he was freed in 2008 after he renounced violence. He was the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who assumed the leadership of TNSM during Sufi's imprisonment.BBC News - Pakistan agrees Sharia law deal
/ref> He was described by BBC as a "follower" of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islamic school of thought, and by the Jamestown Foundation as one of the "active leaders" of

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

in the 1980s.

Background

Sufi Muhammad, born in Maidan, Lower Dir District, received religious education at Panj Pir, Swabi.

Career

During the 1980s, Sufi Muhammad actively participated in

, an Islamist political party of Pakistan. In 1992 he split from the group to form TNSM. From its stronghold of Malakand Division Districts in northwestern Pakistan, Sufi Muhammad and his group engaged in violent agitation for the enforcement of

law. In October 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, Sufi Mohammad crossed into Afghanistan with thousands of his followers to help the Taliban fight the US-led forces. In 2001 he issued an edict, or fatwa, for holy war against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. After the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001, he returned to Pakistan, he was arrested. Sufi Muhammad remained in prison until 2008 when he agreed in talks with the Government of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to use his influence to work towards peace in the region.

Ceasefire

Maulana Sufi Muhammad took part in negotiations with the government that led to the announcement of a temporary ceasefire in the Malakand region on 16 February 2009. The Pakistani government agreed to allow the implementation of Sharia in the region once violence had stopped. Muhammad agreed to travel to

to discuss peace with Fazlullah and his followers. He told reporters, "We will soon open dialogue with the Taliban. We will ask them to lay down their weapons. We are hopeful that they will not let us down. We will stay here in the watvalley until peace is restored." In early April 2009 Sufi Muhammad ended support for peace negotiations stating that the government was stalling the implementation of sharia courts in the Swat valley. President Asif Ali Zardari refused to sign any agreement until peace had been restored in the valley but failed to elaborate on how those conditions would be achieved. However, the president signed the

Nizam-e-Adl-Regulation The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation ( en, Order of Justice) was a controversial act, passed on April 13, 2009 by Government of Pakistan that formally established Sharia law in the Malakand division. PPP-led central government passed the bill after a coalit ...

law for Swat, after it was hurriedly pushed through the national parliament a few hours earlier on 13 April 2009. On 19 April 2009 Sufi Muhammad declared that "democracy was un-Islamic" and that decisions made in the qazi courts could not be appealed in Pakistan's central judicial system. According to the cleric Western-style democracy had led to divides among Pakistanis and the judicial system had contributed to the factionalism. He ordered the central government to withdraw all judges from Malakand within four days and to set up a ''Darul Qaza'', an Islamic supreme court, to hear appeals from local Sharia courts.

Arrest

On 3 June 2009, while engaging in

Operation Black Thunderstorm Operation Black Thunderstorm was an aggressive military operation that commenced on April 26, 2009 conducted by the Pakistan Army, with the aim of retaking Buner, Lower Dir, Swat and Shangla districts from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan after the m ...

against the Taliban, the Pakistani Army arrested senior aides to Sufi Muhammad in the Amandara region in Lower Dir. Among those aides arrested were Muhammad's deputy, Mohammad Alam, and his spokesperson, Ameer Izzat Khan. Initial reports indicated that Sufi Muhammad himself and possibly two of his sons had also been detained, though government sources would not confirm and would only say they knew of his whereabouts. TNSM sources confirmed that Sufi Muhammad and his sons were missing, but suggested that he had gone into hiding. On 26 July 2009, the government announced the arrest of the cleric for encouraging violence and terrorism. On 2 August 2009, police announced that he had been charged with

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

, aiding terrorism and conspiracy. In January 2011, Sufi Muhammad denied to an anti-terrorism court that he had any links to the anti-state Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and that he only sought enforcement of sharia in Malakand.

Death

Sufi Muhammad died from kidney failure and diabetes on 11 July 2019 at the age of 86. Controversial cleric Sufi Muhammad passes away
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Sufi 1933 births 2019 deaths Pashtun people People from Lower Dir District Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Pakistani Islamists Pakistani Wahhabists Ahl-i Hadith people Leaders of Islamic terror groups