Sami-ul-Haq explained

Honorific-Prefix:Maulana
Sami ul Haq
Urdu: {{Nastaliq|سمیع الحق
Office:Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S)
Term Start:1980
Term End:2 November 2018
Predecessor:Mufti Mahmud
Successor:Maulana Hamid Ul Haq Haqqani
Office1:Chairman of Difa-e-Pakistan Council
Term Start1:October 2011
Term End1:2 November 2018
Office2:2nd Chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania
Term Start2:7 September 1988
Term End2:2 November 2018
Predecessor2:Abdul Haq
Successor2:Anwar-ul-Haq Haqqani
Office3:Pakistan Senator for North-West Frontier Province
Term3:March 2003 – March 2009
February 1985 – March 1997
Office4:Member of Pakistan Majlis-e-Shoora
Term Start4:1983
Term End4:1985
Birth Date:18 December 1937
Birth Place:Akora Khattak, NWFP, British India
Death Place:Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
Death Cause:Assassination, excessive blood loss due to multiple stab wounds
Nationality: (1937-1947)
(1947-2018)
Party: JUI-S (1980-2018)
Difa-e-Pakistan Council (2011-2018)[1]
Otherparty: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (before 1980)
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (before 1993)
Father:Abdul Haq
Alma Mater:Darul Uloom Haqqania
Children:Hamid Ul Haq Haqqani[2]

Sami ul Haq (Urdu: {{Nastaliq|مولانا سمیع الحق, Samī'u’l-Ḥaq; 18 December 1938 – 2 November 2018) was a Pakistani religious scholar and senator.[1] He was known as the Father of Taliban for the role his seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania played in the graduation of most Taliban leaders and commanders, having close ties to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.[3] [4] [5]

With his party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S), which split from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) because Haq supported Zia-ul-Haq and his policies, he was a member of the Senate of Pakistan from 1985 to 1991 and again from 1991 to 1997.

After his assassination in 2018 his son Hamid Ul Haq Haqqani became the chancellor of the seminary and the ameer or head of the political party.

Early life and family

Haq was born on 18 December 1937 in Akora Khattak, North-West Frontier Province of British India (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan).[6] His father was Abdul Haq Akorwi, who was educated at Darul Uloom Deoband in India. He began his education in 1366 AH (1946 or 1947 CE) at Darul Uloom Haqqania, which was founded by his father.[7] [8] He was well versed in Arabic but also used Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and the regional language of Pashto.

He had four brothers, including Anwarul Haq Haqqani, responsible of the seminary’s administration, and Mehmood Ul Haq Haqqani, who was professor of chemistry at the Peshawar University and who also served as Pakistan’s deputy ambassador to Saudi Arabia, while he himself married twice and had nine children.[9]

Career

Ties with the Afghan Taliban

Sami-ul-Haq was regarded as the "Father of the Taliban"[10] [11] and had close ties to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.[3] [4] [12] Sami ul Haq was the chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania, a Deobandi Islamic seminary which is the alma mater of many prominent Taliban members.[4] [13] Haq served as chairman of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council and was the leader of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party, known as JUI-S.[14] Sami ul-Haq was also a founding member of a six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal ahead of 2002 general election.[1] [15]

He had also served as a member of the Senate of Pakistan.[16] [17] He formed Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (United Religious Front), an alliance of relatively small religio-political parties, to participate in the 2013 general election.[18] [19]

Haq stated that the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Richard G. Olson, visited him in July 2013 to discuss the situation of the region. Haq sympathized with the Taliban, stating: "Give them just one year and they will make the whole of Afghanistan happy... The whole of Afghanistan will be with them ... Once the Americans leave, all of this will happen within a year... As long as they are there, Afghans will have to fight for their freedom," Haq said. "It's a war for freedom. It will not stop until outsiders leave."

In October 2018, an Afghan delegation comprising Ashraf Ghani government representatives and diplomats stationed in Pakistan, met Samiul Haq asking him to play a role in restoring peace in Afghanistan by bringing the Afghan Taliban back to the dialogue table.[20]

Fatwa on polio vaccination

After Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan initiated a campaign against polio immunisation, forcing hundreds of thousands of children to miss vaccinations, on 9 December 2013 Maulana Sami ul Haq issued a fatwa in favour of polio vaccination.[21] [22] The fatwa said "vaccination against deadly diseases is helpful in their prevention according to research conducted by renowned medical specialists. It adds that the vaccines used against these diseases are in no way harmful".[23]

Assassination

On 2 November 2018, Sami-ul-Haq was assassinated at around 7:00 pm PST at his residence in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi.[24] He was stabbed multiple times.[25] He was taken to the nearby Safari Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The cause of his death was excessive blood loss due to the multiple stabbing across his body, including his face.[26] According to his guard, he had intended to join the protests against the acquittal of Asia Bibi in Islamabad, but he could not join it due to road blockage.[27]

Following the assassination, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government declared a day of mourning. Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the murder saying "the country has suffered a great loss".[28]

On 3 November 2018, he was buried in the premises of Darul Uloom Haqqania in his hometown of Akora Khattak in the afternoon. The funeral prayer was offered at the Khushal Khan Degree College and led by his son Hamid Ul Haq Haqqani.[29] It was attended by a large number of political leaders and his followers. As part of the investigation into his murder, the police questioned his domestic staff.[30]

Books

The editor-in-chief of the monthly journal Al-Haq until his death, he has been described as "a prolific Islamist writer" who "authored more than 20 books",[31] some of his works including :[32]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: VOICES FROM THE WHIRLWIND: Assessing Musharraf's Predicament - Sami ul-Haq: Powerful Religious Leader. Public Broadcasting Service (US Public TV website) . Public Broadcasting Service. March 2004. 21 May 2018.
  2. News: 5 November 2018 . Maulana Sami's son named JUI-S chief . .
  3. News: Pakistani 'Father of Taliban' keeps watch over loyal disciples . 15 September 2013 . Maria Golovnina and Sheree Sardar . Reuters News Agency website . 21 May 2018. ... Haq said, alternating between Pakistan’s official Urdu and his native Pashto language. Haq, who speaks fluent Arabic, ....
  4. News: Taliban Training the Pakistan . Deutsche Welle . 23 May 2015.
  5. News: Westhead . Rick . Inside Pakistan's Jihad U . . 13 May 2009 . In 1997, Sami ul-Haq received a phone call from Omar, the Taliban leader. The Taliban had been defeated in an attempt to capture Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Omar needed reinforcements. "Mullah Omar personally rang me to request that I let these students go to Afghanistan on leave since they are needed there," ul-Haq was quoted as saying in Pakistan journalist Ahmed Rashid's book, Taliban. Ul-Haq agreed to help Omar and briefly shut down his school to help his students arrange passage through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan..
  6. http://www.senate.gov.pk/en/profile.php?uid=755 Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, Senate of Pakistan
  7. Book: Hussain, Zahid. Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam. 2008-07-01. Columbia University Press. 9780231142250. en.
  8. News: Westhead . Rick . Inside Pakistan's Jihad U . . 13 May 2009 . "This is not a (terrorist) training centre," says Rashid ul-Haq. His grandfather established the madrassa in 1947 and his father, Sami ul-Haq, was a Pakistani senator for 18 years and is one of Haqqani's directors..
  9. Web site: Yousafzai. Shahabullah. Khan. Hidayat. 2 November 2018. Maulana Samiul Haq – life in focus. The Express Tribune.
  10. News: Ali. Imtiaz. The Father of the Taliban: An Interview with Maulana Sami ul-Haq. Spotlight on Terror. The Jamestown Foundation website. 21 May 2018. 23 May 2007.
  11. Web site: Ali. Imtiaz. Maulana Sami ul-Haq: Father of the Taliban. Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project. Center for Strategic and International Studies. 21 May 2018. audio. 27 January 2009.
  12. News: Westhead . Rick . Inside Pakistan's Jihad U . . 13 May 2009 . In 1997, Sami ul-Haq received a phone call from Omar, the Taliban leader. The Taliban had been defeated in an attempt to capture Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Omar needed reinforcements. "Mullah Omar personally rang me to request that I let these students go to Afghanistan on leave since they are needed there," ul-Haq was quoted as saying in Pakistan journalist Ahmed Rashid's book, Taliban. Ul-Haq agreed to help Omar and briefly shut down his school to help his students arrange passage through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan..
  13. Dalrymple . William . Inside the Madrasas . The New York Review of Books. Here, straddling the noisy, truck-thundering Islamabad highway, stands the Haqqania, one of the most radical of the religious schools called madrasas. Many of the Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar, were trained at this institution..
  14. News: Siddiqui. Taha. Tahreek-e-Labbaiyak Pakistan Part 1/2: Jihadis itch for resurgence. 21 May 2018. The Express Tribune (newspaper). 11 February 2012.
  15. News: Five DPC parties plan new electoral alliance . Dawn . Maulana Sami was also among the founders of a six-party religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis Amal ahead of 2002 polls that later ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan under Musharraf regime. . 6 December 2012.
  16. Web site: Maulana Sami-ul-Haq. www.senate.gov.pk. 21 May 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20120227162751/http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowMemberDetail.asp?MemberCode=429&CatCode=0&CatName=. 27 February 2012. dmy-all.
  17. Web site: Maulana Samiul Haq. www.senate.gov.pk. 21 May 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20071209101049/http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowMemberDetail.asp?MemberCode=478&CatCode=0&CatName=. 9 December 2007. dmy-all.
  18. News: Wasim . Amir . Few election alliances this time . Dawn . 20 April 2013 . The Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM), a group of five small religious parties and groups headed by Maulana Samiul Haq of the Jamiat-Ulema-i-Islam-Sami (JUI-S), is the only electoral alliance that is fielding its candidates in the May 11 elections..
  19. Web site: Muttahida Deeni Mahaz–another Political Alliance Formed. jamhuriat.pk. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130616110725/http://www.jamhuriat.pk/groups/pakistan-politics/. 16 June 2013. dmy-all. 21 May 2018.
  20. News: Afghan govt approaches Samiul Haq to mediate in peace talks with Taliban . The Express Tribune . 1 October 2018.
  21. News: Pakistan cleric Maulana Sami ul-Haq backs polio campaign . . 10 December 2013.
  22. News: Obituary: 'Father of Afghan Taliban' who supported polio drive at home. Khan. Ismail. 2018-11-03. DAWN.COM. 2018-11-03. en-US.
  23. News: One drop at a time: Fatwa issued in favour of polio vaccination campaign. The Express Tribune. 10 December 2013. 21 May 2018.
  24. News: JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq assassinated in Rawalpindi . Geo News. 2 November 2018.
  25. News: Maulana Samiul Haq assassinated at Rawalpindi residence. Dawn.
  26. News: Slain Maulana Samiul Haq laid to rest in Darul Uloom Haqqania . . 3 November 2018.
  27. News: 'Father of Taliban' Mullah Sami ul-Haq killed in Pakistan: deputy. 2 November 2018. Jibran. Ahmed. Asif. Shahzad. Reuters. 3 April 2019.
  28. News: Politicians condemn brutal murder of JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq . Dawn . 2 November 2018.
  29. News: Farooq . Umer . Maulana Samiul Haq laid to rest . . 3 November 2018.
  30. News: Maulana Samiul Haq laid to rest, domestic staff interrogated in connection with his murder. Naseer. Tahir. 3 November 2018. DAWN.COM. 2018-11-03. en-US.
  31. Farhan Zahid, "Post-Mortem Analysis: The Assassination of Taliban Godfather Sami ul Haq" in Militant Leadership Monitor, Volume X, Issue 3 (March 2019), p. 11
  32. https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n95050364/ Sami-ul-Haq's profile

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