World Biography:

Abdul Rashid Ghazi

(1964-2007)


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World Biography
 
Abdul Rashid Ghazi

(1964-2007)

 

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Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi--(1964-July 11, 2007)

 

Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi was an Islamic cleric who is best known as the leader of the Islamic militants involved in the Siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan in July, 2007.

Abdul Ghazi was the son of a cleric, Maulana Abdullah, who founded Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in the 1960s and led the mosque until his assassination in 1998. Maulana Abdullah was heavily involved in recruiting Mujahadeen fighters for the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) against the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He was also allied with an anti-Shiite terror group in Pakistan. Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslim, and relations between Sunni and Shiite Pakistanis are often tense, and frequently deadly.

Ghazi grew up rebelling against his father's strict Islamic teachings, leading a secular, or non-religious lifestyle. After his father's death, Ghazi returned to an Islamic lifestyle, encouraged by his brother, Abdul Aziz, who had inherited leadership of the Red Mosque from their father.

Ghazi and his followers challenged the government of Pakistani President Musharraf by enforcing their own brand of justice based on Sharia, or Islamic law. They acted as vigilantes in the name of Islamic morality, or at least morality as defined by Abdul Ghazi in Islamabad, and challenged the government for its support of American and other allied forces in Afghanistan. Ghazi and his followers were at least sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaida, if not actively allied to them.

After the 2001 American-led invasion of Afghanistan, Ghazi and his brother became leaders of a growing Islamic movement in Pakistan. Although the Pakistani government was allied to the U.S., Ghazi's anger at President Musharaff's regime reached a peak with the beginning of the Waziristan War in 2004, as the Pakistani Army attempted to gain control of the semi-autonomous border with Afghanistan. The main opponents of the army were local tribes, Taliban forces, and mostly foreign al-Qaida fighters.

Ghazi issued a fatwa, which is a religious order issued by an Islamic cleric, which stated that Pakistani soldiers killed in combat against the militants were to be considered "killed," while the militants they fought were to be honored as "martyrs" when they died in combat. Not long after this fatwa, the Pakistani government accused Ghazi of plotting to kill the president, and presented as evidence a truck filled with explosives which they claimed belonged to the Red Mosque leader.

On July 3, 2007, tensions with the government led to the start of the Siege of the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid). Ghazi and his militant followers barricaded themselves and hundreds of women and children inside the mosque in defiance of the Pakistani government. On July 10, the Pakistani Army stormed the Red Mosque, and cleared it of militants in a room-by-room battle that left one hundred dead, including the leader of the Red Mosque, Abdul Ghazi.

His funeral was performed by his brother, Abdul Aziz, who was under heavy guard as a government prisoner due to his militant activities.

Copyright © 1998-2006 Roger A. Lee and History Guy Media; Last Modified: 07.27.07

Citation

Lee, R. "World Biography: Abdul Rashid Ghazi (1964-2007)"

http://www.worldbiography.net/ghazi_abdul_rashid.html  

Family

Maulana Abdullah (-1998)--Father

Siblings

Maulana Abdul Aziz

Children

Harron--Son

Haris --Son

Hamza--Son

Qayanat--Daughter

Links and Resources on Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi

Obituary: Abdul Rashid Ghazi --from the BBC

Abdul Rashid Ghazi--Wikipedia Article

Aziz performs last rites of his brother --By Shafqat Ali, Friday July 13

The Road to Lal Masjid and its Aftermath--By Hassan Abbas at Global Terrorism Monitor

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Copyright © 1998-2006 Roger A. Lee and History Guy Media
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Date Last Modified: 11/12/2006