Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (Fazl) also Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) or simply as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' JUI-F) is a Deobandi Sunni

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Established as the ''Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam'' in 1945, it is the result of a factional split in 1988, ''F'' standing for the name of its leader, Fazal-ur-Rehman. It is almost entirely based in southern

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

and northern

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, which are mostly inhabited by

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

. The

JUI-S Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (S) ( ur, جمیعت علماءِ اسلام (س)) commonly known as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) is a political party in Pakistan. It was established in 1980, as a breakway faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) founded ...

faction, led by Samiul Haq, is of regional significance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but has no representation on the national level. The split of JUI into two factions was due to dissent over the policy of Pakistani president

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

of supporting Mujahideen outfits in the Afghanistan war during the 1980s. One of its faction,

Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Nazryati Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Nazryati ( ur, جمیعت علماءِ اسلام نظریاتی ) was a political party in Pakistan. It was formed by Maulana Asmatullah Khan after leaving Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. It was formed as a breakaway faction of JUI ...

(JUI-N), split in 2007 and merged back into JUI-F in 2016. On 29 December 2020,

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUIP) is a political party in Pakistan. It was established on 29 December 2020 as a breakway faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F), which was led by Fazl-ur-Rehman. The founder and chairman of JUIP is Muha ...

(JUI-P) split as a separate political party under the leadership of Muhammad Khan Sherani.

History

Formation

The JUI follows the Deobandi school of Sunni Islam. In Pakistan, Deobandis have a presence in

(KP), Sindh, and

. The JUI traces its roots to politically active Deobandi who formed the

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari F ...

(JUH) in 1919 in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The JUH was against colonialism and for a united India, opposing the formation of a separate homeland for

Indian Muslims Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, approximately 172.2 million people identifying as adherents of Islam in 2011 Census. India is also the country with the second or third largest number of Muslim ...

. A faction supporting the

creation of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a List of historical separatist movements, political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslims, Muslim-majority a ...

parted ways in 1945 to support the All Indian Muslim League. This faction came to be known as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI).

United JUI

JUI's first president,

Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (11 October 188713 December 1949) was an Islamic scholar who supported the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s. He was a religious scholar, writer, orator, politician, and expert in Tafsir and Hadith. Born in 1887 in Bijnor, U ...

, broke away from the party in 1947 to form the Markazi Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (MJUI), which played a key position in the passage of the Objectives Resolution of 1949 that laid down the "Islamic" foundations of future constitutions in Pakistan. The JUI became more politically active under Maulana Mufti Mahmood (1919–1980), who assumed its leadership in 1962. Under Mahmood during the 1960s the party "developed a strong presence" and base of support among the "intensely conservative countryside" of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Mahmood led the JUI against Ayub Khan's modernization policies. The JUI also participated in the 1970 elections with the Islamist

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami (JI; Urdu: , "Islamic Congress"), or Jamaat as it is simply known, is an Islamist political party which is based in Pakistan and it is the Pakistani successor to Jamaat-e-Islami, which was founded in colonial India in 1941. It ...

party and the

Barelvi The Barelvi movement ( ur, بَریلوِی, , ), also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, with strong Suf ...

Sunni religious party

Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) ( ur, ) is a Islamist political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1948 by leaders of All India Sunni Conference. JUP exercised considerable political influence in Pakistani politics during 1970s to 2003. Its stude ...

(JUP). It won seven seats in the National Assembly and nine in the provincial assemblies and became a partner in the NWFP and Balochistan provincial governments. International Crisis Group, Islamic Parties in Pakistan, p.11 Mufti Mahmood was sworn in as NWFP chief minister. Under him, the provincial government established a board to bring all laws in conformity with Islam. He resigned in 1973 over Bhutto’s dismissal of the Balochistan provincial government.

Split into JUI-F and JUI-S

During the 1980s, the JUI supported some of General Zia ul Haq's policies, including his anti-Soviet Jihad in Afghanistan. Additionally, official patronage and financial support for

madrassas Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

during the Zia years allowed the JUI to build thousands of madrassas, especially in the NWFP (now KPK), which were instrumental in the formation of the Taliban. At the same time the JUI was distrustful of Zia's close ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami and joined the anti-Zia and PPP-led

Movement for the Restoration of Democracy The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) ( ur, اتحاد برائے بحالی جمہوریت), was a historically left-wing populism and massive socialist political alliance formed to oppose and end the military government of Preside ...

(MRD). Following the death of Mufti Mehmood Ahmed in 1980s, This dual relationship with Zia's regime eventually led to a split in the party which came to be divided into the JUI-F, headed by Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and the

headed by Samiul Haq, who supported Zia and was a member in his parliament, the Majlis-e-Shura.

JUI-F renamed to JUI

However, after the assassination of JUI-S chief Samiul Haq in 2018, the activities of his faction gradually died down. This lead Moulana Fazal-ur-Rehman to successfully plead before

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ; ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, l ...

(ECP) to get his JUI-F faction renamed as JUI in March 2019.

Madrassas

Over the years the JUI-S has maintained that it is more committed to enforcing Sharia in the country than the JUI-F faction. JUI-S influence is largely restricted to a few districts of

(KPK), whereas the JUI-F is predominant in the Pashtun areas of

and KPK. Both factions of the JUI have a large network of madrassas and mosques that provide the main basis for its religious activism and politics. The two JUIs run over 65 percent of all madrassas in Pakistan. About 30,000 Afghan students from JUI-controlled madrassas (both JUI-F and JUI-S) in Pakistan joined the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. JUI party workers and leaders are mostly products of the madrassa system, although the JUI-F has often fielded candidates from a mainstream educational background. Both JUI factions have backed other India-oriented Deobandi militant groups, particularly the

Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Harkat-ul-Mujahideen- al-Islami ( ur, ; HUM) is a Pakistan-based Islamic jihad group operating primarily in Kashmir.Jaish-e-Mohammad Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000." Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azhar ...

, with JUI madrassas providing recruits for them. They are closely associated with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban movement was reportedly started by graduates of JUI seminaries. Samiul Haq (of the JUI-S) is the leader of the

Darul Uloom Haqqania Darul Uloom Haqqania or Jamia Dar al-Ulum Haqqania ( ur, ) is an Islamic Seminary ( darul uloom or madrasa) in the town of Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, northwestern Pakistan. The seminary propagates the Hanafi Deobandi schoo ...

madrassa in Akora Khattak, from where many of the top leaders of Taliban commanders and leaders graduated. In contrast to Maulana Samiul Haq and his JUI-S openly supporting militarism, the JUI-F has a policy of not supporting militant activity and of promoting multi-party electoral politics.

Peace deals

The JUI-F has also played a role in brokering peace deals between the military and militants in Pakistan's tribal belt. For instance, in 2004, two JUI-F national parliamentarians from South Waziristan arranged a deal (known as the Shakai agreement) with the Pakistani Taliban leadership and in September 2006 the JUI-F helped broker a similar deal in North Waziristan. These deals have been criticized for legitimizing "the status of the local militants as power-brokers". JUI-F leader Fazlur Rahman is also reportedly involved in negotiating agreements between the Pakistani Taliban and military and the Afghan Taliban and the US. On the political front, the JUI-F has been more successful than the JUI-S. Fazlur Rahman, leader of the JUI-F, was appointed as Chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs in the second government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1993–96).

History since 2002

The JUI-F was also the largest party in the MMA, winning 41 seats in the National Assembly and 29 of the MMA's 48 seats in NWFP in the 2002 elections. Subsequently, Fazlur Rahman became the Leader of the Opposition in 2004 and retained the post till 2007. The JUI-F was also part of the current ruling PPP coalition but left the government amidst charges of corruption against one of its members, and information technology minister of the federal cabinet. In return for JUI-F support, the PPP-led government-appointed Maulana Sherani, a JUI-F senator without any formal academic training in Islamic jurisprudence, as chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology in 2010. Sherani has frequently spoken out against the government’s legislative efforts, particularly those related to women. He opposed a proposed bill on domestic violence stating that domestic violence was not a major issue in Pakistan until women's rights groups appeared and "created" it and that any such legislation hinders the creation of a "true Islamic society". Even though the JUI-F no longer remained a coalition partner of PPP, Fazlur Rahman chaired the Kashmir committee during the PPP government and even held the position till the end of PML-N's government in 2018. Both factions of the JUI have frequently come together on a common platform to oppose American drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas, viewing it as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. For example, following the 2 May 2011 U.S. raid in Abbottabad that led to Osama Bin Laden's killing, the JUI-F, and the JUI-S participated in a multi-party conference in Peshawar, condemning the drone strikes and calling on the government to end logistical support to NATO troops in Afghanistan. On the domestic front, members of the JUI-F have been vocal critics of changes in the blasphemy laws. Fazlur Rahman remained silent until his party left the ruling coalition in December 2010, after which he criticized proposals to amend the blasphemy law. The JUI-F has also opposed the passage of a bill aimed at preventing domestic violence with its members vowing to fight it "tooth and nail" as, according to them, its passage would "promote Western culture in the Islamic state." In 2008, a further (minor) split of JUI-F resulted in the formation of a third faction, known as Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Nazryati, JUI-N ("N" for ''Nazryati'' "Ideological").

2020 Karak temple attack

In 2020, a mob of local Muslims led by a local Islamic cleric and supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party attacked the historic Hindu temple in the Karak district. Twelve people were arrested in the aftermath. More first information report , FIRs were registered against over 350 people. Following this attack the "Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill" was introduced in the Senate of Pakistan to avoid similar attack on minority worship places. But the Senate Standing Committee headed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri turned down the bill saying existing laws were enough to protect minorities.

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

References

Publications

External links

* {{Authority control Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam 1988 establishments in Pakistan Islamic political parties in Pakistan Far-right political parties in Pakistan Political parties established in 1988 Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Deobandi organisations fr:Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam