Motasim Billah Mazhabi is a citizen of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

who was a candidate in Afghanistan's 2009 Presidential elections.

Academic career

Mutasimbillah is from a family of religious scholars, and received religious instruction from his father Maulana Mohammad Ataullah Faizani and his uncle Maulana Gul Muhammad Kakar. He also attended a secular high school in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. He earned a degree in economics from the Logistics and Military Economics Faculty of the Military University in Kabul.

Public service

Mutasimbillah left Afghanistan for

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 ...

in 1985. He also spent time in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He founded the magazine '' Balagh'' in 1993. It is currently published in

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

language editions, in Kabul. According to a profile from the ''

Pajhwok Afghan News , logo = , image = , image_size = , type = Independent news agency , headquarters = Kabul, Afghanistan , language = English, Dari, Pashto , founded = 2003 , founder = Danish Karokhel , ...

'' Mutasimbillah worked on behalf of Afghans and Afghan expatriates, helping to found a school and a clinic for refugees in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, Pakistan, and a clinic in

Paktia Province Paktia (Pashto/Dari: – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly ...

. He helped found the Arianna Rehabilitation Association for Afghanistan in 1992. He founded the Shahid Ghulam Dastagir High School in

in the year 1993. He helped found the Islamic Council of the People of Afghanistan in 1996, and was its president until 1998.

Presidential candidacy, 2009

During the 2009 Presidential elections he stood 13th in a field of 38. He won 7,841 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazhabi, Motasim Billah Afghan economists Magazine publishers (people) 1964 births Living people Afghan expatriates in Pakistan 21st-century Afghan politicians