Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani (1959 – December 18, 1998) was a Filipino Islamist militant who was the chief founder and leader of the

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and piracy, pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and B ...

militant organization until his death in 1998 by Filipino police. Upon his death his brother, Khadaffy Janjalani, took control of the organization.

Early life and career

Janjalani was born on the Filipino island of

Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan (; ; ; ), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago ...

to a Tau Sūg

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

father and a Ilonggo Christian mother; his presumed year of birth, 1959, is still subject to dispute. A former teacher, he studied theology and Arabic in Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia during the 1980s. He also was named "Abu Sayyaf" by his students.

Terrorism career

Background

When Janjalani was born, he was raised in a time of turmoil, when much of the Moro Muslim population of the southern

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

felt alienated and neglected and as a result angered which led to the rise of several armed Moro rebel groups fighting against the Filipino government including a warrior which was captured by the Philippine government as a pirate but was seen as a hero by his group. After an unsuccessful independence bill, he started to fight against what he saw as the "Christian government of the Philippines oppressing the Muslim minority". Following studies in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, he went to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, where he was lured and allegedly trained by a terrorist group, also meeting

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

Career

When he returned to the Philippines in 1990, Janjalani was able to attract many Moro

youth to join his organization. Janjalani was also allegedly given $6 million by Osama bin Laden to establish the organization

as an offshoot of the wider

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

network. Janjalani had allegedly met Bin Laden in

in the late 1980s and allegedly fought alongside him against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

during the Soviet-Afghan War. At the time of his death, he was the country's most wanted man, with a bounty of 1.5 million pesos on his head.

References

External links

Asia Times: "Philippines the second front in war on terror?"
1959 births 1998 deaths Tausūg people Abu Sayyaf members Filipino Islamists Filipino Muslims Leaders of jihadist groups People from Basilan Salafi jihadists {{Philippines-paramilitary-bio-stub People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the Philippines