Syed Syed may refer to: * Seyd, alternative for Sayyid (name) * Alternative for Sayyid, an honorific title * Ahsan Ali Syed (born 1973), Indian businessman * Ghulam Murtaza Syed (1904-1995), prominent Sindhi politician * Ibrahim Bijli Syed (born 1939) ...

Arif Hussain Al Hussaini (; 25 November 1946 – 5 August 1988) was a

Twelver Shīʿā Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the largest branch of Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as th ...

Islamic Jurist Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion worldwide and are the world's second-largest religious populatio ...

, and Islamic

Revolutionist A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

Political leader of

Shia Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He is also known as Khomanei-e-Pakistan for his activities, which earned him the reputation of being one of the most prominent advocates for the Shia population of

and

Islamic revival Islamic revival ('' '', lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also ', "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion, usually centered around enforcing sharia. A leader of a revival is known in Islam as a '' mujaddid''. Within the Is ...

of the

Ja'fari The Jaʿfarī school, also known as the Jafarite school, Jaʿfarī fiqh () or Ja'fari jurisprudence, is a prominent school of jurisprudence (''fiqh'') within Twelver and Ismaili (including Nizari) Shia Islam, named after the sixth Imam, Ja'far ...

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

in the country. He viewed the ideas of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

as evil, which he understood to be the influence of Western and Soviet imperialism. He was assassinated in 1988 at aged 41.

Family background and education

Family background

Allama Syed Arif Hussain al-Hussaini was born on 25 November 1946 in the village of

Pewar Pewar is a village located 16 km from Parachinar, the capital city of Kurram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Situated on a narrow stretch of Pakistani territory south of Peshawar, Pewar borders Paktia Province in Afghanistan. It is the ...

, Kurram,

Parachinar Parachinar (; ) is a city and the capital of the Kurram District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Parachinar is situated on the west of Peshawar, that juts into the Paktia, Logar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. With ...

into the house of Fazal Hussain Shah. His family belongs to the

Husseini Husseini (also spelled Hussaini people's, Husaini, Hecini, Hosseini , Houssaini or Husayni, ) is an Arabic surname. Etymology It is a nisba derivation of the given name Hussein or Husain from the name of Imam Husain ibn Ali. People with the surn ...

branch of

Syeds ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan and Husayn. The title may also refer to the descendants of the fam ...

, which trace descent to the fourth Shi'a imam,

Zayn al-‘Ābidīn Zayn al-Abidin may also refer to: * Ali al-Sajjad, also known by as Zayn al-Abidin, was the fourth imam in Shia Islam * Zayn al-Abidin the Great (1395–1470), ninth sultan of Kashmir who ruled from 1418 to 1419 and then from 1420 to 1470 * Zainu ...

. The specific local branch name was Duparzai. He was Fluent in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Education

Hussaini received his primary education from his home town government primary school and later went on to

to complete his matriculation. Later, he got an admission into the Madressa Jafria Parachinar from where he went to the Iraqi city of

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

for further studies. In Iraq, he studied under figures such as Aqai Lashkarani,

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

, Ayatollah Madani, Ayatollah Mortazavi, and Sheikh Ashraf Asphahani. In 1973, he returned home and married, and a year later went to the holy city of

Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...

, Iran to join the Hauza Ilmia. In 1975 and 1977, he performed the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

Najaf Period

Staying for a while in Parachinar Madressah in 1967, Allama Arif ul Hussain Al Hussaini decided to further his religious studies and with his teacher Maulana Ghulam Hussain he departed for

and also met

Imam Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. “Madressah Abdul Aziz Baghdadi" was where he began his early Islamic education. Then Hussaini was admitted in “Madressah e Shabbiriah" in

Return to Pakistan

Hussaini returned to Pakistan in 1977 to mobilize the Shia community. In the same year, he became the first person to recite a ''majlis'' in Pashto, which is unusual given that the vast majority of

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

are

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

rather than Shia but he was also a strong promoter of shia-sunni unity. He also leveraged funding from the Shia Pakistani diaspora in the Persian Gulf to create the Alamdar Foundation in his hometown of Parachinar.

Leadership of Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan

In a meeting of 28 people called in

Bhakkar Bhakkar () is the principal city of Bhakkar District, Punjab, Pakistan. It lies on the left bank of the Indus River. It is the 86th most populous city in Pakistan. Administration Bhakkar is the administrative centre of Bhakkar Tehsil, which ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, Allama Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini was given the leadership of

Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan (; TJP), formerly Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafaria Arif Hussaini/Sajid Naqvi Group (TNFJ Sajid Naqvi Group) was the Shia political party in Pakistan from 1979 to 2000. Belonging to the Ja'fari school of Islamic jurisprudence ...

(TJP) by the recommendation of Grand Ayatollah

Muhammad Hussain Najafi Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Muhammad Hussain Najafi (; 10 April 1932 – 21 August 2023) was a Pakistani Twelver Shia Marja. Muhammad Hussain Najafi was running a Hawza in Sargodha. Najafi was included in all the editions of " The Muslim 500: The ...

, after five months the death of Mufti Jafar Hussain on 10 February, 1984, in Bhakkar. An ideological split divided the movement into two groups: one headed by Hamid Moosavi, the follower of

Ayatollah Shariatmadari Sayyid Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari (), also spelled Shariat-Madari (5 January 1906 – 3 April 1986), was an Iranian Grand Ayatollah. He favoured the traditional Shiite practice of keeping clerics away from governmental positions and was a crit ...

; the other headed by Hussaini, the follower of Khomeini’s teachings. Under Hussaini, the party began to accept

members, but it remained religious organisation. In 1986 The Allama Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini and his party especially welcomed and met the Ayatollah

Ali Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...

during his three day visit to

. As leader of

(TJP), Allama Arif Hussain Al Hussaini continued to advocate for Muslim unity and throughout his life, united them under one banner, He also organized the Quran-O-Sunnat Conference in 1987 alongside Sunni Scholars to convey the message of Islamic Unity and Iran's

Islamic revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Im ...

, It was attended by majority peoples of the different sects from all over Pakistan. In 1988 after the assassination of Allama Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini the Supreme Council of Shiite clergy of Pakistan elected the Allama

Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi () is a Pakistani Shia Islamic scholar from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He is the founder and leader of Islami Tehreek Pakistan also Patron-in-Chief of Shia Ulema Council. His main objective is to create an Islamic rule and has advo ...

as the leader of

(TJP).

Death

Arif Hussain Al Hussaini was assassinated in

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

on 5 August 1988 at the time of

Fajr prayer The fajr prayer, alternatively transliterated as fadjr prayer, and also known as the subh prayer, is a salah (ritual prayer) offered in the early morning. Consisting of two rak'a ("bows"), it is performed between the break of dawn and sunrise. ...

. He was at the stairs of his seminary, coming down from his residence at first floor, when two assailants opened fire on him. The assailants of Hussaini escaped but were later arrested. The attackers were allegedly affiliated with

Sipah-e-Sahaba The Sipah-e-Sahaba (SS), also known as the Millat-e-Islamiyya (MI), was a banned Sunni Islamist Deobandi organisation in Pakistan. Founded by Pakistani cleric Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1989 after breaking away from Sunni Deobandi party Jamiat Ulem ...

, an anti-Shia organization in Pakistan. Hussaini died of his wounds while being transported by ambulance to a local hospital. Hussaini’s death sparked a riot by around 500 supporters who threw stones at cars and buses in the eastern city of Lahore before riot police dispersed them with tear gas. His body was taken from

to his native village of Peiwar by helicopter. The former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Zia-ul-Haq and special representatives of Imam Khomeini, Ayatullah Jannati, participated in his funeral rites. The Iranian government supported the construction of a ''

mazar Mazar of Al-Mazar may refer to: *Mazar (mausoleum), Muslim mausoleum or shrine Places * Mazar (toponymy), a component of Arabic toponyms literally meaning shrine, grave, tomb, etc. ; Afghanistan * Mazar, Afghanistan, village in Balkh Province * ...

'' over his grave in Peshawar.

Alleged Involvement of Zia-ul-Haq

It is also alleged that

Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

was also involved in the assassination of Hussaini for his Anti-American views he also had disagreements with

he claimed that the Islamization policies of Zia are in the benefit of America and its allies instead of Islam and Pakistan he believed that policies of Zia could rise a regional sectarian conflict in the future, shortly after the CIA-led

Operation Cyclone Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support ...

, Hussaini openly voiced opposition to the

Zia regime Zia or ZIA (also spelled Ziya, Ḍiya, Dia or Diya) may refer to: People * Zia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** A romanization of the Wu ( Shanghainese) pronunciation of the Chinese surname Xie (謝) ...

for supporting American-Israeli interference in the region and he also criticized 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 ...

for destabilizing the region however he stated that the

would continue to support the

Afghan mujahideen The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Ci ...

against Soviet force's in

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 ...

without the help of America and its ally's because he believed that the Pakistan's collaboration with America and its allies is like betraying Palestine.

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hussaini, Arif Pakistani Shia clerics Pakistani Shia Muslims Pakistani Islamists Pashtun politicians People from Kurram District Shia Islamists Deaths by firearm in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1946 births 1988 deaths Islamic Dawa Party Assassinated Pakistani people