Shaykh Abdur Rahman, also known as Abdur Rahman Shaykh, (died 30 March 2007) was the leader and the administrative head of the banned

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (''Awakened Muslim Masses of Bangladesh'').

Biography

Rahman was educated in Islamic

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

and law at

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. After being highly critical of the

Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Jam ...

for what he deemed as its patronization 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 ...

and

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

of Islamic values and principles, he soon formed the JMJB, taking initiatives to form an all-Islamic state based upon only the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and the

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

. However, the group soon gained notoriety because of its radical fundamentalist activities, including murder and torture of opponents.

Militant activity

* On 17 August 2005, this group claimed responsibility for more than 500 bombings across

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. The government of Bangladesh banned the organization, and declared awards for the capture of Rahman. * In late 2005, Rahman has been blamed for masterminding several more bomb attacks, including the first

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

in Bangladesh. * Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai set up organisational bases and militant training camps in madrasas and in remote areas of the country, mostly in the dense forests and hilly areas. They translated their plan into action with the help of huge funds from foreign countries that were meant for building mosques and madrasas.

Capture

On 2 March 2006, Rahman was arrested in Shaplabagh,

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

by the

Rapid Action Battalion Rapid Action Battalion (; abbreviated as RAB) is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Bangladesh Police, Border Guard ...

Death

JMB leaders Shaykh Abdur Rahman and Siddique ul-Islam alias

Bangla Bhai Siddique ul-Islam (), known popularly as Azizur Rahman ( in Arabic) or Bangla Bhai () (1970 – 30 March 2007), was a Bangladeshi jihadist and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical Islamist organization Jagrata Muslim Ja ...

had been given death sentences for the killings of two assistant judges in Jhalakathi. Along with five other militants, Shaykh Abdur Rahman was executed by hanging on 30 March 2007.

Legacy

Dabiq', the official magazine of the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

, has published an article titled "The Revival of Jihad in Bengal". In the article the magazine identified Shaykh Abdur Rahman as the founder of jihad in Bangladesh and asked its followers to carry on his legacy through jihad.

References

2007 deaths Year of birth missing Bangladeshi Islamists Sunni Islamists Executed Bangladeshi people People executed by Bangladesh by hanging 21st-century executions by Bangladesh Leaders of jihadist groups {{Bangladesh-bio-stub