The Sunni Ittehad Council (''Ittehad'' in

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 ...

for "unity", from ''al-Ittihad'' in

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 ...

meaning "united" or "jointly") is a

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

of Islamic political and

Barelvi The Barelvi movement, also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement that generally adheres to the Hanafi school, Hanafi and Shafi'i school, Shafi'i schools of jurisprudenc ...

religious parties in

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# ...

which represents followers of the school of Sunni Islam. SIC was formed in 2009 in it's head office 3 Malik road Faisalabad and the current member parties of the Sunni Ittehad Council include the Aalmi Tanzeem Ahle Sunnat of Pir Afzal Qadri (of Gujrat) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. The

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

(JUP) was founded by

Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi Akhundzada Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi () (1 January 1909 – 9 October 1970) was a Muslim theology, Muslim theologian, jurist, and scholar of ahadith in Pakistan (''South Asia'').Zebiri, Kate. Review of ''Maududi and the making of Isl ...

. Later, it broke into many factions. One of the breakaway 'F' faction of

(JUP) was established by Muhammad Fazal Karim and Haji Hanif Tayyab. Now, this faction is working under the leadership of Sahibzada Hamid Raza. Another breakaway 'M' faction of

was working under Sayyid Mahfooz Shah Sahib Mashahdi (Peer of Bhikhi Sharif, Mandi Bahaudin). It also became part of Sunni Ittehad Council. After the 2024 election, the winning independent candidates supported by PTI joined this party at

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

's behest.

Actions

In December 2011, the Sunni Ittehad Council launched a countrywide " Difa-e-Pakistan campaign" to create public awareness against

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

attacks on Pakistan’s border military posts in Mohmand Agency. They also decided to hold a "Condemn America Day" on the 23rd of that month. Those NATO attacks killed over two dozens Pakistani soldiers. Sunni Ittehad Council's chairman, Sahibzada Fazal Kareem, presided this decision wherein it was taken at an 'All Parties Conference' of many parties of Ahle Sunnat

school of thought A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement. ...

. The US government website Usaspending.gov shows that the Sunni Ittehad Council received $36,607 from Washington in 2009. Sunni Ittehad Council had organized anti-Taliban rallies in Pakistan in the past. But the council later demonstrated in support of Mumtaz Qadri who killed the liberal politician Salman Taseer for his criticism of anti-blasphemy laws in Pakistan.US aided Pakistan group which supported extremists
Dawn (newspaper), Published 11 January 2012, Retrieved 11 December 2018 According to a Hudson Institute report, "A few days after the assassination, leading religious groups led a demonstration of over fifty thousand people in Karachi in support of the

blasphemy law A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of Reverence (attitude), reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Re ...

. During the rally, Qadri was lionized as a Muslim hero, while rally leaders sternly warned the crowds against mourning Taseer, whom they claimed had deviated from Islam." In September 2011, the Council reacted to rumors that the United States might invade Pakistan in an attempt to put down terrorist networks in the country. The Council issued a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

, stating that

jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

against the US would become obligatory, where the country would encroach upon Pakistani soil, urging the Pakistani government to prepare the nation for a holy war "in the way of God." On 12 October 2012, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against the Taliban gunmen who tried to kill

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai (; , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, ...

. Islamic scholars from the Sunni Ittehad Council publicly denounced attempts by the Pakistani Taliban to mount religious justifications for the shooting of Yousafzai and two of her classmates. On 19 February 2024, PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan announced that its party-backed independent candidates in the 2024 general election would join Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) as part of their parliamentary strategy. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) submitted on 22 February the joining certificates of independent members aligning with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to the

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

(ECP). According to details provided by the PTI Secretariat, a total of 86 independent members have pledged allegiance to the Sunni Ittehad Council for the National Assembly. Simultaneously, certificates of 105 members of the SIC for the Punjab Assembly and 85 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have been submitted. Moreover, the joining certificates of 9 independent members of the Sindh Assembly have also been presented to the Election Commission, further solidifying the SIC's presence in key legislative bodies.

Division

Due to some political divisions, the Sunni Ittehad Council broke into two. One faction, led by Sayyid Muhammad Mahfooz Shah Sahib of Bhikki Shareef, declared that Sahibza Conference Kareem and Haji Hanif Tayyab had been removed from their positions due to an attempt to create an alliance with the PML(Q) without the prior permission of the member parties of the Sunni Ittehad Council, along with a host of other allegations. Sahibzada Fazal Kareem, therefore, established one group Sunni Ittehad Council (F), while Sayyid Mahfzooz Shah made another group called Sunni Ittehad Council (M). Fazal Kareem later died and the leadership of the Sunni Ittehad Council (F) was given to Sahibzada Hamid Raza.Sunni Ittehad Council accepts Taliban challenge of debate
Dunya TV News website, Updated 13 November 2013, Retrieved 12 December 2018

Ideology

As the Sunni Ittehad Council is an alliance of several religious parties, it follows

right-wing politics Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

, and advocates for the involvement of religion in politics. The party follows the

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

denomination of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and as Sunni parties do, the SIC preaches 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 ...

of the Islamic

Muhammad in Islam In Islam, Muhammad () is venerated as the Seal of the Prophets who transmitted the Quran, eternal word of God () from the Angels in Islam, angel Gabriel () to humans and jinn. Muslims believe that the Quran, the central religious text of Isl ...

to be implemented, mostly to the Pakistani government. Although the party follows the Barelvi movement and Sunni school of thought of

, it has joined hands with parties of other denominations of Islam, most recently with the

Shia Islam 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 ...

party, the MWM, under mediation by the SIC’s ally, the PTI. The party has also openly criticized both the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

military involvement in Pakistan, while also heavily participating in anti-terrorism efforts. Following the 2022–2024 political unrest in

, the SIC voiced support for

and the PTI. The SIC is heavily involved in supporting Imran Khan especially after the 2024 Pakistani general election.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunni Ittehad Council 2009 establishments in Pakistan Islamic political parties in Pakistan Sunni Islamic political parties Barelvi political parties Political party alliances in Pakistan Political parties of minorities in Pakistan