Haq Nawaz Jhangvi

Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was born in 1952 in Chela, a village in the Jhang District of Punjab, Pakistan, into a small land-holding family of the Jat-Sipra clan, but his father was unknown, till date no one know about his father and he memorized the Qur'an by heart in two years before studying Qur'anic recitation and Arabic grammar and pursuing higher Islamic studies at the Darul Ulum Kabirwala, where he spent five years, and Khair ul Madariss Multan, where he spent seven years mainly focusing on hadith, becoming an imam at a Toba Tek Singh mosque and later a khatib in a Jhang mosque, in 1973.[2]

Jhangvi joined the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam during the 1970s, and before he began focusing his preaching against Shia, he was active in the Khatm-i Nabuwwat movement against Ahmadis.[3]

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Jhangvi began attacking the Iran by accusing it of exporting its revolution. He directed his attacks against Shia beliefs and civilians, as well as against Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's Supreme Leader. Locally, he targeted the Shah Jewna family and the district administration and became extremely popular among local residents.[3]

Jhangvi also began preaching and became popular among Sunni Muslims, who were willing to support him in his cause. He became vocal against local Shias.[3] Jhangvi founded Anjuman-i Sipah-i Sahabah in Jhang on 6 September 1985.[3][4]

On 23 February 1990, Jhangvi was assassinated by suspected Shia militants.

SSP members Riaz Basra and Akram Lahori formed their own organization in 1996, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, named after Jhangvi, a group known as one of the most lethal sectarian groups in Pakistan.[5]

Masood Azhar, a radical Islamic scholar and one of the most wanted men by India for his activities, has been described as "an old devotee of Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi."[6]

His son Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi is also a politician and want to continue his father's legacy, but describes himself as less sectarian when it comes to the Shias.[7]

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