Pakistan's Khwariji Mullahs Part One Maulana Tahir Ashrafi by Ahmad Imran

Pakistan used to be a majority Hanafi Sunni nation, but the last three decades beginning with the scourge of Zia-ul-Haq's US and Saudi centric government, has witnessed the rise of the Khwarijis and now the State is deeply infiltrated by these groups conflating the religious marketplace into a hideous cacophony of competing and violent confrontations. A prime example of the leading Khwariji mullah is Maulana Tahir Ashrafi who came under the lime light for many as the news of him being hauled to the hospital in an inebriated state shocked the nation. The self exiled leader of the ethnocentric secular fascist party Altaf Hussain of MQM stepped in to save the Mullah's lame cover up of an alleged abduction. The article will examine the religiosity, the theology and politics of Maulana Tahir Ashrafi and links to terror. Maulana Ashrafi The Basic Primer. Maulana Tahir Ashrafi is a well known religious personality from Pakistan who has won notoriety in Pakistani and international media for being linked with various terrorist organizations. For being a public official there is absolutely no information available about any secular or religious educational background on Maulana Ashrafi who heads the All Pakistan Ulema Council ( APUC) [1], a body that purportedly advises government of Pakistan on religious matters. The APUC neither has a website nor is there any information available about the mission statement, legislative or social policies advocated by this quasi-governmental body. Apparently, Maulana Ashrafi was elected unanimously by the Majlis-e-shura of the Pakistan Ulema Council in a secret ballot in Lahore on 12th November 2012 [2]. Its not yet clear if Majlis-e-shura is a synonym for the Pakistani Parliament or the source refers to the majlis of the Pakistan Ulema Council. The Politics. The Maulana is not a member of a political party, but has associations with the all hard ultraright wing Islamist (not Islamic) parties and their leaders in Difa-e-Pakistan (Pakistan Defense Council) which advocated shutting down NATO supply lines through Pakistan and are against Pakistan conferring the Most favored Nation status upon India. It must be remembered that many in Pakistan would also have the same except these Islamists seemed to have wrongfully spoken for all. The Maulana need not join a political party because his politics lies with his religiosity- Deobandi Islam. The Religiosity and A technical theological (fiqr) analysis would be impossible to undertake since the maulana has not authored anything that exists in the public domain. Thus his religiosity has to be extrapolated by virtue of the company he keeps which would include members of the banned terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-jangwi and Lashkar-e-taiba. The Pakistani media refers to the Ashrafi as a Deobandi, which is understandable since Deobandism is the gateway or the tool that hijacks Hanafi jurisprudence of Classical Islam for the sake of Wahabism in South Asia. For all practical purposes Ashrafi may be described as a religio-Islamist.

Another shining example of the Ashrafi's religiosity (or lack thereof) came to light in early October of 2012. Searching those stories is difficult since many of the original stories have been expunged from those sites. However, Ashrafi was apprehended at a routine traffic check post as he was returning from a party at the German embassy on his way back to Lahore. The initial reports said that the police tried to ask Umar the driver and body guard of the Maulana to explain his bosses situation after they tried to talk to him as he lay totally drunk [3] and vomiting on the back seat of his vehicle. The driver stayed loyal to his boss by not telling them of his drinking ways but simply said that the man had lost his mind. The police took him to the police station where the man in charge discovered the identity and had him transferred to a hospital for recovery. There were even reports of the police booking the driver for the alleged kidnapping as the Maulana tried to explain the strange event whereby the alleged mythical enemies of Ashrafi injected him with intoxicants. A composite hybrid story of the event is recorded by The Nation [4] newspaper. The alleged enemies failed to take videos of him drunk or harm him any other manner. In a recorded message days after the alleged kidnapping, Ashrafi tells his non-existent followers of his will to continue serving Islam and openly challenges any detractors to cough up evidence or to shut up [5]. The drunkenness of Ashrafi and its cover up in the broader media is proof positive that powerful elements not only support the mission of this man but will go to depths to control his reputation. The only person who came forward to lend any support to Ashrafi on his drunkenness debacle was the self exiled London based secular ethnocentric fascist party leader Altaf Hussain [6]. This proves a confluence of Deobandi Islamist and Secular fascists. Links To Terror Ashrafi has not been implicated in any terrorist activities, however his links to terrorism are by proxy of known terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangwi and lashkar -e-Tayyiba. Ashrafi was seen receiving the Deobandi terrorist Malik Ishaq of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) after his release from jail [7]. Ishaq had languished in jail for 14 years in which time frame the witnesses have been killed off thus the court was forced to release him due to lack of evidence. On the international front Ashrafi is linked to Mullah Hafiz Saeed who was implicated in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks along with with other allegations against Saeed and his organization Jamat ud Dawah being implicated of attacks in Kashmir. Of the 28 foreigners killed in the Mumbai attack 4 were Americans for which the Americans placed a bounty on the head of Mullah Hafiz Saeed similar to an Iranian move against the British author Salman Rushdie [8]. For a deeper understanding of jihadist and taqfiri terrorist outfits and their activities to whom Ashrafi has links to like Lashkare-e-Jhangi (LeJ) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) , please see the terrorism glossary at the end of the article. Hypocrisy , bigotry and xenophobia There seem to be two Ashrafis co-existing in one mind and body indicative of schizophrenia that emanates from Islamists' cognitive dissonance or outright double lives lived by these rabid Islamists. There is a protracted marketing of a public image to represent pious Islamic lives and then behavior and practice that sits in sharp contrast to Islamic values. There is the Ashrafi who meets civic bodies like Jinnah Institute and attends the roundtable on Reversing The Tide Of Sectarian Violence [9]. This contrasted by Ashrafi's meeting the very terrorists who are responsible for killing Shiva and Sunni alike [10]. There is the Ashrafi demanding LEJ or even my brother that is doing the killing let us hang them[11] followed by the Ashrafi who says, We must stop Iranian dogs from destroying our homeland (Pakistan) and using other foul language in addressing Shia calling them hypocrite and bastards [12]. Now the links of Deobandism with Wahabism and ilk of Afghani, Syed Qutb are widely known, so its laughable of Ashrafi to criticize Iranians and Shia, when his specific brand of ideology is

also cut from the same fabric as Iran's Khomeini. Ashrafi does not see the difference between Imami Shia and Islamist Shia, nor does he differentiate Iranian Shia from Pakistani. So either Ashrafi is a complete ignoramus on theological and doctrinal issues or its not his prerogative not to bring these issues to light. Regardless of what the case might be, Ashrafi's silence on this matter is cause of concern. Clash of Islamists As stated earlier Ashrafi may be deemed a religio-Islamist or a pseudo-theocrat and thus he sits in opposition to the politico-Islamists. Ashrafi issued an open challenge to Sir Zaid Hamid who is working on a Caliphate in Pakistan [ 13]. Both are Islamists or Khwarijis but they differ in their specific ideological (strategic) and tactical approaches. Ashrafi's close terrorist friend of LeJ Malik Ishaq is seen jockeying for position within the heretical Deobandi circles in the form of escalation of violence between the Sipah Sahaba group wounding Aurangzeb Faruqi and killing of his two body guards in Karachi [14]. Obviously there is no honor or sanctity of life even within fellow taqfiri jihadist circles. Clash of Islamists and Muslims It should be interesting to note as to why would Ashrafi criticize Maulana Tahir ul Qadri? It would be clear to all that Tahir ul Qadri represents the Sufi sympathetic version of Hanafi jurisprudence (fiqh) of Classical Islam and Ashrafi does so by claiming, When the Shaykhul Islam is someone like Tahir ul Qadri and the grand Mufti is like Munib-ur-Rehman, you will not find Islam (i.e Sunni Barelvis do not represent Islam or Muslims) [15]. Ashrafi does not want to dwell on the DeobandiWahabi nexus [16] , nor does he want to bring light to Wahabi-Qutbi nexus [17]. The likes of Ashrafi do not want Muslims to know that Iran's Khomeini, Deobandis,Wahabis and the Ikhwanists have more in common than the Khwarijis ( Islamists) want to acknowledge. Conclusion Pakistanis and Muslims including Shia and Sunni alike are increasingly beginning to question the doctrines and politics of lowly Khwarijis like Ashrafi. Moreover, they are beginning to wonder why the likes of these Khwarijis are in positions of power over them when the Khwarijis are obviously a minority among them. What are the Muslims to do when the likes of Reuters ascribe the ilk of Ashrafi as moderate [18] when clearly there is nothing Islamic nor moderate about the man. Its not that Ashrafi does not know theology or cannot distinguish nuances within Sunni Islam or does not respect or understand Shia Islam despite its differences with Sunni Islam, but Deobandi gateway Wahabis act as totalitarians claiming legitimacy solely for themselves and denying it to all others. Now its been proven and shown beyond a benefit of the doubt that there exists a rhetoric and narrative of pluralistic Islamic governance but it is contrasted by actions sustained in pathological bigotry, xenophobia and chauvinism. This also proves that Pakistan is not a functioning democracy but a top down elitist tyranny of the Islamist minority in which the Inter Services Intelligence acts as the fifth column of governance. The lowly theology of Deobandism, the lowly intellectual acumen, and the uncouth mannerisms of Tahir Ashrafi would win Tahir Ashrafi the epithet of the The Deobandi Imposter Mullah. We the Muslims who follow Classical Islam hereby categorically reject the Deobandi religioIslamists like Tahir Ashrafi in religious piety, the type of religiosity, and politics and demand that Pakistan be led by people who are more representative of the people.

Sources Cited [1] http://wikiislam.net/wiki/All_Pakistan_Ulema_Council [2] http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\11\12\story_12-11-2012_pg7_23 [3] http://criticalppp.com/archives/229959 [4] http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/06-Oct2012/police-take-guard-as-kidnapper [5] http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu707o_allama-tahir-ashrafi-1st-response-after-kidnappingattempt_news#.UXD368pcdHQ [6] http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-70460-Altaf-denounces-Maulana-Tahir-Ashrafis-kidnapping [7] http://criticalppp.com/archives/226306 [8] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/hafiz-saeed-bounty_n_1398693.html [9] http://www.jinnah-institute.org/programs/open-democracy-initiative/535-roundtable-on-reversingthe-tide-of-sectarian-violence [10] http://criticalppp.com/archives/226306 [11] http://criticalppp.com/archives/244113 [12] http://criticalppp.com/archives/237831 [13] http://youtu.be/7wW-Wi2FOHM [14] http://criticalppp.publici.com/content/intra-deobandi-rivalry-karachi-results-attack-aurangzebfarooqi-ali-k-chishti-jumps-mediate [15] http://criticalppp.com/archives/237831 [16] http://ofthedevil.com/Book-Reviews/india-and-the-deobandi-wahabi-nexus.html [17] http://ofthedevil.com/Forum/view/50/IslamoFascists/Saud/Wahabism/Salafism/Khawarijis/2110/Rashid-Rida-took-money-from-Ibn-Saud.html [18] http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/20/uk-pakistan-polio-idUKBRE8BI08T20121220

Terrorist Glossary Lashkar-e-Jhangvi http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-profile-of-lashkar-i-jhangvi-leader-malik-ishaq http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-profile-of-pakistan%E2%80%99s-lashkar-i-jhangvi-2 http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/12/pakistan_blames_anti_shia_al_q.php

Lashkar e taiba http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/lashkar.htm https://www.fas.org/irp/news/2003/12/fr122303.html http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32259.pdf http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42116.pdf http://www.cfr.org/pakistan/lashkar-e-taiba-army-pure-aka-lashkar-e-tayyiba-lashkar-e-toiba-lashkar-taiba/p17882