Haq Nawaz Jhangvi

Who is Haq Nawaz Jhangvi?

Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was a Pakistani Sunni Islamic scholar who founded an Islamic organization Sipah-e-Sahaba in the 1980s.

Haq Nawaz was born in 1952 in Chela, a village in the Jhang District of Punjab, Pakistan. He graduated from the Jamia Khair al-Madaris in Multan in 1971. Haq Nawaz joined the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam and started teaching at a madrasah in Toba Tek Singh in 1972. In 1973 he became the imam and khatib of a Deobandi mosque in mohalla Piplianwala in the city of Jhang Saddar. Before he began focusing his preaching against Shias, he was active in the Khatm-i Nabuwwat movement against Ahmadis and also spoke out against practices of Barelvis.

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Jhangvi began attacking Iran, accusing it of exporting its revolution. He directed his attacks against Shia beliefs and rituals, as well as against Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's Supreme Leader. Locally, he targeted the Shah Jewna family and the district administration.

Jhangvi also began addressing social problems, becoming extremely popular with people who did not otherwise support his ideology, including local Shias. He emerged as a credible alternative to the local feudal families.