# Abdul Rashid Ghazi

Mawlānā Abdul Rashid Ghazi (Urdu: عبد الرشید غازی; c. 29 January 1964 – 10 July 2007) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar and diplomat turned Islamist dissident who served as Khatib of Lal Masjid and the President of Faridia University. Prior to this he had also briefly worked for UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations.
He was the son of Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi, and younger brother of Abdul Aziz Ghazi.
Abdul Rashid was killed in action during Operation Sunrise after Pakistan Army Special Operations Commandos' teams stormed the madrasah he and his students had been using.

## Early life

He was an ethnic Baloch, descending from the Sadwani (Sodvani) clan of the Mazari tribe, in the town of Basti-Abdullah near Rojhan in Rajanpur, the border district of Punjab province of Pakistan.
In his youth, Abdul Rashid defied his father's wish that he receive formal Islamic education as he wanted to live a modern life. He completed his Master of Science degree in history from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad in 1987–1988. A photo of him and his classmates still hangs on the history department's wall. According to one of his professors, "He was a normal, modern student and a lively fellow who was well adjusted to a co-educational system." Remembered by his friends as "a bright student and an active member of a progressive student organisation", "He could have been a diplomat in the foreign office or an educationist", his friend once stated in an interview.
He was non-religious during that time, hardly if ever going to the mosque and reading authors like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Henry Kissinger, "his greatest ambition was to become a diplomat at the United Nations", a friend added, to the extent that he stopped talking to his father, who was antagonized by his "Westernized" lifestyle. Declan Walsh also quotes peoples who knew him during this time, saying that he was a secularized student reading the likes of Nietzsche and Rousseau, mingling with women and being fond of singing.

## Diplomatic career

Having completed his M.Sc. in History, he secured a position at the Pakistan National Commission and later joined the Ministry of Education in Islamabad as a Grade-17 officer, where he briefly served as the editor of its monthly magazine, Piyami.
He subsequently joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
He initially served at UNESCO's National Office in Islamabad, before being transferred to the organization's Regional Bureau for Education in Asia, based in Thailand. Later in his career, he was posted at the Maison de l'UNESCO in Paris, France.

## Soviet–Afghan War

During the Soviet–Afghan War, Ghazi and his brother Abdul Aziz did a brief stint of fighting.
According to a friend of Ghazi who was with him during the war, they fought against the Soviets troops multiple times in Paktia Province, near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. Ghazi was nearly killed when a land mine exploded next to him; after this incident he assumed the title of Ghazi, meaning "warrior".
Journalist Declan Walsh quotes a friend of Ghazi who says that Ghazi was more excited by the glamour and adventure of war, than by any strictly religious aspect of it.

## Trip to Kandahar

In 1997, Ghazi and his father travelled to Kandahar with a delegation of religious scholars and met Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden.
Ghazi, when referring to these events, stated: "The meeting inspired me to work for the establishment of Islam." He recalled that at the end of the meeting, he picked up and drank water from a cup which bin Laden had used. An amused bin Laden asked Ghazi why he had done so, to which Ghazi replied: "I drank from your glass so that Allah would make me a great warrior like you." During this visit, Ghazi became radicalized and eschewed his former modernist outlook.

## Father's assassination

In October 1998, Ghazi's father was assassinated in the courtyard of Lal Masjid as he returning from teaching a class at Jamia Faridia.
Due to a lack of confidence in Pakistan's legal system, Abdul Aziz, the elder brother of Ghazi, initially declined to file a First Information Report (FIR). However, Ghazi proceeded to file the FIR, prompting a police investigation into the case. After persistent efforts, a suspect was arrested and subsequently identified by an eyewitness during an identification parade.
Despite this, the suspect was inexplicably released the following day. Ghazi protested the release, warning the authorities that he would pursue legal action if the suspect was not promptly re-arrested. As pressure mounted, he reportedly faced threats, including a warning to withdraw the case or risk suffering a fate similar to that of his father.
According to those close to him, this experience marked a turning point in his life, leading to his disillusionment with the legal system.

## Post-2001

Ghazi adopted the trappings of an Islamist, wearing a pakol (wool hat) and a checkered Palestinian keffiyeh over white robes. Encouraged by his transformation, his brother appointed him as the Khatib of Lal Masjid, although he rarely led the prayers there. Ghazi, however, still retained the courteous manner and open-minded curiosity of his student years. He welcomed foreign visitors at his quarters, charming and cajoling them.
He first came on the political scene in 2001, when the religious parties of the country announced protests against the war in Afghanistan. Ghazi pledged support for the Taliban against the Americans, criticizing Musharraf for his submissive attitude towards them and openly challenging his authority. He also played a prominent role in leading protests against the Invasion of Iraq.
Ghazi was a close associate of Azam Tariq, the leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba. In 2003, following Tariq's assassination, Ghazi led his funeral prayers inside Lal Masjid.
In August 2004, the Pakistan government claimed he was involved in a plot against the president, the army and parliament; however this was later refuted by the government minister for religious affairs, and later by the government.
He was fond of technology and had all the latest communication being an expert of computers, he established a data centre, which had all the necessary equipment including computers, faxes, printers, and scanner. To broadcast his speeches on the Internet, he had been maintaining his own website which was blocked later.

## Jamia Faridia

Ghazi also served as President of Faridia University, an Islamic university situated near the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. he is credited with modernization of the institute where alongside the traditional Dars-i Nizami, he introduced new academic programmes including information technology, Islamic Economics and himself taught English and Philosophy.
In 2002, Ghazi extended an invitation to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to attend the Khatam-e-Bukhari ceremony at his seminary, Jamia Faridia. Subsequently, Khan also generously supported the construction of a park adjacent to the seminary and facilitated the creation of a forest pedestrian path leading from the seminary to Faisal Mosque, which was named in his honor.
In 2003, he inaugurated the Al Faridia Model School, a free for all high school offering classes from 7th till matriculation.
Farid Esack recounts to have met Ghazi multiple times at the Faridia University seminary, Ghazi peppered the South African with questions about Nelson Mandela's life in prison, and they chatted for hours about revolutionaries like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. "He certainly saw himself in that mold, as the righteous moral rebel." Esack said, both of them are also said to have debated their conflicting opinions on Islam, "My vision of an inclusive polity influenced by progressive Islamic values is very different than Ghazi's, of course, but his theology should not be reduced to a caricature, as it so often was, especially in the West", Esack recounted.
In 2005, Ghazi attended the graduation ceremony at Darul Uloom Karachi as a guest speaker. During this event, he met Pakistani jurist Mufti Taqi Usmani. Later, when Usmani visited Islamabad, he toured Ghazi's seminary and commended his administration.

## Activism

Ghazi was a well-known activist against enforced disappearances in Pakistan. In 2004, he founded Defense of Muslim Rights, and in 2006, he co-founded Defence of Human Rights Pakistan, together with human rights activist Amina Masood Janjua and Khalid Khawaja.

## 2005 Kashmir earthquake

Following the devastating 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Ghazi played a significant role in the relief efforts, providing essential aid to the affected communities, including the distribution of food and tents to displaced individuals. In response to the disaster, Ghazi established the Al-Qasem Foundation (literally meaning "the one who distributes"), a relief organization that mobilized volunteer students from local seminaries, with its headquarters based at Jamia Faridia. Under his leadership, the foundation distributed relief goods valued at approximately Rs 100 million to earthquake victims.
Ghazi personally oversaw multiple relief operations and made several trips to the earthquake-stricken areas of Kashmir. In one notable incident, he narrowly avoided a fatal accident by missing a scheduled flight on a MI-17 transport helicopter, which later crashed in the mountainous region of Kashmir.

## UNICEF

In 2005, Ghazi joined UNICEF, a United Nations led humanitarian organisation, where he was a member of committee formed to raise awareness regarding aids.
The following year, Ghazi joined a delegation of religious leaders, led by United Nations official Bettina Schunter, to travel to South Africa to learn about HIV prevention. This trip was aimed at improving the efforts of religious leaders in combating the spread of HIV and AIDS in their communities.

## Assassination attempt

In late 2005, shortly after dawn, Ghazi was returning from teaching a class at Jamia Faridia. While driving along the Seventh Avenue in Islamabad near the Margalla Hills, individuals in a nearby vehicle opened fire on him. Ghazi and his bodyguards, armed with assault rifles, returned fire, forcing the assailants to flee the scene.
Following this incident, Ghazi began carrying an AK-74 for protection and kept the weapon in his car, near his work desk, and even by his bedside.

## Death and legacy

During the Siege of Lal Masjid, Pakistan Army Special Forces (SF), Pakistan Army Rangers, and Special Service Group (SSG) stormed the mosque. Ghazi himself remained inside with a few students. He called for a safe way in which he would not be humiliated like his brother, but officials denied his requests. The Pakistan Ministry of Interior reported that he was killed on 10 July 2007 during Operation Sunrise.
A few days after his death, his famous saying "We can be martyred but we will not surrender" was featured as quote of the day on Time magazine's website. Ghazi often wore a red-and-black-patterned hat known as the Mazari cap, honoring his Baloch roots. After his death, the hat was dubbed the "Ghazi Topi".
On 20 September 2007, bin Laden released a new tape called "Come to Jihad" with his voice over previously released footage of him. In the tape bin Laden called on Pakistanis, especially the soldiers, to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf, promising what he called retaliation for the storming of the Red Mosque, stating that "twenty years after the soil of Pakistan soaked up the blood of one of the greatest jihadi fighters, the Imam Abdallah Azzam, today Pakistan is witness to the death of another great Muslim, Imam Abdul al-Rashid Ghazi."
He is buried at Madrasa Abdullah Bin Ghazi, Basti-Abdullah situated a short distance from Rojhan in Rajanpur District. Ghazi's brother, Abdul Aziz, who was arrested during the eight-day siege, led the funeral with a large number of people from all the provinces of the country coming to the funeral at his native village.

## Investigation and prosecution

On 2 September 2013, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Pervez Musharraf for his role in the killing of Ghazi during the Operation Sunrise in 2007.
The former president was arrested in the murder case.

## Books
### By him

* Hayat Shaheed E Islam (Urdu: حیات شہیدِ اسلام),: Maktaba Faridia, (2003), biography of his father co-authored with Mufti Riaz Munsoor.

### About him

* Nine Lives Of Pakistan. National Geographic Books, Declan Walsh (2020)
* Negotiating the Siege of the Lal Masjid, Oxford University Press, Adam Dolnik, Khuram Iqbal (2015)
* The Pakistan Anti-Hero. Vanguard Publications, Nadeem F. Paracha (2016)
* To Live Or to Perish Forever. Random House Publishers India Pvt. Limited, Nicholas Schmidle (2009)
* The China–Pakistan Axis. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, Andrew Small (2015)

## See more

* List of Deobandis