Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Ustad Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf ( , born 1946 , Paghman Valley , Afghanistan ) is an Afghan Islamist politician . He took part in the war against the PDPA government in the 1980s , leading the Mujahedin faction Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan . During the war , he received patronage from Arab sources and mobilized Arab volunteers for the Mujahedin forces . Sayyaf is said to have been the one who first invited Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan , after bin Laden ' s 1996 expulsion from Sudan by the otherwise sympathetic Sudanese régime under Saudi , Egyptian , and American pressure . In 2005 , Sayyaf ' s " Ittehad - al - Islami " ( or Islamic Union ) was converted into the political party , the Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan . He has been considered a member of the Northern Alliance , despite his close relationship with militant groups such as Al - Qaeda that opposed it . He has also been accused of having knowingly assisted the two assassins that killed Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud in a suicide bomb blast two days before September 11 , 2001 . Biography . Sayyaf is an ethnic Pashtun . Sayyaf ( Arabic : سياف ) is an Arabic name that means " the person who is skilled with the sword " . He is fluent in Arabic and holds a degree in religion from Kabul University and a masters from the illustrious Al - Azhar University in Cairo , Egypt . He has been described as " a big , beefy man with fair skin and a thick gray beard . " Sayyaf is reported to be approximately six foot , three inches in height and weigh 250 pounds . " He usually wears a white skullcap or a large turban , and a traditional Afghan shalwar kameez , a tunic with loose pants . " Sayyaf was a member of the Afghan - based Ikhwan al - Muslimin , founded in 1969 by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr . Burhanuddin Rabbani and having strong links to the original and much larger Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt . Ustad ( Professor ) Abdul was a professor at a small Islamic university called The Shariat in Kabul until 1973 , when he plotted with Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to overthrow President Daoud Khan . The coup failed and he was forced to flee to Pakistan but was arrested when he returned . Soviet time and Bin Laden friendship . Being imprisoned by the Communist People ' s Democratic Party of Afghanistan ( PDPA ) in April 1978 , he was freed in controversial circumstances by the second PDPA leader Hafizullah Amin , who , coincidentally , happened to be Sayyaf ' s distant relative . Although , by virtue of him being incarcerated , and , consequently not arriving in Peshawar until 1980 , until after the actual Soviet intervention , he was recognized by the Pakistanis as the leader of the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan ( " Ittihad - i - Islami Baraye Azadi Afghanistan " ) , a coalition of several parties fighting the Soviet and Afghan government forces . The Islamic Union soon imploded , and Sayyaf retained the name as the title of his own organization . Sayyaf fought against Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s , and was generously financed , and apparently favoured , by Saudi Arabia , seemingly due to his close religious affinities with the Wahhabi st Saudi Royal and religious establishment and abovementioned excellent command of the Arabic language . During the jihad against the Soviet Union and its Afghan allies , he formed a close relationship with Osama bin Laden . Together in the Jalalabad area they established a training camp network , later used by Al - Qaeda personnel , with bunkers and emplacements . In 1981 , Sayyaf formed and headed the " Ittihad - i - Islami Baraye Azadi Afghanistan " , or Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan . In 1985 , he founded a university in an Afghan refugee camp near Peshawar called " Dawa ' a al - Jihad " , ( Call of Jihad ) , which has been described the " preeminent school for terrorism . " Ramzi Ahmed Yousef , who masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 , attended it . Despite his growing wealth , he continued to live a spartan life , avoiding modern conveniences like mattresses and air conditioning ; although he enjoyed a nightly game of tennis . During the post - war period , Sayyaf retained his training camps , using them for militarily training and indoctrinating new recruits to fight in Islamic - backed conflicts such as Chechnya , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and in the Southern Philippines , where his name inspired the Abu Sayyaf group . Also , in these camps , Sayyaf trained and mentored the soon - to - be - infamous , Kuwaiti - born , future Al - Qaeda operative and senior commander , Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , after being introduced by the latter ' s brother , Zahid , during the Afghan Jihad in 1987 . War in Afghanistan ( 1989 - 1996 ) . After the forced withdrawal of the demoralised Soviet forces in 1989 , and the overthrow of the Mohammad Najibullah regime in 1992 , Sayyaf ' s organization ' s human rights record became noticeably worse , underlined by their involvement in the infamous massacres and rampages in the Hazara Kabul neighbourhood of Afshar . In 1993 , during the Afghan civil war , Sayyaf ' s faction was responsible for , " repeated human butchery " , when his faction of Mujahideen turned on civilians and the Shia Hezb - i Wahdat group . Amnesty International reported that Sayyaf ' s forces rampaged through the mainly Shi ' ite Tajik ( Qizilbash ) Afshar neighbourhood of Kābul , slaughtering and raping inhabitants and burning homes . War in Afghanistan ( 1996 - 2001 ) . Sayyaf claimed and claims he is a vituperative opponent of the like - minded Taliban movement , which is the reason he officially joined the Northern Alliance , despite his aforementioned religious and ideological affinities with the Taliban and Al - Qaeda . Sayyaf is said to have helped the Arab suicide assassins that killed anti - Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud during their preparations , raising suspicion he was involved in killing Massoud . Massoud was killed when the Arab suicide attackers posing as journalists detonated a bomb hidden in their video camera . Constitutional Loya Jirga ( 2003 ) . In 2003 , Sayyaf was elected as one of the 502 representatives at the Constitutional Loya Jirga in Kabul , chairing one of the working groups . Originally wanted Loya Jirga intended to divide the 502 delegates randomly among 10 working groups , but Sayyaf objected , suggesting delegates be divided among the groups to ensure equal distribution of professional expertise , provincial origin , gender and other criteria . " Those who know the constitution , the ulema [ Islamic scholars ] , and the lawyers should be split into different groups so that the results of the discussion and debate will be positive , and closer to each other , " said Sayyaf . Abdul Sayyaf ' s influence in the convention was felt further when his ally Fazal Hadi Shinwari was appointed by Hamid Karzai as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court , in violation of the constitution , as Fazal was over the age limit and trained only in religious , not secular , law . Shinwari packed the Supreme Court with sympathetic mullahs , called for Taliban - style punishments and renewed Taliban ' s dreaded Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice , renamed the Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs . Present Activities . As of 2007 , Sayyaf is an influential member of parliament and has called for an amnesty for former mujahideen , as well as served people and helped them all the ways and trying very hard to bring peace in Afghanistan