Arif Hussain Hussaini

Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini (Urdu: علامہ عارف حسين الحسينى; 25 November 1946 – 5 August 1988) was an Twelver Shīʿā Muslim scholar, Islamist ideologue, Islamic Jurist, and Islamic Revolutionist Political leader of Shia Muslims in Pakistan. He is also known as Khomanei-e-Pakistan for his activities which earned him the reputation of being one of the most prominent advocates for the Shia population of Pakistan and Islamic revival of Ja'fari school of Islamic jurisprudence in the country. He viewed the ideas of secularism, liberalism and communism as evil, which he understood to be the influence of Western and Soviet imperialism. He was assassinated in 1988 at aged 41.^[6][13]

Arif Hussain al-Hussaini was born on 25 November 1946 in the village of Pewar, Kurram, Parachinar into the house of Fazal Hussain Shah. His family belongs to the Husseini branch of Syeds, which trace descent to the fourth Shi'a imam, Zayn al-‘Ābidīn. The specific local branch name was Duparzai. He was Fluent in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, Persian and Arabic.

Hussaini received his primary education from his home town government primary school and later went on to Parachinar to complete his matriculation. Later, he got an admission into the Madressa Jafria Parachinar from where he went to the Iraqi city of Najaf for further studies. In Iraq, he studied under figures such as Aqai Lashkarani, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Madani, Ayatollah Mortazavi, and Sheikh Ashraf Asphahani. In 1973, he returned home and married, and a year later went to the holy city of Qom, Iran to join the Hauza Ilmia. In 1975 and 1977, he performed the Hajj.

Staying for a while in Parachinar Madressah in 1967, Allama Arif ul Hussain Al Hussaini decided to further his religious studies and with his teacher Maulana Ghulam Hussain he departed for Najaf and also met Imam Khomeini in Iraq.

“Madressah Abdul Aziz Baghdadi" was where he began his early Islamic education. Then Hussaini was admitted in “Madressah e Shabbiriah" in Iraq.

Hussaini returned to Pakistan in 1977 to mobilize the Shia community. In the same year, he became the first person to recite a majlis in Pashto, which is unusual given that the vast majority of Pashtuns are Sunni rather than Shia but he was also a strong promoter of shia-sunni unity. He also leveraged funding from the Shia Pakistani diaspora in the Persian Gulf to create the Alamdar Foundation in his hometown of Parachinar.^[14]

In a meeting of 28 people called in Bhakkar, Punjab, Hussaini was given the leadership of Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan by the recommendation of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussain Najafi, after five months the death of Mufti Jafar Hussain on 10 February, 1984, in Bhakkar. An ideological split divided the movement into two groups: one headed by Hamid Moosavi, the follower of Ayatollah Shariatmadari; the other headed by Hussaini, the follower of Khomeini’s teachings. Under Hussaini, the party began to accept Sunni members, but it remained a religious organisation.^[15]

Hussaini was gunned down in Peshawar on 5 August 1988 at the time of Fajr prayer. He was at the stairs of his seminary, coming down from his residence at first floor, when two assailants opened fire on him. The assailants of Hussaini escaped but were later arrested. The attackers were allegedly affiliated with Sipah-e-Sahaba, an anti-Shia organization in Pakistan.^[16] Hussaini died of his wounds while being transported by ambulance to a local hospital. Hussaini’s death sparked a riot by around 500 supporters who threw stones at cars and buses in the eastern city of Lahore before riot police dispersed them with tear gas.^[17]

His body was taken from Peshawar to his native village of Peiwar by helicopter. The former President Zia-ul-Haq and special representatives of Imam Khomeini, Ayatullah Jannati,^[18] participated in his funeral rites. The Iranian government supported the construction of a mazar over his grave in Peshawar.

It is also alleged that Zia-ul-Haq was also involved in the assassination of Hussaini for his Anti-American views he also had disagreements with Zia-ul-Haq he claimed that the Islamization policies of Zia are in the benefit of America and its allies instead of Islam and Pakistan he believed that Zia's policies could rise a regional sectarian conflict in the future, shortly after the CIA-led Operation Cyclone, Hussaini openly voiced opposition to the Zia regime for supporting American-Israeli interference in the region and he also criticized the Soviet Union for destabilizing the region however he stated that the Pakistan would continue to support the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet force's in Afghanistan without the help of America and its ally's because he believed that the Pakistan's collaboration with America and its allies is like betraying Palestine.^[19]

• Mufti Jafar Hussain
• Muhammad Hussain Najafi
• Muhammad Nawaz Irfani
• Sheikh Rajab Ali
• Sheikh Ali Madad
• Sheikh Fida Hussain Muzahiri

• Jafri, S.H.M (1979). Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam. London: Longman.
• Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza (1996). Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535711-0.