The 'Ulama' of Afghanistan

 

The ‘Ulamā’ of Afghanistan played a major role in the Jihād against the Soviets in the 1980's. The ‘Ulamā’ led the Jihād from the very beginning. Various Mujāhidīn commanders were ‘Ulamā’ and Asātidha who had been teaching in the Madāris or who were engaged in Tazkiyah in their Khānqahs.
 
A few are mentioned below: 
 
1.     Mawlānā Muḥammad Yūnus Khāliṣ (born in 1920) was a great ‘ālim who had spent most of his life in teaching and writing on Islām. He was regarded as one of the great teachers of Afghanistan. 
2.     Mawlānā Jalā-ud-Dīn Ḥaqqānī (born in 1940) was another great ‘ālim who had graduated in the famous Dār-ul-‘Ulūm Ḥaqqāniyya, Pakistan where he also taught for one year. Mawlānā had established a large Madrasah in Mīrān Shah called Manba’ ul-‘Ulūm where students from various areas came to acquire Islamic knowledge. 
3.     Mawlānā Muḥammad Nabī Muḥammady (born in 1921) was a pious Aalim. He spent most of his life teaching and was a Shaykh of the Qādiriya order of Taṣawwuf. 
4.     Mawlānā Naṣrullāh Manṣūr was also a great ‘ālim who became famous for his skills in guerrilla warfare.
5.     Mawlānā Arsalān Khān Raḥmānī spent 17 years of his life seeking Islamic knowledge and taught for 15 years thereafter. He was an Ustādh of Tafsīr, Aḥādīth and other Islāmic sciences. 
6.     Mawlānā Nizām-ud-Dīn Ḥaqqānī (born in 1934) graduated in Dār-ul-‘Ulūm Ḥaqqāniyya, Pakistan and then spent 17 years teaching. 
 
These great ‘Ulamā’ picked up their antique rifles, left their Madāris and Khānqahs and went into the mountains to begin a guerrilla war against the Soviets. (Tārīkh-e-Afghanistan)