The Haqqani Madrasa in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, known as the "University of Jihad in South Asia" and the ideological and military stronghold of the Taliban that legitimized suicide attacks in Afghanistan, has now itself become the target of an attack.
On Friday, March 1, a deadly explosion struck the mosque of the Haqqani Madrasa in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The target was Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and head of one of Pakistan’s largest religious seminaries. The 57-year-old cleric was killed in the attack, and several others were injured.
In recent years, particularly after the rise of the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISKP), many clerics have been assassinated in suicide attacks. However, the explosion at the pulpit of the Haqqani Mosque—an institution accused of spreading extremism and promoting suicide operations among militant groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan—marks a turning point in the madrasa’s 78-year history.
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| Photos of Sami-ul-Haq Haqqani and Hamid-ul-Haq Haqqani on a poster at Haqqani Madrasa in Akora Khattak. |
The Haqqani Madrasa was founded in 1947, coinciding with the establishment of Pakistan, by Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani, the grandfather of Hamid-ul-Haq and a graduate of the Deobandi school. Today, the madrasa has over 4,000 students from Pakistan and the surrounding region, receiving free education, accommodation, and meals funded by the seminary.
Maulana Abdul Haq, who passed away in 1988, trained many students from across South Asia and was a key figure in promoting extremist ideologies in the region. He left behind the influential legacy of the Haqqani Madrasa, later taken over by his son, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who was assassinated by unknown assailants in 2018. Like his father, Sami-ul-Haq was a significant figure in Pakistan, widely known as the "Godfather of the Taliban" due to his strong support for the Afghan Taliban. Many of the Taliban’s top leaders, including Mullah Omar, the founder of the group, studied at the Haqqani Madrasa under Sami-ul-Haq.
The Taliban's Ideological and Military Stronghold
In a 2005 investigative article, renowned writer and analyst William Dalrymple described the Haqqani Madrasa as the "ideological and military base of the Taliban." Published in The New York Review of Books, the article includes an interview with Sami-ul-Haq, who proudly declared that the madrasa was the main center for training Afghan Taliban leaders. Many top Taliban figures, including Mullah Omar, Mullah Qalamuddin, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and several current Taliban officials such as Sirajuddin Haqqani, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Abdul Latif Mansoor, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, and Abdul Baqi Haqqani, are alumni of this madrasa.
Dalrymple’s article noted: "Maulana Sami-ul-Haq not only boasted about his relationship with the Taliban but also openly stated that whenever the Taliban needed fighters, he would close the madrasa and send his students to jihad in Afghanistan."
In a 2003 interview with the BBC, Sami-ul-Haq admitted that during the Taliban’s war against the Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, he sent around 2,000 Haqqani Madrasa students to the battlefront to support the Taliban.
The Rise of the Taliban and the Explosive Growth of Religious Seminaries in Pakistan
When Pakistan was established in 1947, only 245 religious seminaries operated across its vast geography. Today, the number has surged to 35,000, with only 26,160 officially registered with the government, while thousands more operate without legal oversight. According to a report on the website of Pakistan’s Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training, the government has attempted to regulate religious seminaries through the establishment of the Auqaf Department. However, many seminaries have resisted government registration.
The Taliban’s emergence in Afghanistan in 1994 and the 9/11 attacks in 2001 spurred an unprecedented rise in religious seminaries across Pakistan, a trend that continues today. In 2005, Dalrymple reported that the number of seminaries in Pakistan had increased 27-fold after 9/11.
Sami-ul-Haq was not only a vocal supporter of the Taliban during their initial rise and rule in Afghanistan but also provided refuge to Taliban leaders after their regime collapsed in 2001, helping them regroup for a new phase of war. In a 2013 interview with Pakistani media, he referred to the Afghan Taliban as "my children," saying, "They are the pride of Islam, and I will continue to support them."
In a 2015 interview with Al Jazeera, Sami-ul-Haq reaffirmed his allegiance to the Taliban, stating, "We stand with the Taliban because they implement the Islamic system we believe in." He repeatedly referred to the Taliban’s war in Afghanistan as "jihad" and criticized the Pakistani government, particularly the administration of Pervez Musharraf, calling it "Western-controlled and an enemy of Muslims."
The influence of Haqqani Madrasa graduates extends beyond Afghanistan into Pakistani affairs as well. A 2015 anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi revealed that the suicide bombers who assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 were students of the Haqqani Madrasa.
From Father to Son: A Similar Fate
After the assassination of Sami-ul-Haq in 2018, his son Hamid-ul-Haq took over the leadership of the Haqqani Madrasa. Unlike his father, Hamid-ul-Haq initially lacked strong influence among extremist and militant groups. However, following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, his role and the madrasa’s significance resurfaced in public discourse and the media.
On August 22, 2021, just a week after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Hamid-ul-Haq issued a statement urging Pakistan and the international community to immediately recognize the Taliban regime.
Amid escalating attacks by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rising tensions between the Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban, Hamid-ul-Haq sought to mediate negotiations. In February 2024, he led a delegation to Afghanistan for talks with Taliban officials.
The assassination of Hamid-ul-Haq in a suicide attack at the very madrasa dubbed the "University of Jihad" once again underscores its role in fostering extremism and fueling conflict in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, speculation in Pakistan points to ISKP, which has previously targeted figures linked to the madrasa, including Maulana Fazlur Rahman, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan.
ISKP not only views the leaders of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and the Haqqani Madrasa as enemies but also accuses them of supporting Pakistan’s secular government, repeatedly labeling them "enemies of Islam." It appears that with ISKP’s growing power, the cycle of bloodshed and violence that the Haqqani Madrasa once fueled has now turned against it, transforming yesterday’s jihadist stronghold into today’s target for ISKP militants.
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