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Zaid (زيد) also transliterated as Zayd or Zayed (Arabic: زايد ‎) is an Arabic name, meaning "abundance", "growth" or one who progresses and makes other people progress.

One of the most famous persons in Islam under the name of Zayd is Zayd ibn Harithah, who was the orphan boy fostered by the Muslim prophet Muhammad, who treated him as his own son to the extent that he was called "Zayd ibn Muhammad", ("Zayd the son of Muhammad") instead of Zayd ibn Harithah ("Zayd the son of Harithah"). Zaid ibn Harithah is also the only Sahaba mentioned by name in the Qur'an. Another well-known Islamic figure with the name of Zayd is Zaid ibn Thabit. Zayd is a popular male given name among the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.

Famous people named Zayd include:

• Zayd ibn Umar
• Zayd bin Ali
• Zayd ibn Al-Khattab
• Zayd ibn Harithah
• Zayd ibn Arqam
• Zayd Shakir
• Zayed Khan
• Zayd ibn Thabit
• Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein

Among people who have a nickname including Zayd are:

• Abu Zayd Al-Hilali
• Nasr Abu Zayd
• John Abizaid
• Amanda Abizaid

With "Abu Zayd" or "Abizaid" meaning "the father of Zayd".

People with the patronymic Zayd include:

• Sa'id ibn Zayd
• Usama ibn Zayd
• Frank Zaid

See also[link]

• Arabic name

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

This page or section lists people with the surname Zayd (name). If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (May 2009)

Syed Zaiduzzaman Hamid, better known as Zaid Hamid, is a Pakistani security consultant and political commentator.^[1][2] His byline in newspaper articles has been Zaid Zaman.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Zaid was born in Karachi, in 1964. His father, Col. Zaman Hamid (Retd), served in the Pakistan Army. Zaid spent his early life in Karachi. He received a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Systems Engineering from NED University, Karachi in 1980's.^[3]

Political views[link]

Through his TV programmes, Hamid has claimed that a nexus between India's RAW, the CIA and is responsible for the destabilization of Pakistan. He also claims that the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, were part of a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists"", and that it was an attempt by the Indians to stage an attack just like the Americans executed the September 11 attacks.^[1][2][4][3]

Criticism[link]

A number of noted Pakistani journalists, writers and Islamic scholars^[5] have criticized Hamid and have described his views on politics and security as conspiracy theories.^[6][7][8][9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• BrassTacks website
• Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid

Asma Jahangir
Asma Jahangir, having received the Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Worship in 2010
Supreme Court Bar Association
Taking office October 27, 2010
President	Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister	Yousaf Raza Gillani
Succeeding	Qazi Anwar
Chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
In office 1987 – Incumbent
Personal details
Born	Asma Jilani Jahangir January 1952 (age 60) Lahore, Punjab province, West-Pakistan (now-Pakistan)
Nationality	Pakistani
Children	1 son and 2 daughter
Residence	Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)
Alma mater	Punjab University (LL.B.) Kinnaird College (B.A.) University of St. Gallen (J.S.D.)
Occupation	President of Supreme Court Bar Association
Profession	Lawyer and Human rights activist
Supreme Court of Pakistan	Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Pakistan
Notable Awards	Hilal-i-Imtiaz (2010) Martin Ennals Award (1995) Ramon Magsaysay Award Leo Eitinger Award (2002) Millennium Prize Four Freedoms Award (2010)

Asma Jilani Jahangir (Urdu: عاصمہ جہانگیر) (born January 27, 1952 in Lahore) is a leading Pakistani lawyer, advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, President Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and human rights activist, who works both in Pakistan and internationally to prevent the persecution of religious minorities, women, and exploitation of children.

She was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from August 2004 to July 2010 (first attached to the former Commission on Human Rights, now to the Human Rights Council). Previously, she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions. She is also chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Early life[link]

Jahangir was born into a prosperous and politically active family with a history of activism and human rights work. Her father, Malik Ghulam Jilani, was a civil servant who entered politics upon retirement and spent years both in jail and under house arrest for opposing military dictatorships. Her father was imprisoned on several occasions for his outspoken views, which included denouncing the Pakistani government for genocide during their military action in what is now Bangladesh. Her mother, educated at a co-ed college at a time when few Muslim women even received higher education, also fought the traditional system, pioneering her own clothing business when the family's lands were confiscated in 1967 as a result of her husband's opinions and detention.^[1] Jahangir herself became involved at a young age in protests against the military regime as well as opposing her father's detention by then president, Benazir Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. She received her B.A. from Kinnaird College, Lahore and her law degree in 1978,^[2] and her LLB from Punjab University. She also holds an honorary doctorate from University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.^[3], Queens University, Canada and Cornell University, USA.

Work[link]

She has spent her career defending the human and women rights, rights of religious minorities and children in Pakistan. Jahangir was and remains a staunch critic of the Hudood Ordinance and blasphemy laws of Pakistan put in place as part of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization program in Pakistan.^[4][5] She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chairperson of the organization.

In 1980, Jahangir and her sister, Hina Jilani, got together with fellow activists and lawyers to form the first law firm established by women in Pakistan. In the same year they also helped form the Women's Action Forum (WAF), a pressure group campaigning against Pakistan's discriminatory legislation, most notably against the Proposed Law of Evidence, where the value of a woman's testimony was reduced to half that of a man's testimony, and the Hadood Ordinances, where victims of rape had to prove their innocence or else face punishment themselves.^[6] On February 12, 1983, the Punjab Women Lawyers Association in Lahore organised a public protest (one of its leaders was Jahangir) against the Proposed Law of Evidence, during which Jahangir and other participating WAF members were beaten, teargassed, and arrested by police.^[7]

The first WAF demonstration, however, took place in 1983 when some 25-50 women took to the streets protesting the controversial case of Safia Bibi. In 1983, Safia, a blind 13-year-old girl, was raped by her employers, and as a result became pregnant, yet ended up in jail charged with fornication (zina) sentenced to flogging, 3 years of imprisonment and fined. (Jahangir defended Safia in her appeal and eventually the verdict was overruled by an appeals court due to pressure and protests.)^[8] They would say: "We (their law firm) had been given a lot of cases by the advocate general and the moment this demonstration came to light, the cases were taken away from us."^[9]

In 1982 Jahangir earned the nickname "little heroine" after leading a protest march in Islamabad against a decision by then-president Zia ul Haq to enforce religious laws and stated: "Family laws [which are religious laws] give women few rights" and that "They have to be reformed because Pakistan cannot live in isolation. We cannot remain shackled while other women progress." ^[10]

In 1986 Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called 'Dastak'. Look after by her secretary Munib Ahmed.^[11]

She is also a proponent of protecting the rights of persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan and speaks out against forced conversions.^[12]

Jahangir has campaigned against human rights abuses taking place in government and police custody in Pakistan, i.e. rape in police custody is widespread but vastly under-reported; "Women are arrested, raped and sexually assaulted every day in the presence of female constables, who find themselves helpless in such situations." ^[13]

In 1996 the High Court in Lahore ruled that an adult Muslim woman could not get married without the consent of her male guardian (wali). Women, who chose their husbands independently, could be forced to annul their marriages and the repercussions were highlighted by Jahangir, who also took on such cases (i.e. the case of Saima Waheed);^[14][15] "Hundreds have already been arrested. This is simply going to open up the floodgates for the harassment of women and girls by their families and the authorities. The courts have sanctioned their oppression. Thousands more are bound to be affected by this."^[16]

Jahangir has demanded that the government of Parvez Musharraf work to improve the record of human rights domestically. Citing examples of human rights abuses, she wrote, "A Hindu income tax inspector gets lynched in the presence of the army personnel for allegedly having made a remark on the beard of a trader. Promptly, the unfortunate Hindu government servant is booked for having committed blasphemy, while the traders and the Lashkar-e-Taiba activists were offered tea over parleys. A seventy-year-old Mukhtaran Bibi and her pregnant daughter Samina are languishing in Sheikhupura jail on trumped-up charges of blasphemy.^[17]

She is also an active opponent of child labour and capital punishment: "It would be hypocrisy to defend laws I don't believe in, like capital punishment, the blasphemy law and laws against women and in favor of child labor."^[10]

Asma Jahangir served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions from 1998 to 2004, and as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief from 2004 to 2010.^[18]

In her capacity as a UN official, Jahangir was in Pakistan, when Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007. In November 2006, she participated the international meeting for The Yogyakarta Principles as one of 29 experts. On November 5, 2007, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour indicated that Jahangir was among the judicial and political officials detained by the Musharraf government.^[19]

During her election campaign for the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan in October 2010, right wing miscreants backed by some elements of the notorious Pakistani ISI indulged in a massive propaganda about Asma Jahangir but their efforts were unsuccessful and she won the elections for President SCBAP. These miscreants resorted to publishing false accusations about her in posters and pamphlets that were put up outside courts and posted to lawyers. They wrongly alleged that Asma Jahangir is supportive of Mr. Narrendra Modi, the notorious Chief Minister of Gujarat, India, under whose rule scores of Muslims were killed in rioting. Ms Jahangir as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion was on an official mission to India where she had to meet all State and non-State actors who were involved in her mandate. She visited Mr. Modi and right wing elements show a picture of her with him to accuse her of supporting him while they ignored that she had publicly denounced the violence that had gone on in Gujarat and had denounced the alleged role of the State in it. Her report of the mission is available on the United Nations website at A/HRC/10/8/Add.3 on 26 January 2009 and she also made a press conference where she especially noted the riots in Gujarat and involvement of the State in it in many leading newspapers. http://www.hindu.com/nic/asmajahangir.htm

House arrest[link]

On November 5, 2007, The Economist reported that "Over 500 lawyers, opposition politicians and human rights activists have been arrested. They include Asma Jahangir, boss of the country’s human-rights commission and a former UN special rapporteur. In an e-mail from her house arrest, where she has been placed for 90 days, Ms Jahangir regretted that General Musharraf had "lost his marbles".^[20][21][22]

Author[link]

In addition to many publications, Jahangir has authored two books: Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinance (1988, 2003) and Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan (1992).^[23]

One of her major publications is titled "Whither are We!" and was published in Dawn, on October 2, 2000.^[24]

Threats[link]

Jahangir has received numerous threats over the years due to her activism and human rights work^[4][25] and particularly after defending a 14 year old Christian boy, Salamat Masih, accused of blasphemy^[26][27] and ultimately winning the case in 1995,^[28] a mob at the High Court smashed Jahangir's car, assaulted her and her driver, threatening her with death.^[29] Jahangir and her family have been attacked, taken hostage, had their home broken into and received death threats ever since, but she continues her battle for justice.^[10][30][31]

When Jahangir undertook the case of Saima Sarwar in 1999, who was given shelter at Dastak after leaving her husband, wanting a divorce and later gunned down by her family in an act of honor killing, Jahangir received death threats for representing Saima in her divorce proceedings.^{[32][33][34][35]}

In May 2005 Jahangir announced that she would hold a symbolic mixed-gender marathon in Lahore to raise awareness about violence against women. This was following the revelations of cases such as Mukhtar Mai. Tensions boiled over, as Islamist groups and supporters of the political Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) armed with firearms, batons and Molotov cocktails,^[36] violently opposed the race, and Jahangir received especially rough treatment from local police and intelligence agents, who began to strip off her clothes in public. Of this Jahangir said "A lot of people tried to cover my back because I could only feel it I could not see my back. When they were putting me on the police van, they assured that my photograph was taken while my back was bare. This was just to humiliate, this was simply just to humiliate me."^[37] A police officer told Jahangir that they had orders to be strict and to tear off the participant’s clothes. In addition she along with other participants was also beaten.^[38]

Acknowledgements[link]

In 1995, Jahangir received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders as well as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for "greatness of spirit shown in service of the people".^[2]

In 2001 Jahangir and Hina Jilani were awarded the Millennium prize, by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation International Alert.^[10]

In 2002 she was awarded the Lisl and Leo Eitinger Prize.^[4]

In 2005 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project.^[39]

On May 29, 2010 at the International Four Freedoms Award 2010 Jahangir will receive the Freedom of Worship Medal for her human rights and religious freedom activism in a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Middelburg, Holland.^[40]

On March 23, 2010 for services in Human Rights, she was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award of Pakistan.^[41]

On October 27, 2010 She won the Supreme Court Bar Association election by defeating her competitor Ahmed Awais and securing 834 of total votes and became the first ever women President of SCBA in the history of Pakistan. .^[42]

On December 10, 2010 she was awarded with the 2010 UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, recognizing her efforts as a human rights defender.^[43][44]

Personal life[link]

She is married and has a son and two daughters, Munizae Jahangir, a journalist and Sulema Jahangir, who is also a lawyer.^[45]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview 'Pakistan Should Have Taken The Moral High Ground' August 29, 1998
• ABC News - Nightline Interview: A Matter of Honor By Forrest Sawyer February 15, 1999
• Profile of Asma Jahangir 2000
• Democracy is Survival for Women 2000
• RAWA Articles on Asma Jahangir March 2000
• A law to lament By Asma Jahangir June 5, 2002
• Asma Jahangir in her Own Words 2002
• Of Rites and Rights: An Interview with Asma Jahangir By Anniqua Rana September 23, 2003
• News Report on appointment as Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
• UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
• Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
• Time Magazine profile April 21, 2003
• Interview with Asma Jahangir By Nermeen Shaikh October 27, 2005
• Interview 'If Pakistan Can Take Up Gujarat Riots, Surely India Can Raise The Balochistan Issue' February 6, 2006
• Gulf News: A profile in courage April 2, 2007
• Declan Walsh talks to Asma Jahangir, Pakistan's human rights champion 20 July 2007
• Under House Arrest, Pakistani Human Rights Leader Asma Jahangir Speaks Out on Musharraf’s Crackdown November 14, 2007
• The Last Word: Asma Jahangir 2007
• Human rights lawyer and activist speaks out against Pakistani military dictatorship February 20, 2008
• Katy Clark speaks with Asma Jahangir on 'Violence in Pakistan' October 28, 2009
• Herald exclusive: An interview with Asma Jahangir January 25, 2011

Hamid Gul
Hamid Gul, PA
Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence
In office March 29 1987 – October 4, 1989
Preceded by	Akhtar Abdur Rahman
Succeeded by	Shamsur Rahman Kallu
Personal details
Born	(1936-11-20) 20 November 1936 (age 75) Sargodha, British Punjab, British Indian Empire
Citizenship	Pakistan
Alma mater	Pakistan Military Academy Government College University, Lahore
Occupation	Retired Army Officer
Religion	Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Army
Years of service	1958–1992
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Unit	19th Lancers, Army Armoured Corps
Commands	1st Armoured Division, Multan DG Military Intelligence (DGMI) DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) II Strike Corps, Multan
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Soviet war in Afghanistan Battle of Jalalabad Afghanistan War of 1989 Operation Rakhshak
Awards	Sitara-e-Basalat Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military)

Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul (Urdū:حمید گل; born 20 November 1936) HI(M), SBt, is a retired high-ranking general officer in the Pakistan Army, famous for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989 during the late stages of and post-stages of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.^[1]

Gul is widely known and credited for pressing the hard-line policies on India after starting the insurgency in Kashmir against India in 1989^[2] by diverting the Mujahideen who participated in the Soviet war to Indian-held Kashmir. Gul was also instrumental in the establishment of the Taliban and was once known as the "father of the Taliban".^[3] Apart from the Kashmir militancy in India and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, Gul is also accused by the United States of having ties to Islamic terrorist organizations such as the Al Qaeda.^[4]

Gul's tenure as the director of the ISI coincided with Benazir Bhutto's term as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Later, Gul established the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA), a far-right conservative wing against the secular MQM and the democratic socialists, the Pakistan Peoples Party.^{[citation needed]}

Early life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

Hamid Gul was born on 20 November 1936 to Muhammad Khan, in the Sargodha District of Punjab in what was then British India but now Pakistan. He got his early education from a school in his village. He briefly got admission in Government College Lahore, before reporting to Pakistan Military Academy Kakul.

Army career[link]

Hamid Gul was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in October 1958 with the 18th PMA Long Course in the 19th Lancers regiment of the Armoured Corps. He was a Tank commander during the 1965 war with India. During 1972-1976, Gul directly served under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq as a battalion commander, when General Zia was GOC, 1st Armoured Division and Commander, II Corps at Multan. Thus, Gul had already cemented his ties with General Zia by serving under him when both were officers in the Armoured regiments of the II Corps. Gul was promoted to Brigadier in 1978 and steadily rose to be the Martial Law Administrator of Bahawalpur and the Commander of the 1st Armoured Division, Multan in 1982, his appointments expressly wished by Zia himself.^{[citation needed]}

Saudi influence[link]

Gul was then sent to GHQ as the Director-General or DG Military Intelligence (DGMI)^[5] under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who then nominated him to be the ISI chief succeeding General Akhtar Abdur Rahman in March 1987. He was later replaced as the ISI commander by PM Benazir Bhutto in May 1989 and Gul was transferred as the commander, II Corps in Multan. In this capacity, Gul conducted the Zarb-e-Momin military exercise in November–December 1989, the biggest Pakistani Armed Forces show of muscle since 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

General Asif Nawaz upon taking the reins of Pakistan Army in August 1991, had Gul transferred as the DG Heavy Industries Taxila. A menial job compared to Gul's stature, Gul refused to take the assignment, an act for which he was retired from the army.^[6]

Career as ISI Chief[link]

Execution of failed Jalalabad operation[link]

During his time as head of the ISI and the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Gul was blamed for planning and executing the operation to capture Jalalabad from the Afghan army in the spring of 1989. This switch to conventional warfare was seen as a mistake by some mujahideen leaders who considered that the mujahideen did not have the capacity to capture a major city. But the Pakistani army was intent on installing a fundamentalist-dominated government in Afghanistan, with Jalalabad as their provisional capital, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf as Prime Minister, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as Foreign Minister.

Contrary to Pakistani expectations, this battle proved that the Afghan army could fight without Soviet help, and greatly increased the confidence of government supporters. Conversely, the morale of the mujahideen involved in the attack slumped and many local commanders of Hekmatyar and Sayyaf concluded truces with the government.^[7] In the words of Brigadier Mohammad Yousef, an officer of the ISI, "the jihad [meaning the plans for Hekmatyar to be installed as prime minister] never recovered from Jalalabad". As a result of this failure, Hamid Gul was sacked by Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and replaced by Shamsur Rahman Kallu, who pursued a more classical policy of support to the militants fighting Afghanistan.

Organization of IJI against PPP[link]

During his tenure as ISI chief in 1988, General Gul successfully gathered right-wing politicians and helped them create Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, a religio-political conservative coalition against the left-leaning liberal Pakistan Peoples Party. He has recently acknowledged this fact in various interviews^[8] and for this he was harshly rebuked in one of editorials of a major Pakistani newspaper, which asked the general to apologize first to the PPP for having done the sordid deed and after that, apologizing for lack of wits because the IJI could not maintain its two-thirds majority for long.^[9]

Kashmir Insurgency[link]

Indian front[link]

According to B Raman, an Indian strategic analyst, Gul actively backed Khalistani terrorism. "When Bhutto became prime minister in 1988", Raman says, "Gul justified backing these insurgents as the only way of preempting a fresh Indian threat to Pakistan's territorial integrity. When she asked him to stop playing that card, he reportedly told her: Madam, keeping Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistan army having an extra division at no cost to the taxpayers." "Gul strongly advocated supporting indigenous Kashmiri groups", adds Raman, "but was against infiltrating Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries into Jammu and Kashmir. He believed Pakistan would play into India's hands by doing so."^[10]

Iranian front[link]

In Islamabad, Gul asked that Iran should explain its bona fides regarding the pact signed with India to jointly counter terrorism. According to him, "Iran should come clear on the nature of agreement with India. Otherwise this will create doubts and apprehensions in Muslim Ummah that Iran helps RAW in putting down Kashmir jihad". He also added that in case doubts about the agreement came true and Iran was seen as working with India against "Kashmir freedom struggle", then it will be concluded that the country also supports Mossad, Israeli external intelligence agency.^[11]

Turning against the United States[link]

General Gul worked closely with the CIA during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when he was the ISI chief. But, he became passionately anti-American after the United States turned its back on Afghanistan following the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, as the United States had promised to help build a prosperous Afghanistan.^[10] He was further disconcerted when the USA began punishing Pakistan with economic and military sanctions for its secret nuclear program. General Gul then went on to declare that "the Muslim world must stand united to confront the U.S. in its so-called War on Terrorism, which is in reality a war against Muslims. Let's destroy America wherever its troops are trapped."^[12]

General Gul personally met Osama Bin Laden in 1993 and refused to label him a terrorist unless and until irrefutable evidence was provided linking him to alleged acts of terrorism.^[13]

Accusation of US and Israel behind 9/11[link]

Only days after the September 11 attacks he stated that they were clearly an inside job. ^[14] That interview was not published by newspapers.^[15]

Post-Army career[link]

Solidarity with Osama bin Laden[link]

According to Zahid Hussain, in his book Frontline Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul and former Army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg were part of the 9 January 2001 Darul Uloom Haqqania Islamic conference held near Peshawar, which was also attended by 300 leaders representing various Islamic groups. The meeting declared it a religious duty of Muslims all over the world to protect the Taliban government, and the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden it was hosting, whom they considered as a 'great Muslim warrior.'^[16]

Support for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry[link]

On 12 March 2007, Gul marched shoulder-to-shoulder with activists from the liberal democratic parties and retired former senior military officers against General Pervez Musharraf. General Gul faced down riot police when they tried to arrest him at a rally outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad protesting against attempts to dismiss Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.^[17] He turned against the restored Supreme Court chief justice after a bench allowed Musharraf to contest the elections in uniform.This is first report said.^[18]

Accusation by Benazir Bhutto[link]

Days after the 2007 Karachi bombings, Benazir Bhutto in a letter to President Musharaf written on 16 October 2007 named Hamid Gul as one of the four persons including the current Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief Ijaz Shah, the then chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, then chief minister of Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim, she suspected were behind the attacks.^[19] Gul responded furiously to these claims. He was arrested on 4 November by the Military police in Islamabad during President Pervez Musharraf's declared state of emergency.^[20]

Terrorism charges[link]

He has acknowledged being a member of banned militant organization Ummah Tameer-e-Nau.^[21] The United States government has included Hamid Gul's name in a list of 4 former ISI officers for inclusion in the list of international terrorists that was sent to UN Secretary General, but China refused.^[22]

Gul has been informed by a senior official in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry that he had been placed on a U.S. watch list of global terrorists, along with several others. He was shown a U.S. document that detailed several charges against him, including allegations that he had ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.^[4]

On 14 December 2008 President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in an interview with Newsweek described Hamid Gul as a political ideologue of terror.^[23]

In July 2010, Wikileaks released over 92,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan between 2004 and the end of 2009. In those documents Gul was accused of backing Taliban Insurgency against western forces to disrupt the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.^[24]

See also[link]

	Pakistan portal
	Biography portal

• Establishment (Pakistan)
• History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Hamid Gul
• Profile of Hamid Gul
• Image of Hamid Gul taken by photographer Declan Walsh of Getty Images Gul's home in Rawalpindi.
• Stein, Jeff. "The audacity of Hamid Gul." The Washington Post. 26 July 2010.
• "Gulled by Hamid Gul." The Washington Times. Friday 4 December 2009.

Bibliography[link]

• Zahid Hussain. Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam, New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
• Husain Haqqani. Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005.

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Zaid Salim Shakir is an American Islamic scholar and writer who is a co-founder (with Hamza Yusuf and Hatem Bazian), and faculty member, of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States, where he teaches courses on Arabic, Law, History, and Islamic Spirituality. He is one of the signatories^[1] of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders.^[2] It has become an important interfaith dialogue initiative between Christians and Muslims.^[3]

Early life[link]

Born in Berkeley, California and with his formative years in Connecticut, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force and shortly after changed his name to Zaid Salim Shakir.^[4] A summa cum laude graduate, he obtained a BA in International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University.^[4] While at Rutgers, he led a successful campaign for disinvestment from South Africa, and co-founded a local Islamic center, Masjid al-Huda.^[5] After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut and continued his community activism, co-founding Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee.^[4] As Imam of Masjid al-Islam from 1988 to 1994 he spearheaded a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort, also accepted the position as Professor and taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University.^[4] He served as an interfaith council Chaplain at Yale University and developed the Chaplaincy Sensitivity Training for physicians at Yale New Haven Hospital. Zaid Shakir participates as a speaker at Islamic Society of North America annual conferences.^[6]

Years Abroad[link]

Zaid Shakir then left for Syria to pursue his studies in the traditional Islamic Sciences.^[4] For seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, he immersed himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality. In 2001, he was the first American graduate from Syria's Abu Nour University^[7] and returned to Connecticut, serving again as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam, and writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues.^[8]

Recent work in the United States[link]

In 2003, as a scholar-in-residence at Zaytuna Institute located in California, Zaid Shakir began to teach Arabic, Law, and Islamic Spirituality. And, in 2008, he co-founded the Berkeley, California based Zaytuna College dedicated to the revival of Islamic Sciences and the preservation of traditional teaching methods.

He has traveled all over the world lecturing about Islam and contemporary issues. Zaid Shakir has translated several classical texts from Arabic.^[9] He has been a special guest and interviewed twice on Bill Moyers on January 18, 2002 and June 22, 2007, a prime time TV station network PBS. In 2007, Zaid Shakir participated in a lively conversation entitled, Can We Talk About God? Devotion and Extremism in the Modern Age with the foremost conservative thinker in Britain, writer and philosopher Roger Scruton. These two thinkers with some common ground and some sharply differing perspectives, the discussion was moderated by award-winning journalist, documentary-maker, Sandy Tolan of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.^[10][11] Also in 2007, Shakir was a contributing scholar in the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary Prince Among Slaves, produced by Unity Productions Foundation.^[12]

He is the first Islamic Scholar to spearhead a nationwide initiative "Bite The Bug" a project of the ONE Campaign, along with many partners who are passionately concerned about matters plaguing Muslims regardless of culture, geography, language or race. This mission is to raise national awareness and demonstrate that the American Muslim community is compassionate, empathetic and action-oriented about basic maladies within the world.

He has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work. In the spirit of the great scholars of the past, Zaid Shakir embodies the rationality, spirituality and breadth of traditional knowledge, as well as cutting-edge academic intellect. He leaves a lasting impression; his ability to move hearts and minds enlightens all walks of life. He is married and has one adopted son.^[13]

Zaid Shakir was a participant at the 9th annual 2010 seminar with The Archbishop of Canterbury,^[14] Dr Rowan Williams who chaired the Building Bridges Christian-Muslim Seminar on Tradition and Modernity, which brought together leading Muslim and Christian scholars from around the world to explore issues at the heart of the two traditions. Shakir has also been featured on the Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek blog, On Faith. He is a frequent speaker at local and national Muslim events and has emerged as one of the nation’s top Islamic Scholars and a voice of conscience for American Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Zaid Shakir stated in a 2009 interview with USA Today, "as a faith community our needs aren't any different than the needs of any other faith community. As Muslims, we need to develop institutions to allow us to perpetuate our values."^[15]

Zaid Shakir has expressed a hope that the people of the United States convert to Islam, "Every Muslim who is honest would say, I would like to see America become a Muslim country. I think it would help people, and if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be a Muslim. Because Islam helped me as a person, and it's helped a lot of people in my community."^[16]

According to CNN blog This Just In, an article entitled "Today's Intriguing People" states, The New York Times has reported that Zaid Shakir is one of nine influential Muslim scholars who has appeared in a YouTube video denouncing militant Islam."^[17][18]

A September 8, 2010 NPR.org report, titled "Listen to The Story: New College Teaches Young American Muslims", revealed that Zaid Shakir informed the inaugural class that they are "pioneers, charting the future course of American Islam – which is not for the faint of heart. Literally, the whole world is looking at you. The whole world is listening to you. You will be put under a microscope by a lot of people, and you will have to perform."^[18]

In The Chronicle of Higher Education March 18, 2012 article entitled "American Islam", Zaid Shakir states "We have to raise our voices, we have to present our example, and we have to institutionalize our example. We have to develop institutions that reflect our diversity. We have to develop institutions that bring all of this potential power ... of these people, coming with all of their collective experience, all of their collective spiritual and emotional energy, all of their collective histories ... and say, this is how we can live in this country."^[19]

Criticism[link]

While many have cited Zaid Shakir as example of Islamic moderation,^[20] his critics have questioned his moderate credentials. In his book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn challenges the characterization of Shakir as a moderate Muslim, citing Shakir's expressed hope for the conversion of America to Islam and adoption of Islamic law in America.^[21]

On November 13, 2009 Zaid Shakir issued a lengthy statement regarding the Fort Hood shooting with this introduction:

I begin by expressing my deepest condolences to the families of all of the dead and wounded. There is no legitimate reason for their deaths, just as I firmly believe there is no legitimate reason for the deaths of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghani civilians who have perished as a result of those two conflicts. Even though I disagree with the continued prosecution of those wars, and even though I believe that the US war machine is the single greatest threat to world peace, I must commend the top military brass at Fort Hood, and President Obama for encouraging restraint and for refusing to attribute the crime allegedly perpetrated by Major Nidal Malik Hasan to Islam. We pray that God bless us to see peace and sanity prevail during these tense times.^[22]

This statement was praised by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) but criticized by Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy and a former lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. Jasser said that "as an American Muslim," he was offended by these comments which he believes reflect Shakir's "disdain for our military."^[23] However, Ingrid Mattson, the President of the Islamic Society of North America supported Zaid Shakir's response to the Fort Hood tragedy as "solidly grounded in the Islamic legal, ethical and intellectual tradition."^[24]

Commendation[link]

A 200 page report entitled, “The 500 Most Influential Muslims” edited by noted professors John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin was published November 20, 2009 by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (Jordan) and the Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (Georgetown University) describes Shakir as “an influential Islamic scholar".^[25][26] The New York Times describes him as "a leading intellectual light" whilst adding that he has "a history of anti-American rhetoric" that has mellowed over the years.^[27] Tikkun Daily states that he is "one of the most thoughtful and dynamic teachers about the true nature of Islam in America today".^[28] In The Chronicle of Higher Learning, "embodying an American story if ever there was one—including proverbial bootstraps, military service, political activism, and deep religious commitment—Zaid Shakir's message of social justice in the face of poverty and racism he has known first hand makes him endlessly and, it often seems, effortlessly relevant. He is as approachable a man as I've ever met."^[19]

Publications[link]

Books authored[link]

• Where I'm Coming From: A Year In Review, 2010
• Agenda To Change Our Condition, (Co-authored with Hamza Yusuf), 2007
• Scattered Pictures: A Reflection of An American Muslim, 2005

Books translated with additions[link]

• Treatise For The Seekers of Guidance, (translation and commentary of Al-Muhasibi's Risala Al-Mustarshidin), 2008
• Heirs of the Prophets, 2000

Books which include his foreword or note[link]

• Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet, (editorial review), 2010
• Ascent to Felicity, (editorial review), 2010
• The War within Our Hearts: Struggles of the Muslim Youth, (wrote introduction), 2010
• Living With Blindness: Lessons from the Life of Imran Sabir, (wrote introduction), 2009
• Submission Faith and Beauty, The Religion of Islam (Co-edited with Hamza Yusef), 2008
• A Gathering of Voices on Caring For Creation, (contrib. article)The Zaytuna Ruku Tree, 2008
• Dear Self: A Year In The Life of A Welfare Mother, (wrote foreword), 2006
• The Empire and The Crescent, (contributed article Jehad as Perpetual War), 2004

Papers[link]

• Crescentwatch Position Change
• An Examination of The Issue of Female Prayer Worship

External links and further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zaid Shakir

Websites[link]

• Zaytuna.org – Imam Zaid Shakir co-founder and faculty member of College
• New Islamic Directions – Official Website
• Lectures of Imam Zaid Shakir

Articles and Interviews[link]

• Media Articles Profile

See also[link]

• Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri
• Hamza Yusuf

References[link]