:Munir Shakir
{{Short description|Founder of Islamic group Lashkar-e-Islam (1969–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=January 2023}}
{{Officeholder
| name = Munir Shakir
| office = Lashkar-e-Islam Emir
| term_start = December 2004
| term_end = May 2005
| successor = Mangal Bagh
| birth_name = Mufti Munir Shakir
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1969|04|04}}
| birth_place = Kurram Agency, Pakistan
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|03|15|1969|04|04|df=yes}}
| death_place = Ormur, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
}}
Mufti Munir Shakir (Pashto/{{langx|ur|منیر شاکر}}; 4 April 1969 - 15 March 2025) was an Islamic cleric and preacher. The founder of Lashkar-e-Islam, he later became a strong critic of state oppression by Pakistan and injustices against Pashtuns. He actively participated in Pashtun Tahafuz Movement gatherings, including the Pashtun National Jirga in Khyber.{{Cite web |title=Mufti Munir Shakir: A Controversial Cleric's Ideological Journey |url=https://tnnenglish.com/mufti-munir-shakir-a-controversial-clerics-ideological-journey |access-date=16 March 2025 |website=TNN - TRIBAL NEWS NETWORK |language=en}} In December 2024, Shakir, along with Malik Naseer Kokikhel Afridi and Mufti Kifayatullah Swati, led a delegation of the Pashtun Jirga to Kurram District to mediate a Shia–Sunni conflict between two groups of Pashtun tribes.
Shakir was killed by a bomb planted outside a Peshawar mosque on 15 March 2025.{{cite web | url=https://tnnenglish.com/prominent-religious-scholar-mufti-munir-shakir-killed-in-peshawar-blast | title=Prominent Religious Scholar Mufti Munir Shakir Killed in Peshawar Blast }}
Radio ministry
Shakir was born in 1969. His early education was at a school in Mokhi Zai. During his religious studies at Karbogha Sharif near Thall, he was mentored by his cousin, Maulana Syed Mukhtaruddin Shah, a respected cleric. Originally from the Kurram Valley, Shakir became known after he moved to Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency, where he established an FM pirate radio station. Using this vehicle, he began to promote his religious beliefs, based in Deobandi theology. Among his more controversial pronouncements was his alleged statement that opium is halal, provided it is produced and used for medical purposes.Ghafar Ali Khan [http://khyberpost.newsvine.com/_news/2007/05/29/744381-pro-taliban-group-hq-destroyed-near-peshawar Pro-Taliban Group HQ Destroyed Near Peshawar] Newsvine.com 29 May 2007.According to the Indian Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Shakir's statements on opium were printed in the Indian Express of 22 January 2005
Shakir worked in Kurram Agency until 2004.{{cite web | last = | first = | title = Inside Khyber Agency - V: Lashkar-e-Islam promised justice ... | website = The Express Tribune | date = 28 March 2012 | url = https://tribune.com.pk/story/356186/inside-khyber-agency-v-lashkar-e-islam-promised-justice-delivered-violence | access-date = 21 March 2025 }}
Enmity with Pir Saifur Rahman
In 2005, Akhundzada Saif-ur-Rahman Mubarak, a supporter of the more moderate Hanafi school of Islam, established his own FM pirate radio station to compete with Shakir's station. Rivalry between the two clerics increased, causing tribal elders to denounce the two in December 2005 for fomenting sectarian tension. Both clerics then went into hiding, with Shakir handing control of his radio station and Lashkar-e-Islam organization to Mangal Bagh. The hostilities peaked around 29 March 2006, when "hundreds" of Shakir's followers gathered in the Badshahkili neighborhood of Bara tehsil to attack Rahman's followers.Sonya Fatah {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080923043900/http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2006/4/fatah.asp FM Mullahs]}} Columbia Journalism Review August 2006
Role in Lashkar-e-Islam
In 2004, Shakir founded the organization Lashkar-e-Islam. Shortly thereafter, he was ejected from Bara Tehsil, and turned over control of the organization to local driver Mangal Bagh.{{cite news |title=Lashkar-i-Islam founder Mufti Shakir succumbs to injuries from Peshawar blast: hospital official |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1898091/lashkar-i-islam-founder-mufti-shakir-succumbs-to-injuries-from-peshawar-blast-hospital-official |access-date=16 March 2025}} In 2008, the organization was banned.{{Cite web |last=Sherazi |first=Zahir Shah |date=16 April 2014 |title=Militants threaten residents to vacate Peshawar neighbourhood |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1100097 |access-date=16 March 2025 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}
Later activities
Shakir held a position with Ishaat-e-Tauheed, but disassociated from the group six to seven years before he died. He embraced the teachings of the Ahl-e-Quran movement and wrote books in which he argued that fabricated hadiths altered the true essence of Islam and that the Quran alone defined the true teachings of Islam. At the Pashtun National Jirga, he delivered a speech that condemned the Pakistani government's role in regional conflicts.[https://peshawarpost.com/1912 Who Was Mufti Munir Shakir? A Look at His Tumultuous Life and Violent End]
Deaths
References
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Category:Deaths by explosive device
Category:Pakistani religious leaders
Category:People from Kurram District
Category:People from Karak District