Age, Biography and Wiki
Hafiz Saeed was born on June 5, 1950, in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. He is the co-founder of several Islamic organizations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which are both significant in the region's militant landscape. His early life involved extensive education in Islamic studies and Arabic, leading to roles in various religious and advisory positions in Pakistan.
| Occupation | Politician |
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| Date of Birth | 5 June 1950 |
| Age | 75 Years |
| Birth Place | Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Country | Pakistan |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited public information available about Hafiz Saeed's physical measurements.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Hafiz Saeed's personal life is not extensively covered in public sources, and there is no widely available information about his dating or relationship status.
The family belongs to the Gujjar community. As told by him, his father, Maulana Kamal-ud-Din, a religious scholar, landlord and farmer, along with his family started migrating from Ambala and Hisar, East Punjab (now in Haryana) and reached Pakistan in around four months in the autumn of 1947. His father ran a grocery store before receiving farmland from the government while his mother opened a madrasa. Three of his brothers, Hafiz Hamid, Hafiz Mastodon and Hafiz Hannan, are involved in Islamic activism as well, having previously run Islamic centres in Boston in the United States.
He was named hafiz because he memorized the Qur'an during his childhood, his mother having impulsed him to do so when he was nine, a time during which he was already enthusiastic about the verses on jihad and also took interest in sports such as football and kabbadi. He then attended the Government College Sargodha (now University of Sargodha) before getting a Master's in Islamic Studies at the King Saud University in Riyadh.
A major early influence on his life and ideology was his maternal uncle, and later father-in-law, Hafiz Abdullah Bahawalpuri, who was a famed theologian belonging to the Salafi Ahl-i Hadith, who held that democracy was incompatible with Islam (which alienated him with Maulana Maududi's Jamaat-e-Islami) and argued, on the importance of jihad, "that only in jihad does one offer one's life in the way of Allah, which elevates it to a higher plane than merely fulfilling other religious responsibilities such as saying prayers and paying zakat, also entailing sacrifices and adjustments, but not at the scale evident in jihad" and "considered shahadat (martyrdom) to be the crux of jihad." Bahawalpuri's only son, Abdul Rehman Makki, is Saeed's brother-in-law and has been described as "his close partner."
Pakistan took Saeed into custody on 21 December 2001 due to an Indian government assertion that he was involved in the 13 December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. He was held until 31 March 2002, released, then taken back into custody on 15 May. He was placed under house arrest on 31 October 2002 after his wife Maimoona Saeed sued the province of Punjab and the Pakistan federal government for what she claimed was an illegal detention.
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Net Worth and Salary
Estimating Hafiz Saeed's net worth is challenging due to the clandestine nature of his activities and the lack of transparent financial records. His income and assets are not publicly disclosed, but his influence and leadership within militant organizations suggest significant financial resources, likely derived from various illicit and unreported sources.
Career, Business and Investments
Hafiz Saeed's career is marked by his involvement in militant activities:
- Co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT): He is widely recognized as the founder and leader of LeT, a militant organization involved in numerous terrorist operations.
- Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD): He has also been associated with JuD, often referred to as a humanitarian organization, but it is seen as a cover for LeT's activities.
- Terrorism Charges: Saeed has been convicted of terrorism and is listed on several international most-wanted lists, including the United States' list with a $10 million bounty.
Social Network
Hafiz Saeed does not have an officially recognized social media presence due to his involvement in militant activities and his status as a wanted individual.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq appointed Saeed to the Council on Islamic Ideology, and he later served as an Islamic Studies teacher at the University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan. He was sent to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s by the university for higher studies where he met Saudi sheikhs who were taking part in the Soviet–Afghan War. They inspired him in taking an active role supporting the mujahideen in Afghanistan. During his studies at the King Saud University, where he was gold medalist for his academic performances as well as taught there, he came under the influence of Salafi scholars like al-Uthaymin and Ibn Baz.
Lashkar has been keeping focus on India and Saeed is among those who are thought to have helped Pakistan in capturing important al-Qaeda members like Abu Zubaydah. Senior Pakistani officials have said that Saeed is helping in de-radicalisation and rehabilitation of former extremists and that security is being provided to him because he could be targeted by militants who disapprove of Saeed's co-operation with Islamabad.
Saeed has criticised Pakistani leaders and has stated that they should aspire to be more like British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. He had declared his admiration for the British Conservative Party along with several Tory MPs when he lodged a petition to the Lahore High Court calling for public officials in Pakistan to tone down their privileged lifestyles. According to The Daily Telegraph, Saeed wrote in the petition that while Pakistan's political elite were 'living like kings and princes in palatial government houses,' Britain's prime minister lived in a 'four-bedroom flat.' He added, 'When the sun never set on the British Empire, the chief executive of that great country lived in the same house of a few marlas in a small street. That is truly Islamic, that is like following the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet.'
Criticising his anti-India comments, Indian Muslim leader Asaduddin Owaisi said, "People like Hafiz Saeed are unaware about teachings of Islam, jihad in Islam. They are killing innocent lives in Pakistan, children are being killed. They are using Pakistan for maligning another country. The Government of India should take strict action against it and I condemn his comments in clear and strong words." However in response to India's formal request to extradite Hafiz Saeed in December 2023, Pakistan denied by "citing no bilateral extradition treaty" with India.
In September 2014, Saeed accused India of "water terrorism". Though there was flood crisis in India too, Saeed blamed India for flood crisis in Pakistan. In several tweets on social media he said, "Indian gov discharged water in rivers without notification & has given false information; an act of open mischief," "India has used water to attack Pakistan, We are in state of War. India's water aggression must be taken to the UN security council."
Education
Hafiz Saeed received a postgraduate degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of the Punjab and later studied at King Saud University in Riyadh. He served as a lecturer at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore.
