Sayyaf, Abd Al-rab Rasul (1947-)

A Kharotay Ghilzay Pashtun from the district of Paghman, Abd al-Rab Rasul Sayyaf obtained a B.A. from the College of Theology in Kabul and an M.A. from the University of al-Azhar in Cairo. There he joined the Islamic Brethren. After graduation from al-Azhar he taught at the College of Theology of Kabul University until the government of President Daoud arrested him in 1975. While the Khalqi government executed other Islamist inmates, it spared him, since he was a cousin of Hafizullah Amin. After release from prison he fled to Peshawar, where he was chosen as “a non-partisan independent to help unify the alliance formed in 1980” under the name the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan (Klass, Afghanistan, 401). Soon the constituent members seceded from the Islamic Union, but Sayyaf used the name as an organization under his own leadership. An eloquent speaker in Arabic, Sayyaf invoked the name of jehad to obtain contributions from rich individuals, particularly Wahhabis, in the Arab world. The contributions helped him consolidate his organization as a resistance group, albeit a small one. To please his Wahhabi donors, Sayyaf also changed his name from Abd al-Rasul Sayyaf to Abd al-Rub Rasul Sayyaf. He is even said to have become a Wahhabi.