3. Biodata:
Amir Mohammad Kabuli was an important cleric, belonging to the Hanafi school, one of the most moderate among the four schools of thought in Sunni Islam. He is a Sufi leader. He was killed in a blast on the Saiddiquiya mosque in the Sar-e-Kotal Khair khana area north of Kabul during evening prayers, killing and injuring a number of worshipers  in which at least 20 people including children were killed. The killing of Kabuli follows last week’s suicide bombing of a high-ranking cleric, Rahimullah Haqqani, a Taliban insider, who also belonged to the Hanafi School. The ISKP had claimed responsibility of the suicide bombing at the Haqqani’s madrassah by a handicapped bomber who had hidden explosives in his prosthetic leg. Both Kabuli and Haqqani’s killings signal a grim ideological war between the Hanafi and the Salafi school that is being fought on Afghan soil.(20220817)

Background:
A large section of the Taliban belongs to the Hanafi school.  According to some accounts, the school has evolved from the teachings of the eighth century scholar Abu Hanifa, who studied and taught in Kufa in Iraq. Two of his disciples, Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and al-Shaybani (d. 805), put together Abu Hanifa’s teachings, which were adopted by the Abbasid dynasty resulting in its international spread. “Hanafi doctrines have always been considered among the most flexible and liberal in Islamic law, including in the areas of criminal law, treatment of non-Muslims, individual freedoms, marriage and guardianship, and ownership and use of property."

The Salafists violently reject the Hanafi school. One of the most “ultra-conservative” school believes that authentic Islam can be derived by rigorously following the footsteps of the early, righteous generations of Muslims, known as the Salaf, who were closest to Prophet Muhammad. Salafis believe not just in the “spirit” but in the “letter” of the law, setting them apart from their mainstream counterparts. Born out of this puritanical zeal, Salafi-Jihadism has emerged as a potent force. “Salafi-jihadists tend to emphasize the military exploits of the Salaf (the early generations of Muslims) to give their violence an even more immediate divine imperative.