Lal Masjid is one of the few, or perhaps the only, Islamic centers in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, that the Pakistani army and governments have challenged from time to time. The governments and army have harbored enmity towards it and have even spilled the blood of hundreds of students and scholars there. The only issue the Pakistani governments and army have had with this great Islamic center is the implementation of Islam and Islamic Sharia. However, they have always tried to divert people’s attention from this main issue to other aspects under various pretexts.
The foundation stone of this mosque was laid for the first time in 1962, when the capital of Pakistan was being moved from Karachi to Islamabad. At the same time, other buildings were also constructed in Islamabad for Pakistani institutions and ministries as part of the capital’s relocation. This mosque is built in a very central area of Islamabad, near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, surrounded by embassies and diplomatic missions of Western countries. The walls of this mosque were red, which is why it became known as “Lal,” a word that means “red” in Persian and Urdu.
From the very beginning of its construction, this mosque witnessed significant events and developments in Pakistan, some of which were unfortunately very tragic. The first imam of this mosque was Maulana Abdullah, who was appointed by Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Banuri. At that time, he was a prominent and renowned religious scholar. In a short period, he made this mosque very famous, attracting so many students that he had to establish more religious schools and centers to accommodate them, so that these students and seekers of knowledge could be taught there. Among these, he also established a special religious school for girls named Jamia-tul-Banat Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), which reached an enrollment of over six thousand students.
Simultaneously with the incidents occurring in Pakistan, the influence of this mosque increased significantly, which drew the attention of the authorities and the military. During Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s time, strict restrictions were imposed on it, and the mosque’s imam, Maulana Abdullah, was arrested by intelligence agencies, but he was released as a result of widespread public protests. When a military coup took place in Pakistan in 1977, the restrictions on the mosque were somewhat eased, and Maulana Abdullah established other religious schools and centers under the influence of this center and mosque in various places. He was also entrusted with the responsibility of the Hilal Committee, but strict restrictions were imposed on him again during Benazir Bhutto’s government. Eventually, Maulana Abdullah was martyred in a mysterious attack on October 17, 1998.
After him, his son Maulana Abdul Aziz took over the responsibility of the mosque. Despite Maulana Abdullah’s martyrdom, the mosque still had many staunch supporters. When the Pakistani army prepared to launch operations in Waziristan, many Pakistani scholars gathered at the mosque and issued a fatwa against these operations. These scholars deemed the Pakistani army’s operations unlawful and declared a war against Muslims, adding that the Pakistani soldiers killed in this war were considered “doomed,” and their funeral prayers were not permissible.
With this fatwa, tensions escalated between Lal Masjid and the Pakistani army and government. The government increased its pressure, labeling the mosque as a safe haven for terrorists, and thus intensified its threats to demolish it. The initial focus was on two seminaries associated with the mosque, Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa. The Pakistani government claimed that these seminaries were illegally built on municipal land and should be demolished. When a bombing occurred in the London subway, British media alleged that the perpetrators were Pakistanis who had traveled to the country before the attack. The Pakistani army and government took advantage of this incident and attempted to raid the two female seminaries associated with Lal Masjid. However, the female students of Jamia Hafsa did not allow the Pakistani police to carry out the raid, leading to a scuffle in which several students were injured.
In 2007, the municipality decided to demolish Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa School, claiming they were built in sensitive areas and posed security problems. However, this action faced widespread backlash, forcing Pakistan’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Ijaz-ul-Haq, to intervene. The animosity between the Pakistani government and the mosque intensified when its officials and scholars demanded the implementation of Islamic Sharia in Pakistan, the removal of immoral images and posters from the city streets, the closure of drug production centers, the prevention of alcohol sales, and the cessation of government conspiracies against them. They also warned that if the government took action against them, they would carry out suicide operations in retaliation.
This decision of Lal Masjid, was considered a threat to the secular system of the Pervez Musharraf government, prompting a military response against the mosque and its affiliated madrasas. Initially, military posts were established around Lal Masjid, and then the mosque complex was besieged. Inside the mosque, two thousand students, teachers, and scholars were besieged for two weeks, including 1,500 female students, 200 children, and 100 male students and teachers. They were deprived of water, electricity, food, and everything else, forcing them to resort to eating leaves and plants.
After two weeks of a severe siege, the tyrant Musharraf ordered his army to carry out a massacre there at the behest of the United States. As a result of this horrific and brutal act, nearly one and a half thousand people, most of whom were women and girls, were martyred. The so-called human rights defense organizations were silent on this unforgivable crime by the Pakistani army and government. Although the tyrannical and oppressive Pakistani government and army, despite their brutality and cruelty, were unable to demolish the mosque, they continued their efforts to destroy this grand Islamic center.
In a recent attempt three days ago, the cruel and savage army again rolled up their sleeves to demolish Lal Masjid, which once again faced a strong backlash from the people.
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