Nizamuddin Shamzai

Nizamuddin Shamzai (also Nizam al-Din Shamzai, 12 July 1952 – 30 May 2004) was a pro-Taliban Pakistani Deobandi Sunni Islamic scholar and the senior professor of hadith at the Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia. He was considered "one of the most important Deobandi figures in Pakistan" and "one" of the "most revered Sunni clerics" in Pakistan.^[1] He was the mentor of Mullah Mohammed Omar, and his madrassa (known as Banuri Town), "taught many students who later became important members of the Taliban regime in Kabul".^[1] He issued religious edicts and travelled to elicit support for the Taliban, including a called for a “jihad” against the US after the Al-Qaeda September 11 attacks and US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.