Gholam Mohammad Niaz

Gholam Mohammad Niazi (‎; 1932–1979) was a leading professor at Kabul University, member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the founder of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan. In 1974 he was jailed for promoting the Islamist regime and was killed in jail in 1979. Many of Afghanistan's most prominent politicians are influenced by the groundwork Niazi laid.

Early years Gholam Mohammad Niazi was born the son of Abdul Nabi in 1932 in the Andar district of the Ghazni province which lies east of central Afghanistan to a Niazai Pashtun family.

In 1954, Nasser, the president of Egypt, outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood became an underground organization. Initially, they secretly gathered, but they became a formal political organization named Jamiat-e Islami in 1972.

Ideology Niazi opposed westernization and communism because of their secular nature. He called for a spiritual revolution and emphasized the need to obtain a deep knowledge of Islam. The Islamist ideas spread rapidly among students in Kabul, and the students created the Sazman-e Jawanan-e musalman (Muslim youth) in 1969. Rabbani claims that the student movement was obedient to Niazi and the Professors. He likely did not participate due to fear of government repression. In spring 1971, he initiated a demonstration in Kabul in reaction to the publication of a communist journal that he deemed blasphemy. At the conference, they expressed their support to the Muslims repressed under communism.

It is debated whether the Soviets were involved in his death, directly, indirectly, or at all. Gholam Mohammad Niazi is remembered as the father of Islamism in Afghanistan. He succeeded Gholam Mohammad Niazi as founder and transitioned the organization from a secretive group into a formal Islamist political party.

Abdul Rassul Sayyaf Abdul Rassul Sayyaf was a professor at Kabul University. In 1972, he became the deputy of the Jamiat-e Islami. He was exiled from Afghanistan and then jailed for affiliation with Gholam Mohammad Niazi and his political group in 1973. Sayyaf was highly against the political rule of then King Zahir Shah.