Jafar Umar Thalib

Family Ja'far Umar Thalib was born on December 29, 1961 in Malang, Indonesia. His ancestors comes from Yemen. Ja'far's grandfather Abdullah bin Amir bin Thalib he left LIPIA. With the help of the LIPIA director, he continued his study at Maudoodi Institute in Lahore, Pakistan in 1986 with scholarship from Saudi government. After one year, he quarreled again with one of his lecturers and decided to leave the institution before completing his education in 1987.

Thalib studied the teachings of the Salafi sect from Jamilurrahman al-Salafi al-Afghani in Kunar province, near the Pakistan border around 1990. In 1991–1993 Jafar studied under another Salafi cleric, Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i in Dammaj, Yemen. He also studied the teachings of the Salafi sect from Nasir al-Albani and ibn Baz. He furthermore said that Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization with Khawarij ideology.

He declared the establishment of Laskar Jihad as a paramilitary group of FKAWJ on January 30, 2000, as an effort to defend and protect Moluccan Muslims from violence by Christians in Maluku during Maluku sectarian conflict. The group started a recruitment of members who want to wage jihad in Ambon. Although Jihad was one of the most important principles of the group, it was never meant to be an aggressor to war. It limited the jihad to defensive action to protect Muslims from Christian attacks. It was not also to mitigate a rebellion against the legitimate government. |sign=Jafar Umar Thalib

In 2001 the police arrested him for allegedly presiding over a makeshift Islamic court that ordered a rapist be stoned to death, which is illegal under Indonesian law. He allegedly led the execution himself, though he was never prosecuted of his act.

Jafar was arrested on May 4, 2002, in Surabaya as he was en route from Ambon. In October 2002, Laskar Jihad was officially disbanded by the staff and board of supervisors of FKAWJ after a marathon meeting from October 3 to October 7, 2002. Jafar Umar Thalib disagreed with the board's decision as he was still in litigation with the East Jakarta District court where he was indicted for acts of treason, inciting, and insulting Indonesian President at that time, Megawati Sukarnoputri. In October 2002, Jafar obliged to announce the dissolution of Laskar Jihad when reporters asked for confirmation moments after the Bali bombings. However, Jafar apparently still tried to gather troops to perform demonstrations so that he could press the District Court to ease his sentence. However it turned out with the dissolution of the Laskar Jihad, he was ultimately acquitted. According to the judge panel, there was no proof that Jafar had insulted or defamed Megawati Sukarnoputri, inciting the masses, and for his call for hostility in his speeches at al-Fatah Mosque in Ambon, April 26, 2002. Later he was freed from all charges on January 30, 2003.

Wahhabism and Anti-Shiism At the launch of a book entitled Mereka Bukan Thagut (They're Not Cause of Evil), Jafar affirmed his stance that he is a genuine Wahabist.

As common among Salafi Wahhabists to strongly oppose Shia Muslims and even consider them Infidels (see Anti-Shiism), Jafar in June 2013 once said that he would declare a jihad against Indonesian Shia Muslims which allegedly tried to intimidate a Sunni congregation in Bekasi.

Death 28 days after his release, Ja'far Umar Thalib admitted to the Harapan Kita National Heart Center Hospital, Jakarta due to cardiovascular issue. He died five days later on Sunday, August 25, 2019, at 12:10 WIB. His body was held at Masjid Al-Fatah, Kampung Melayu. Then left for Yogyakarta by plane. The body was buried the next day in Degolan, Umbulmartani Village, Ngemplak District, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta. Several figures in Indonesia gave the condolences, including Police General Muhammad Tito Karnavian and General of the TNI (retired) Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono.