Geylani, Ahmed

Ahmed Geylani was born on May 1, 1932 in Jalalabad (according to other sources - in Kabul). Ahmed Geylani was a descendant of Sheikh Abdul-Qadir Gilani (al-Jilani). His father, Sayyid Hazrat Geylani, at the age of fifteen was taken to England, where he studied at a special school. With the help of British supporters, he gained fame as a religious figure among the Afghan Pashtun tribes in the then northwestern regions of India. In 1905 he moved to Afghanistan, with the goal of establishing a Cadirian tariq in the country. Received land plots from Kabul and Nangarhar from Emir Habibullah Khan. Gilani's mother, Martha Richter, was the daughter of a major German police officer. Parents got married while studying Hassan Geylani in Germany ^[1] .

Ahmed Geylani grew up in Suhrod County, Nangarhar Province. He studied at Abu Hanifa College in Kabul, and then at the Sharia Department of Kabul University (1960). Trained and improved his qualifications as a theologian at higher Islamic educational institutions in Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Fluent in English, German, Arabic, Pashto and Giving languages. In 1952, he married the granddaughter of Emir Khabibullah, Adele. Often traveled to France and the UK. Ahmed Geylani was an official dealer of the Peugeot automobile brand in Kabul and traded astrakhan ^[2] . Until the fall of the monarchy in 1973, he was an unofficial adviser to King Zahir Shah. Prior to the April Revolution , Afghanistan enjoyed great authority among the Pashtun population of the provinces bordering Pakistan ^[3] .

In 1979, Geylani sharply condemned the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. He was the head of the Afghan High Council for Peace. In 1979, he left the country and founded the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan party in Peshawar. Later, this party became part of the Seven, which formed the government of the Mujahideen in 1992-96 in Afghanistan. In 1981, he became a member of the leadership, co-founder of the “Islamic Union of Mujahiddin of Afghanistan,” but he was the first to leave the same year. In 1983-85, co-director of the Union of Three (NIFA, DIRA, NSFS). Since May 1985, again co-founder of the "Islamic Union of the Mujahideen of Afghanistan" ("Alliance of Seven"). In 1986, after the exclusion of G. Hekmatyar and A. R. Sayyaf, he became the co-founder of the new “Group of Five”. In 1988, the composition of the "transitional Mujahideen government" formed in Pakistan became the chairman of the Supreme Court. After the overthrow of Najibullah , in April 1992 he became a member of the "Governing Council of the country", but almost immediately quarreled with B. Rabbani and A. Sh. Masoud and refused all posts. In October 2001, he held a “Conference of Peace and Salvation” in Peshawar, which he tried to present as a prototype of the future post-Taliban government ^[2] . In the 2004 presidential election, Pir Gilani supported Hamid Karzai ^[3] .

In May 2012, after a long serious illness, the wife of Geilani died. In the marriage, he had two sons and three daughters: Said Hamid Geylani, vice-head of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan; Said Mohammad Geylani; Fatima Geylani (Begum married; now the head of the Afghan Red Cross); Mariam Geylani and Zarin Geylani ^[3] .

He died on January 21, 2017 in a Kabul hospital, after a short illness ^[3] .