Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani

In this Philippine name for Muslims, the name Abubakar is a patronymic, not a family name, and the family name is Janjalani.

Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani (1959 – December 18, 1998) was a Filipino Islamist militant who was the chief founder and leader of the Abu Sayyaf organization until his death in 1998 by Filipino police.^[2] Upon his death his brother, Khadaffy Janjalani, took control of the organization.^[3]

Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani
Born	1959 Basilan, Philippines
Died	December 18, 1998 (aged 38–39)^[1] Philippines
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Nationality	Moro
Known for	Nominal leader of the Filipino militant group Abu Sayyaf
Successor	Khadaffy Janjalani

Janjalani was born on the Philippine island of Basilan to a Tau Sūg father and a Ilonggo Christian mother;^[4] his presumed year of birth, 1959, is still subject to dispute.^[5] A former teacher, he studied theology and Arabic in Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia during the 1980s.

When he returned to the Philippines in 1990 Janjalani was able to attract many Muslim youth to join his organization. Janjalani was also allegedly given $6 million by Osama bin Laden to establish the organization as an offshoot of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Janjalani had allegedly met Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and allegedly fought alongside him against the Soviet Union during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. At the time of his death, he was the country's most wanted man, with a bounty of 1.5 million pesos on his head.

References

1. Schmid, Alex P. (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. Taylor & Francis. p. 606. ISBN 978-1-136-81040-4. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
2. Azra, Azyumardi; Dijk, Kees van; Kaptein, Nico J. G. (2010). Varieties of Religious Authority: Changes and Challenges in 20th Century Indonesian Islam. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 184. ISBN 978-981-230-940-2. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
3. Chasdi, Richard J. (2010). Counterterror Offensives for the Ghost War World: The Rudiments of Counterterrorism Policy. Lexington Books. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-4616-3326-6. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
4. Unson, John (April 16, 2017). "Mindanao Development Pushing Abu Sayyaf Out —Security Officials". The Philippine Star.
5. East, Bob (2013). Terror Truncated: The Decline of the Abu Sayyaf Group from the Crucial Year 2002. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4438-4461-1. Retrieved December 3, 2019.

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