Abdur Rauf

Abdur Rauf (Arabic: عبد الرؤوف ‎) is a male Muslim given name. It is built from the Arabic words Abd, al- and Rauf. The name means "servant of the Lenient One", Ar-Ra'ūf being one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names.

The letter a of the al- is unstressed, and can be transliterated by almost any vowel, often by u. Because the letter r is a sun letter, the letter l of the al- is assimilated to it. Thus although the name is written in Arabic with letters corresponding to Abd al-Rauf, the usual pronunciation corresponds to Abd ar-Rauf. Alternative transliterations include Abdul Raouf and others, all subject to variable spacing and hyphenation.

It may refer to:

Arts

Politics / Religion

Abdul Rauf (Taliban governor)

Abdul Rauf Aliza also known as Hajji Mullah Maulvi Abdul Rauf Khadim was an Afghan military commander, who having been a commander with the then ruling Taliban, in late 2014 pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Having become a foot soldier for several known Taliban commanders, he eventually became a member of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s elite mobile reserve force before the attacks on September 11, 2001. From 2003 onwards Rauf served as a Taliban spokesman, and was the Taliban's last Governor of Konar Province.

Subsequently captured by US Army forces in Helmand province, he was sent to Guantanamo Bay for detention and interview. Held there as detainee 108, he was assessed according to documents later released by Wikileaks by US officials as:

Assessed not to be a threat, Rauf was recommended for transfer out and continued detainment in another country, and hence transferred back to Afghanistan in 2007. There he rejoined the Taliban in Helmand province, and built up a fighting force in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province. He subsequently became a Taliban politician.

Abdul Rauf Aliza

Mullah Abdul Rauf Aliza (Pashto: ملا عبد الرؤوف‎), widely identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, was an Afghan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba, until 20 December 2007. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 108. The Department of Defense reports that he was born in Azan, Afghanistan.

Following his release from detention, he returned to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, becoming a provincial-level military commander. After falling out with the Taliban leadership, Rauf swore allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and was named deputy commander for it's Afghanistan-Pakistan based Wilayah Khorasan branch, before being killed by a US drone strike in February 2015.

Background

Abdul Rauf testified he was from Helmand Province. He testified that an injury from a Soviet land mine had left him too injured for military duties, so he had been employed providing food during his Taliban conscription. Having become a foot soldier for several known Taliban commanders, he eventually became a member of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s elite mobile reserve force before the attacks on September 11, 2001. He was the Taliban's last Governor of Konar Province.