Ataullah Hafezzi

Ataullah Hafezzi (born: 10 January 1948) is a Deobandi Islamist leader and politician who is serving as the Ameer (Head) of the Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan, Naeeb-e-Ameer (vice-head) of the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, director of Jamia Nooria Islamia, and the chief Khatib of Ambarshah Shahi Jam'a Mosque.

Biography
Ataullah was born on January 10, 1948, in the village of Ludhua under Raipur Thana of the Raipur Upazila of Lakshmipur district and is the youngest son of Muhammadullah Hafezzi. He has completed Hifz-ul-Qur'an, Qāriʾ, and Dawra-e-Hadith (Master's) from the Qawmi madrasa education system. His political career started with the Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan, an Islamist Caliphatist political party founded by his father. Later on, he served as one of the central leaders of Islami Oikya Jote, and it was a formal alliance at the time.

He also formerly led the Islamic Law Implementation Committee established by Fazlul Haque Amini. On November 29, 2014, he was nominated as the Ameer of Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan in the council of representatives of the party; and then on 6 August 2015, he was appointed as Muhtamim of Jamia Nuria Islamia. On November 29, 2023, he was elected as the party's head for the second time.

He directly led the protests against the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the movement demanding the punishment of exiled writer Taslima Nasreen in 1994, and the anti-fatwa movement in 2001. In 2007, he and his elder brother led a protest rally at the Baitul Mukarram against the publication of cartoons in the national daily Prothom Alo, which reportedly satirized the Islamic main prophet, Muhammad. He also protested against the Women Policy in the same year. In 2013, the fundamentalist movements against atheists, murtads (apostates), secularists, and bloggers were first called by Ataullah on the banner of Khilafat Andolan; and later the movement spread all over the country under the leadership of Hefazat-e-Islam. He also led it under the banner of Hefazat.