Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani has held the position of Chief Justice of the Taliban's Supreme Court since October 2021. As one of the founding figures of the Taliban movement, he is considered the most influential religious leader within the organization. Regarded as a close confidante and mentor to key Taliban leaders, including the founding leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and the current emir, he wields significant influence in shaping the Taliban's religious verdicts and policies. In the past, Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani played a pivotal role as the head of the Taliban’s negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, actively engaging in talks with the United States until 2021. Before the Taliban's takeover in 2021, he served as the head of the Taliban’s judicial commission and reportedly operated a madrassa in the Kuchlak area of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. In January 2020, he reportedly lost his son in an attack on his madrassa. Born in 1957, he attended the Darol Uloom Haqqania madrassa in 1977 in Pakistan. He authored "The Islamic Emirate and its System," a book detailing the political strategy and religious ideology of the Taliban, endorsed by the current Taliban emir, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban’s Supreme Court, which has an organizational structure of 2,600 personnel, strictly adheres to the imposition of Hanafi Fiqh, the largest Sunni Muslim denomination with its teachings interpreted by Imam Abu Hanifa. While most Afghans – Taliban and non-Taliban alike – follow the Hanafi Fiqh, the previous Afghan government also recognized the Shia Fiqh as that separate Muslim denomination. The Taliban Supreme Court has so far ruled out the inclusion of women judges in its court system, noting that women judges lack sufficient education in Hanafi Fiqh. In mid-2022, the Taliban's emir brought significant changes to invalidate the judicial system established during the former Afghan republican system to now including the merger of the Supreme Court with the General Directorate of Rights (Huquq) and the creation of new provincial Houses of Fatwa (Dar ul-Ifta) to apply Sharia-compliant punishments. Despite his prominent role, Sheikh Hakim Haqqani is not listed on the United Nations or other sanctions list.
