Hezbi Islami (also
Hezb-e Islami,
Hezb-i-Islami,
Hezbi-Islami,
Hezb-e-Islami), meaning
Islamic Party is an
Islamist organization that was commonly known for fighting the
Communist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally the Soviet Union. Founded and led by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it was established in
Afghanistan in 1975. It grew out of the
Muslim Youth organization, an
Islamist organization founded in
Kabul by students and teachers at
Kabul University in 1969 to combat
communism in Afghanistan. Its membership was drawn from ethnic
Pashtuns, and its ideology from the
Muslim Brotherhood and
Abul Ala Maududi's
Jamaat-e-Islami. Another source describes it as having splintered away from
Burhanuddin Rabbani's original Islamist party,
Jamiat-e Islami, in 1976, after Hekmatyar found that group too moderate and willing to compromise with others.