[7][9][12] He was described by BBC as a "follower" of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Salafist Islamic school of thought,[13] and by the Jamestown Foundation as one of the "active leaders" of Jamaat-e-Islami in the 1980s.

[7][14] From its stronghold of Malakand Division districts in northwestern Pakistan, Sufi Muhammad and his group engaged in violent agitation for the enforcement of Sharia law.

[10][11] Maulana Sufi Muhammad took part in negotiations with the government that led to the announcement of a temporary ceasefire in the Malakand region on 16 February 2009.

"[19] In early April 2009, Sufi Muhammad ended support for peace negotiations stating that the government was stalling the implementation of sharia courts in the Swat valley.

President Asif Ali Zardari refused to sign any agreement until peace had been restored in the valley but failed to elaborate on how those conditions would be achieved.

[21] On 19 April 2009, Sufi Muhammad declared that "democracy was un-Islamic" and that decisions made in the qazi courts could not be appealed in Pakistan's central judicial system.

[22][23] On 3 June 2009, while engaging in Operation Black Thunderstorm against the Taliban, the Pakistani Army arrested senior aides to Sufi Muhammad in the Amandara region in Lower Dir.

[30][31] In January 2011, Sufi Muhammad denied to an anti-terrorism court that he had any links to the anti-state Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and that he only sought enforcement of sharia in Malakand.