Originally a religious group, it was launched as a political party in 1986 by leader Ehsan Elahi Zaheer, with generous Saudi funding and support, to spread its 'revivalist program' from 'mosques and madrassas' to the public sphere.[1] According to Olivier Roy, JAH opposed government involvement in affairs of sharia law -- unlike similar Islamic groups.[2] However an interview with its leader, Sajid Mir, posted on its website circa 2010 states that it seeks to address what Mir calls the "deliberate and organized efforts at the state level to replace honorable Muslim values in society with the offensive Western culture".[1] JAH is also strongly sectarian and aggressively antagonistic to those Muslims it believes are not true Muslims, such as Shia, and especially the Ahmadi, preaching on their website that "the religious duty of every Muslim" is "to dispatch an Ahmedis to hell".[1] Even Sunni revivalist Deobandis have been attacked by the JAH as mushrikin (polytheists) "for their veneration of the Prophet", according to B.Z. Ali.[1] Zaheer was assassinated in 1987, probably by a Shia.[1] As of 2014 the party is led by Professor Sajid Mir.