Salman Al Aouda

Al-Auda was born in the village of al-Basr, near the city of Burayd , the capital of the Al Qasim region , located in the center of Saudi Arabia . He spent his early years in al-Basrah and then moved to Buraida. He received his secondary education in his hometown, after which he entered the faculty of Arabic, and later the faculty of Sharia at the Imam Muhammad bin Saud University in al-Qasim . He learned the Quran and basic books on various Islamic sciences. He also listened to lectures by such famous Islamic scholars as Ibn Baz , Ibn Usaymin , and Ibn Djibrin . After completing his studies, he received the position of teacher of Arabic at the faculty of scientific research, where he worked for four years. After that, he worked as a research fellow at the university and graduated from the Masters Department of the Sunnah and Hadith Studies at the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion on the subject of “ Hadith on the topic of“ Gurba “and its position in the Sunnah”. He defended his doctoral dissertation in Shariah sciences on the topic “Interpretation of the ablution book from the Bulug al-Maram .” At the moment, it is published in four volumes.

He spent five years in prison for protesting against the decision of the Government of Saudi Arabia on the deployment of American troops on its territory. Al-Auda was "rehabilitated" in 1999 and became one of the most prominent religious figures of the kingdom. After the conclusion, he, along with his colleagues, resumed his teaching activities, giving lessons after the Maghrib prayer from Wednesday to Friday on topics such as commentary, ethics, education and the Koran’s comments. Al-Auda stated that he maintains peace and coexistence with other religions . He announced that this was the result of a deeper understanding of Islamic teachings ^[2] . He ran his own program on television, has a website in four languages ​​and was seen as a supporter of the Saudi government, and received his support in an alternative to the training program for the Saudi Arabia of the ulama ( clergy ).

Al-Auda was married to Haye al-Sayyari and had 16 children. His eldest son is Muaz. In January 2017, his son Hisham and his wife Haya died in a traffic accident. Muhammad al-Arifi, Aid al-Yaryk, Ibrahim ad-Davish, Hassan al-Husseini Ziyad al-Shahri, Naif al-Sahfi, Musa al-Umar and Muhammad al-Yakubi brought condolences to Salman al-Aud.

During the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991, when a coalition created and led by the Americans launched military operations against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in response to his capture of Kuwait , Salman al-Aouda and some other sheikhs expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the Government of Saudi Arabia. Abdu al-Aziz ibn Baz, the then great Mufti, issued a fatwa justifying the invitation of American troops to protect Saudi Arabia from Hussein. In response, al-Aouda raised the question of the inability of the Saudi military to defend the state despite the huge amount of purchased American weapons. During the war, al-Auda initiated two petitions for reform addressed to the king. The first, in 1991, was known as the “Letter of Requirements,” and was signed by prominent figures in various areas of Saudi Arabia's life: religion, economics, and social activism, who sought reform in the form of government, in particular, the creation of the Schur Advisory Board. A year later, the second petition, known as the Memorandum of Council, signed by more than one hundred religious leaders, including Ulyama , also called for the creation of the Shura , as well as for censorship of the media by religious leaders and the revision of all laws of the kingdom, to ensure they comply with Sharia. Both petitions expressed loyalty to the Saudi house, despite the lack of representation of signatories in the current government. Meanwhile, audio recordings of al-Ouda’s sermons were widespread and joined other opposition voices after the first Gulf War, as the US military stationed for a long time at an air base outside the capital ^[3] .

In 2001, al-Auda created and oversees the activities of the popular site IslamToday, which offers a wide range of Islamic-related materials. He gives classes and lectures on the Internet and by phone for a wide range of students. Salman al-Aouda is an active user of social networks ( Facebook , where he has more than 5.5 million subscribers, Instagram - 1.3 million and Twitter - 9 million)

Salman al-Aouda is known not only for his criticism of the September 11 attacks, but also for his personal message to Osama bin Laden. In 2007, on the sixth anniversary of September 11, he turned to the al-Qaeda leader on the well-known Middle Eastern television network MBC with the words ^[4] : “ “ My brother Osama, how much blood has been spilled? How many innocent people, children, old people and women were killed ... in the name of al Qaeda? Will you be happy to meet Almighty God, bearing the burden of these hundreds of thousands or millions of sacrifices on your back? ”

In September 1994, Salman al-Aouda was imprisoned for anti-government activities. He and Safar al-Hawali were arrested along with a large number of their followers in the city of Burayda, Qasim province. Moreover, Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz issued a fatwa that if al-Auda and al-Hawali do not repent of their previous behavior, they will be forbidden to give lectures, conduct meetings and record audio and video lessons.

He was one of the leaders of the Law Enforcement Committee (CDLR), a Saudi dissident group established in 1993, and was the first opposition organization in the Kingdom to openly dispute the monarchy, accusing the government and senior ulama of not doing enough to protect the legitimate Islamic rights of Muslims ^[5] . In 1999, released.

In September 2017, a wave of arrests of objectionable preachers and Islamic theologians took place in Saudi Arabia. Sheikhs Salman al-Aouda, Awad al-Karni and Ali al-Umari were arrested. All three avoided public comment in support of the Saudi regime in the Qatari diplomatic crisis. ^[6] Salman al-Auda was arrested after a telephone conversation between the Crown Prince of KSA, Muhammad ibn Salman, with the emir of Qatar and the publication on the social network of his appeal to God “so that Allah would unite hearts”. In addition, his relatives were denied travel outside the kingdom ^[7] . The International Union of Muslim Scientists condemned the arrests of theologians and called on King Salman ibn Abdul al-Aziz to release them immediately ^[6] . The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch has stated that in Salman al-Audu they have been kept in prison for several months without good reason ^[7] .

In May 2019, the Middle East Eye announced that Salman al-Auda, Awad al-Karni and Ali al-Umari would be executed after the end of the holy month of Muslims Ramadan ^[8] .

Among the approximately fifty books that he published:

• First strangers
• Characteristics of strangers
• Discussion with Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali ,
• Who is eligible to participate in independent legal discussions?
• Islamic Law Study Guide.

All of these publications are currently available in Arabic on the Islam Today website.