Abdulaziz al Fawzan

Biography

Abdulaziz al Fawzan was born in Al Qasim region in 1964. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the Sharia College and Fundamentals of Religion at Al Qassim. Al Fazwan then joined Imam Muhamed ibn Saud Islamic University where he graduated with a master’s and a PhD in comparative jurisprudence. Between 1966 and 2001, he worked as a Professor and Head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Washington. Following his return from the United States, al Fawzan founded an organisation called Islam Message ( شبكة رسالة الإسلام), an organisation specialised in advocating and defending Islam. Islam Message employs different media outlets in multiple languages to spread Sunni Islam in non-muslim countries such as Spain, China, and Philippines. The organisation issues religious opinions and clarifies legal positions on contemporary issues faced by Muslims and aims to facilitate access to “trusted scholars”. One of the key missions of the body is to establish ties with Muslim communities in Western and non-muslim countries in order to solve their religious issues. Al Fazwan is also a Professor of Islamic Law and a member of the Teachers’ Board at Imam Muhammed ibn Saudi Islamic University.

According to media outlets, Saudi authorities arrested Al Fawzan in July 2018. The arrest took place amid a government crackdown on Salafi and Wahabi scholars who opposed Crown Prince Mohmmed bin Salman social reforms. Other well known religious preachers were also arrested in 2017-18, including Salman al Odah and Awad al Qarni. Al Fawzan was arrested after he criticized, in several tweets, the arrest of a number of preachers. In one of his tweets, the cleric said that “With this heinous war on religion and values, you should not back the criminals, and your love for money and status should not lead you to try to please them or portray their wrongful actions positively, otherwise you would lose this life and the afterlife." Prior to his arrest, Al Fawzan has been reportedly banned from leaving Saudi territory and barred from using social media networks.

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

August 2017: Abdulaziz al Fawzan calls Shia clerics non-Muslims (Musrhikeen).

October 2015: In an answer to a question on celebrating Ashoura by Shia Mulsims, Al Fawzan called Shia muslims “Rafidah”, a term used by Sunni extremists accusing Shites of rejecting the caliphate of Prophet Muhammed’s two successors Abu Bakr and Umar.

Social Media:

لا والذي رفع السماء بلا عمد لسنا #كلنا_مع_عبدالعزيز_الفوزان
طالما انه تورط في التغرير باولادنا وتسبب بخروجهم لمناطق الحروب والفتن 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/6yTT8w3ucs
— Saleh AlZahrani (@saleh1584) July 23, 2018

Abdulaziz al Fawzan describes the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman social reforms as a war against religion and values:

Translation:

“ With this indiscriminate war on religion and values, beware of being the backbone of criminals, or the love of money and prestige that carries you to flatter them and decorate their falsehood, so you lose this life and the hereafter.”