Mohammad bin Abdul-Rahman al-Arefe

Other names: Muhammad Al Arifi/Muhammad Al Arifi

Biography

Al Arefe is a prominent Saudi scholar and preacher with a reach of tens of millions of people on social media. Al Arefe was born and raised in Riyadh, and began his career studying medicine but was persuaded by his family members to pursue religious studies. Al Arefe leveraged the growing trend of media and technology amongst islamists for recording audio tapes in the 1980’s to increase his reach. Al Arefe studied at a second tier Islamic college due to his lower-class background, and due to his inability to garner a significant following from large congregations at mosques, he turned to the internet to gain popularity.

Al Arefe holds extreme views on a wide range of topics, including his vilification of Jews, Shias, women, and western society. Al Arefe’s controversial remarks on political issues have also assisted Saudi Arabia’s leadership to appeal to many of its conservative citizens that its foreign policy objectives are also ‘religious obligations’. A case in point is Al Arefe’s statement against Qatar during the Qatar crisis, urging it not to interfere in the domestic affairs of the Kingdom, and to return to the Saudi-led Arab fold. This however took place following his brief arrest by Saudi authorities in July 2013 in response to his positions on Egypt and his opposition to the ouster of former Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi. After his release, Al Arefe promised to refrain from commenting on the domestic affairs of states allied with Saudi Arabia.

Like many other Saudi clerics, Al Arefe has, in recent years, softened his tone on controversial issues and limited his preaching to focus on personal acts of piety and worship, and individual spirituality. In March 2014, Al Arefe was banned from entering the United Kingdom, having been accused by Home Office officials of radicalising three young Britons who were fighting for Jihadist groups in Syria at the time.

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

December 2015: Although not an incitement, a form of hate speech or a call for violence, Al Arefe’s tweets that it is not permissible for Muslims to greet a kafir (Infidel) on religious occassions such as Christmas, further adding that Christmas trees are forbidden in Islam is evidence of intolerance of other faiths, particularly his reference to non-Muslim as ‘kafirs’ or infidels.

September 2014: Al Arefe stated that Jews are cowardly by nature, and came to be slaughtered in the Holocaust due to their cowardice. Al Arefe further stated that Judgement Day will not come before Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.

February 2013: During an interview with Al Jazeera, Al Arefe stated that Osama Bin Laden, whom he referred to as “Sheikh Osama” was a victim of a “wide-level character assassination”. In the same interview, Al Arefe stated that people were attributing views and opinions to Al Qaeda that the terrorist organisation does not hold, despite later backtracking these comments on Al Qaeda and stating that he was made aware of the organisation’s ideologies and views after his initial comments that made apologies for the group.

December 2009: In a Friday prayer sermon delivered at Al-Bawardi Mosque in Riyadh, Al Arefe referred to Ali Al Sistani, Iraq’s spiritual Shia leader as an infidel, while also stating that Shias seek to spread their false doctrine amongst the ignorant across the Sunni world. In the same sermon, Al Arefe stated that Tehran is the only capital city in the world without a single Sunni Mosque, adding that Shias are igonbe descendants of the Majus (Zoroastrians).

Social Media:

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إدراك #رمضان فضلُ ورحمة يمُن الله بها على من شاء من عباده "قل بفضل الله وبرحمته فبذلك فليفرحوا"
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واستثمارك #شهر_رمضان بالذِكر، والتلاوة، والتراويح، والصدقة، هو شكر لله وطلب لمزيد فضله ورحمته
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اللهم اشملنا برحمتك،
واختم لنا شهر رمضان برضوانك
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— د. محمد العريفي (@MohamadAlarefe) May 6, 2019

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أُهنّئ الرجال الكرام الذين تم تعيينهم بالـ #اوامر_ملكية

وأسأل الله أن يعينهم على الخير ويسددهم ويوفقهم
ويشملنا وولاة أمرنا والمسلمين بفضله وإحسانه وكرمه ..

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— د. محمد العريفي (@MohamadAlarefe) December 27, 2018