Detained Saudi cleric Safar Al-Hawali, who once questioned the existence of Al-Qaeda, has returned into the limelight with a controversial 3,000-page book in which he calls for jihad to be included in the education system, criticizes Ƶ’s efforts toward moderation and modernity, and calls for an increase in suicide attacks.
Born to the Hawala tribe in Al-Baha, southwest Ƶ, he received his bachelor’s degree in Islamic law from the Islamic University of Madinah, and his master’s and Ph.D. in Islamic theology from Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah.
For years, Al-Hawali, alongside infamous preacher Salman Al-Odah, preached anti-Semitic and anti-Western ideas as leaders of the Islamic Awakening movement.
In 1993, a joint commission spearheaded by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Baz found the movement’s rhetoric a danger to Saudi society, and issued a warning in an attempt to halt its leaders’ sermons.
But Al-Hawali continued to preach, and was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to five years in prison for promoting terrorist ideology in his sermons.
After his release in 1999, he parted ways with Al-Odah and had very little presence in the media, but he occasionally appeared on Saudi Channel 1, where his views on topics such as terrorism drew attention.
In an interview on Saudi TV after the 9/11 attacks, Al-Hawali criticized Western media for exaggerating the involvement of Al-Qaeda, and even said he had no proof of its existence.
“Americans created an entirely imaginary organization and supported it to attack their own country and other places, not only Muslim countries,” he said.
He addressed the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as “sheikh” on the show. When the presenter asked why he addressed Bin Laden in such a respectful manner, Al-Hawali replied: “He is innocent until proven guilty.”
In 2001, just days after the 9/11 attacks, he wrote an open letter to then-US President George W. Bush in which he criticized America’s foreign policy and its definition of terrorism.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the detained Saudi cleric supported jihad against America. In November 2004, he and 26 other Islamic scholars issued an open letter to the Iraqi people, urging them to “unite, cooperate, resist the occupiers and stop the internal feuds.” But Islamist attacks against Westerners in Ƶ drew condemnation from Al-Hawali.
He disseminated his religious, social and political views through a number of books. His latest one, “Muslims and Western Civilization,” expands on some of his long-held views on jihad and religion, among a host of other topics.
“The jihadists should be honored, not imprisoned, and if they do something wrong, they should be corrected,” he wrote. Al-Hawali was arrested on July 12, 2018, soon after circulating a draft of his book.
Ideas
On jihad, terrorism and Daesh
In “Muslims and Western Civilization,” Al-Hawali supports the acts of terrorists and terrorist groups, regardless of the fact that many of these atrocities affect Muslim communities.
He contends that Muslims have a religious duty to support jihadists, saying: “There is no solution to any crisis or an exit from the dark tunnel except through asceticism and the revival of jihad in this nation.”
He criticized Saudi government spending on the entertainment sector, believing that the duty of Muslims is to prepare and be ready for jihad, with the government’s support.
“According to officials in Ƶ, they (the government) will spend $65 billion, or more than SAR200 billion, on opening cinemas. Would it not be better to spend these billions on preparation for jihad?” he wrote.
In the same book, he asked: “How could you have relations with the Prime Minister of Iraq (at the time Haidar Abadi, a Shiite), and not with the Islamic State (Daesh)?”
Al-Hawali believes that Muslims have a religious duty to support jihad, and calls for reviving suicide attacks, calling them “martyrdom operations” that “intimidate the enemy” and “display the courage of Muslims.”
On other religions
In a sermon titled “Jews are Behind the Call for Convergence between Religions,” published on his website, Al-Hawali declared that Jews deserved Hitler’s atrocities and that those who encourage rapprochement with them are none other than Jews.
In a lecture titled “Answering Those who Altered the Religion of Jesus Christ,” Al-Hawali called on teachers to devote time in their classes to sowing enmity toward Jews and Christians. He believes that this must be incorporated into school curriculums from a young age.
On women
“Muslim women shouldn’t serve in hospitals, airplanes or any other place,” Al-Hawali wrote. “They should not, under any circumstances, be encouraged to wear make-up in any shape or form.”
The only profession he approves of is midwifery, but says three months training would suffice to help mothers deliver their children.
