Muhammad Al Munajjid

Early life and education

Al-Munajjid was born to Palestinian refugees in Aleppo, Syria in 1960, and raised in Saudi Arabia. He graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with a bachelor's degree in Industrial Management. Al-Munajjid studied Islamic law under the scholars 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baaz, Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen, Abdullah Ibn Jibreen, Saleh Al-Fawzan, and Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak. He is the imam at the Umar ibn Abd al-'Aziz mosque in the city of Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia and was the first person to launch a website representing Islam in Saudi Arabia.

Activities

In 1996, Al-Munajjid launched a question and answer Islamic website, IslamQA.info. The website states that "All questions and answers on this site have been prepared, approved, revised, edited, amended or annotated by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, the supervisor of this site." IslamQA.info was banned in Saudi Arabia due to the fact that it was issuing independent fatwas. In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's Council of Senior Scholars has sole responsibility and authority for issuing fatwas. The Council was granted this sole authority to issue fatwas by a royal edict issued in August 2010 (while restrictions had been in place since 2005, they were seldom enforced); this move was described by Christopher Boucek as "the latest example of how the state is working to assert its primacy over the country’s religious establishment."

As of May 2015, Al-Munajjid had 820,000 followers on Twitter. In 2015, Alexa listed IslamQA.info as the most popular on the topic of Islam.

Jews

In an interview which aired on Saudi Al-Majd TV channel on May 15, 2016, Al-Munajjid stated (as translated by MEMRI) that

In the same interview, Al-Munajjid quoted Arab Islamic jurist Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya as stating "The Jews are the nation that incurred the wrath of Allah. They are a people of lies, fabrications, treachery, and conspiracies. They are the slayers of prophets, the profiteers from that which is forbidden. They are the filthiest of nations with the basest of character."

In another interview, Munajjid stated that he does not hate the Jews for personal reasons; rather he hates them because they have cursed Allah, accusing them of being polytheists because they say that their rabbis are masters of God. The only way the hatred will end is if the Jews convert to Islam; in the alternative, if the Jews paid the Jizya then the Muslims would be forbidden from harming them as they would then live under the contractual protection of Muslims.

Blasphemy against Mohammed

Al-Munajjid indicates that the Islamic concept of Gheerah requires that Muslims protect the Prophet Mohammed from blasphemy for which the determination of guilt and application of the penalty (execution) is to be solely applied by Islamic authorities unless there is no one who can carry out the hadd punishment then "the Muslim has to do whatever he can, so long as that will not lead to further mischief and harm against other people."

Homosexuality

Al-Munajjid believes that “The crime of homosexuality is one of the greatest crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds, and Allah punished those who did it in a way that he did not punish other nations.” Homosexuals should be executed although the method has been disputed including burning, having a wall dropped on them, being detained until death in the "foulest place", being stoned, or being thrown from the highest building. Those who are forced into the act or were minors are exempt from punishment.

Honor killings

Al-Munajjid asserts that honor killings are a "transgression and wrongdoing because it is killing one who does not deserve to be killed, namely the virgin if she commits zina (fornication); the sharia punishment in her case is flogging and banishment for one year, not execution." However, if a Muslim man suspects that certain family members will commit an immoral act, he is allowed to tie up or otherwise restrain them in order to prevent the action.

Women

Al-Munajjid states that Muslim woman are required to cover their entire body including the face (only showing eyes) and hands. This ruling is obligatory and does not vary depending where you are. Women are required to stay in their houses unless they are in the company of a mahram and are forbidden to drive cars as "it leads to evil consequences" such as being "alone with a non-mahram man, unveiling, reckless mixing with men, and committing haraam actions because of which these things were forbidden." Women are not fit for public office or judgeships because they are more emotional; however, they can serve in administrative posts where they will work solely with other women.

Statues and images

Al-Munajjid asserts that it is obligatory to destroy statues and idols that may tempt or confuse the people, whether they are buildings, people, animals or inanimate objects Images of animate beings are equally forbidden including photographs unless necessary for identification, education, or for pursuing criminals.

Islamic theology

Al-Munajjid believes that the Mu`tazila, the Ash'ari, and Maturidi schools of Islamic theology are wrong in applying Ilm al-Kalam (reason or rational discourse) to explain the Quran and are contradicting both the Quran and the Sunnah. Attributes that Allah ascribes to Himself require neither explanation or interpretation instead a Muslim should neither deny the divine attributes nor liken Allah to His creation but accept the statements of Allah in the Quran without questioning.

Slavery

In a January 2016 fatwa, Al-Munajjid stated that a man is allowed to have intercourse with a slave that he owns whether he is married or not; and that his wife or wives has no right to object. A Muslim wife "has no right to object to her husband owning female slaves or to his having intercourse with them [...] The scholars are unanimous in this assessment, and no one is permitted to view this act as forbidden, or to forbid it. Whoever does so, is a sinner, and is acting against the consensus of the scholars."

Al-Munajjid states that slavery necessarily came about because of Jihad against the kuffar (non-believers) and the need to determine what to do with those who have been taken prisoner and thus become property; noting that "In principle, slavery is not something that is desirable" as Islam encourages the freeing of slaves for the expiation of sins. Slaves are to be treated in a "just and kind manner" including: the provision of food and clothing the like of which is given to family members; preserving their dignity; and allowing them to lead their masters in both religious and worldly matters if they possess the ability.

Freedom of religion

Al-Munajjid states that Muslims who support the building of churches in Islamic countries in response to mosques being allowed to being built in non-Islamic countries are "ignorant" as Islam does not permit the promotion of anyone worshipping other than Allah.

Munajjid called for restricting people's speech and not allowing crticisim of Islam and attacked the idea of "freedom of belief".

Sports

The World Cup was criticized by Al-Munajjid. Rules on how to play soccer in a manner that agreed with Islam were issue by Al-Munajid.

Munajjid attacked the Olympics and gave reasons why he was against the sports in it.

Mickey Mouse

Munajjid attacked Mickey Mouse, and Tom and Jerry, and mice in general, accusing Satan of controlling mice. He accused Harry Potter of propagating witchcraft as well as criticizing the influence of Mickey Mouse.

Weather

Denying anti-government Syrians weapons and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were claimed as reasons for what Munajjid claimed was the "punishment" of Hurricane Sandy on the USA.

iPhone

Munajjid said Shariah allows for iPhone jailbreaking.

Valentine's Day

Munajjid claimed that paganism and polytheism are features of Valentine's Day. Munajjid claimed it had pagan Roman origins. He ordered Valentine's Day not to be observed by Muslims.

Controversial statements

Books written by Saalih al Munajjid