Mohamad al-Arefe

Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman al-Arifi (Arabic: محمد بن عبد الرحمن العريفي‎, born 15 July 1970) is a Muslim author and Da’i. He is a graduate of King Saud University, and member of the Muslim World League and the Association of Muslim Scholars.[2][3]

Muhammad al-Arifi
محمد العريفي
Born (1970-07-15) 15 July 1970
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
NationalitySaudi Arabian [1]
Occupationscholar
Years active1990-present
Movementsalafi movement
Websitearefe.com

Social media popularity

Al-Arefe has over 20 million followers on Twitter.[4] As of 6 May 2019, Al-Arefe had over 24 million likes on Facebook,[5] which places his account in the top 100 worldwide, and #10 in the Arab world and in the Middle East.[6] BBC claims that Al-Arefe is regarded as a clerical "Brad Pitt". Al-Arefe announced his fatwa for "jihad" against Syrian to his jihadist followers on social media.[7][8]

Al-Arefe engaged in a diatribe against Shias, referred to them as "evil", used the label of "infidel" against Shia cleric Ayatollah Sistani and boasted that there are no mausoleums, public statues, Christian crosses in Saudi Arabia.[9] Al-Arefe described Jews as cowardly in battle and claimed that their tanks had urine and feces in them since they wouldn't get out of them.[10] He also claimed they used bags or diapers in the tank.[11] He described Jews as too cowardly to fight and said they were going to hide around the Gharqad trees they were allegedly planting.[12]

Al-Arefe supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.[13] Al-Arefe was lauded by Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood President Mursi and al-Arefe and Salman al-Ouda were named as Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers.[14] He is a known associated of them.[15]

Muslim Brotherhood affiliation was denied for Arefe and Adil al-Kalbani by al-Kalbani, saying that they are affiliated with the Union of Muslim Scholars.[16]

A video Al-Arefe was posted by Ibrahim al-Musalem on a tweet about the Charlie Hebdo shooting.[17]

Holiday celebrations and greetings to Christians by Muslims was banned by Al-Arefe.[18] He strictly explicitly banned religious greetings to non-Muslims.[19] Al-Arefe forbade the usage of Christmas trees.[20]

He said that Syria jihad is incumbent and did apologia for al-Nusra, visiting the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in Qatar.[21]

In July 2015, Al-Arafe wrote a critique[22] on Facebook of the Egyptian Ramadan TV series Jewish Quarter, complaining that it showed Jews in a positive light, when in reality Jews were terrible people. It was picked up by Arabic media.

In March 2014, he was banned by the Home Office from returning to Britain after a series of sermons in Cardiff, Birmingham and London. A Home Office spokesperson said: "We can confirm Mohammad Al-Arefe has been excluded from the United Kingdom. The Government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they represent a threat to our society. Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who seek to subvert our shared values."[23][24]

Al-Arefe had a discussion with Saudi Deputy crown prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud and then tweeted and posted a photo of them smiling together.[25][26] The discussion was held on the same day as Saudi Vision 2030 began.[27][28][29] He asked God to bless Prince Mohammad and posted his thanks.[30] al-Arefe met with Prince Mohamed bin Salman again and talked with him and posted the photo of them smiling together on Twitter.[31][32] They talked about the Islamic world's and the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia's) future.[33]

King Saud University employs Al-Arefe.[34]

Arifi on Twitter vowed for Russia and Assad to be defeated over the Battle of Aleppo.[35]

Condolences over the death of the son of Salman al-Ouda and his wife were given on Twitter by Mohamad al-Arefe.[36]

Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi, Nabil Al-Awadi, Tariq Abdelhaleem, and Hani al-Sibai who are linked to Al-Qaeda, in addition to others like Adnan al-Aroor, Abd Al-Aziz Al-Fawzan, Mohamad al-Arefe, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Shaykh and others were included on a death list by ISIS.[37]

The 2013 Egyptian coup d'état

In July 2013, Al-Arefe was detained by the Saudi authorities for using YouTube to criticize the military coup d'état in Egypt, an ally of Saudi Arabia.[38] It was speculated that the arrest was in response to a complaint filed by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to its Saudi counterpart. The complaint claimed that Al-Arefe was intervening in Egyptian domestic affairs. Before his release, he signed a pledge not to interfere in Egyptian affairs and was released afterwards but placed under house arrest. He was also banned from traveling to Doha, where he was scheduled to deliver a religious lecture there. The Saudi authorities never announced the reason behind Al-Arefe's arrest.

Sanctions

In October 2014, he was jailed for 40 days for stating that the train linking Mecca and other holy sites was "one of the worst in the world".[38] Al-Arefe was banned from entering Switzerland for holding extreme views, Switzerland said.[2]

Denmark banned him from entering the country for two years in May 2017.[39][40]

See also

References
  1. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/06/25/Controversial-cleric-al-Arifi-banned-from-UK-
  2. Milmo, Cahal (24 June 2013). "Sunni vs Shia... in Gerrard's Cross: New mosque highlights growing tensions among British Muslims". The Independent. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  3. Official verified English page, Facebook, 2016.
  4. Yahya, Nasidi Adamu (19 July 2016). "Yadda Malamai ke wa'azi a shafukan zumunta". ABC Hausa.
  5. https://www.facebook.com/3refe/
  6. Top Twitter User Rankings retrieved 3 June 2014
  7. "Meet Saudi Arabia's stars of social media". BBC Trending. 3 March 2016.
  8. "Saudis on Social: Faith, Freedom and Fun". BBC Trending. 2 March 2016.
  9. "Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi Vilifies Shiites, Calling Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani "an Infidel"". MEMRI. 10 December 2009.
  10. "Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi: Jewish Soldiers Would Defecate and Urinate in Their Tanks Because They Were Too Scared to Leave Them". MEMRI. 5 February 2012.
  11. "Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi: Israeli Soldiers Too Scared to Leave Their Tanks to Urinate or Defecate; Palestine Will Be Liberated Through Force, Not Negotiations". MEMRI. 9 April 2010.
  12. "Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi: Jews Plant Gharqad Trees to Hide Behind When Muslims Come to Kill Them on Judgment Day". MEMRI. 11 September 2008.
  13. Admon, Y. (8 October 2013). "Saudi Authorities Irate Over Communiqué Condemning Ouster Of Former Egyptian President Mursi". MEMRI.
  14. "Saudi Prince About Kingdom's Muslim Brotherhood Movement: They Are The Khawarij Of This Age". MEMRI. 28 August 2013.
  15. "Controversia en el mundo árabe sobre el visitar lugares cristianos y musulmanes en Israel". MEMRI. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  16. "تتصفح الآن: الكلباني : أنا عضو في اتحاد علماء المسلمين ولست إخوانياً .. والعريفي ليس إخوانياً". صحيفة أنحاء الإلكترونية. 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017.
  17. "Reactions On Twitter To Attack On 'Charlie Hebdo' – Including Hashtags #Paris Is Burning, #Vengeance For [Insulting] Allah's Messenger, #Lone Wolves Are Terrorizing France". MEMRI. 9 January 2015.
  18. "Periodista jordana: El odio hacia los cristianos es el primer paso en el camino hacia el terrorismo". MEMRI. 24 December 2015.
  19. "President Sisi, Egyptian Grand Mufti: Offering Christmas Greetings To Our Christian Brothers Is Part Of Our Religion". MEMRI. 24 December 2015.
  20. العريفي, محمد (20 December 2016). Twitter https://twitter.com/MohamadAlarefe/status/811265656511459328. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. Gilligan, Andrew (27 September 2014). "The 'Club Med for terrorists'". The Telegraph.
  22. "🚫 الآباء والأبناء والمربين ووقفات مع... – الصفحة الرسمية للشيخ د. محمد العريفي . – Facebook". facebook.com (in Arabic).
  23. "Banned preacher under scrutiny over links to young Cardiff men fighting with Isis in Iraq and Syria". ITV. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  24. Morris, Steven (23 June 2014). "Father of Cardiff jihadists says his sons were radicalised in 'pop-up' schools". Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  25. العريفي, محمد (25 April 2016). "د. محمد #العريفي on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  26. "أخبار 24 | العريفي ينشر صورة له برفقة الأمير محمد بن سلمان بعد إعلان". أخبار 24. 25 April 2016.
  27. "العريفي ينشر صورة له برفقة الأمير محمد بن سلمان بعد إعلان "رؤية السعودية"". صحيفة سابق الإلكترونية. 27 April 1438.
  28. عيسى, عمر (25 April 2016). "العريفي" يشكر ولي ولي العهد السعودي لهذا السبب". بوابة القاهرة.
  29. "العريفي يلتقي مع بن سلمان بعد ساعات من إعلان رؤية 2030". الخليج أونلاين. الرياض. 25 April 2016.
  30. "العريفي ينشر صورة له برفقة محمد بن سلمان بعد إعلان "رؤية السعودية"". صحيفة المرصد.
  31. العريفي, محمد (21 December 2016). "د. محمد #العريفي on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  32. "الشيخ العريفي ينشر صورة جمعته بـ محمد بن سلمان.. ويكشف ما دار بينهما". مـزمـز. 22 December 2016.
  33. "الشيخ "العريفي" ينشر صورة جمعته بـمحمد بن سلمان .. ويكشف ما دار بينهما". صحيفة المرصد. 22 December 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  34. IGA Staff (17 June 2016). "Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Meets Obama after Welcoming an ISIS Supporter". The Institute for Gulf Affairs.
  35. العريفي, محمد (13 December 2016). Twitter https://twitter.com/MohamadAlarefe/status/808732352662925312. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  36. العريفي, محمد (25 January 2017). Twitter https://twitter.com/MohamadAlarefe/status/824339078422429696. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  37. "ISIS Launches Campaign Calling To Kill Prominent Islamic Clerics Such As Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, Saudi Mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Former Egyptian Chief Mufti 'Ali Gum'a". MEMRI. 14 February 2017.
  38. Christian Science Monitor: "Saudi Arabia presses 'YouTube imams' to toe the line on Yemen – Popular Muslim clerics are using social media to stir dissent beyond the purview of government-controlled mosques and satellite TV stations. Saudi Arabia is sensitive to criticism of its war in Yemen" By Taylor Luck 2 June 2015
  39. "Den nationale sanktionsliste - Religious preachers with entry ban". www.nyidanmark.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  40. Jensen, Teis (2 May 2017). "Denmark bans six 'hate preachers' from entering the country". Reuters. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
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