Hatim bin Arif al-Awni (; born 1966) is a Saudi Islamic scholar. Born in Ta'if to a Sharifian family, al-Awni completed his BA, MA and PhD in Sharia at the College of Da'wah and Fundamentals of Religion at Umm al-Qura University, where he later became Associate Professor. He was appointed as a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, serving two terms between 12 April 2005 and 10 January 2013. A student of al-Albani, his research focuses on hadith studies. Al-Awni advocates for a reformed Wahhabism which he envisages as a "correctionist movement".
Theological views Al-Awni argues that some Wahhabi and Salafi clerics definition of worship (ibadah) is incorrect, stating it is a "specific action of the heart" and emphasizing the importance of intentions. Therefore, he says, they have misunderstood what constitutes shirk in worship and wrongly takfir others, including Shias.
He also argues for limited freedom of thought, where people would be free to hold views as long as they do not encourage criminal acts, exploit ignorance or undermine the "fundamentals of religion". According to him, this would allow for "true dialogue" that would, among other benefits, encourage fruitful debate and correct unreasonable beliefs. Without this, he states, hypocrisy becomes widespread and one cannot achieve true certainty in their faith as they cannot know if it is built upon secure arguments. In addition, al-Awni opines that an Islamic society can accommodate both religions considered to have man-made and divine origins.
In al-Awni's view, the doctrine of al-Wala' wal-Bara' is fundamental to belief but does not preclude acting judiciously and humanely to unbelievers who are peaceful toward Muslims.
Views on ISIS On 3 August 2014, al-Awni published an essay entitled "The Lazy Scholars", in which he criticised the Saudi religious establishment for "lazily" responding to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). He also stated that their quarrel with the group was political rather than theological, claiming their approach to takfir is identical. In an interview for Al-Hayat later that month, he suggested that "extremist" views within a classical Wahhabi work, ad-Durar as-Saniyyah, should be corrected. Soon afterwards, the Council of Senior Scholars dismissed the notion that extremism stemmed from such texts. In response to his criticism of the group, ISIS declared al-Awni an apostate and called for his killing through their magazine, Dabiq.
Works
Al-ʾIbadah: Bawābat al-Tawḥīd wā-Bawābat al-Takfīr ("Worship: Gateway to Tawhid and to Takfir") Takfīr Ahl al-Shahadātayn ("Excommunicating the People of the Two Testimonials") Istīʾab al-Islām li al-ʾAdyān al-Mukhtalifa wa li Tanawuʾ al-Hiḍarat ("The Accommodation of Islam of Different Religions and Diverse Civilizations")
Ancestry Patrilineal descent
Adnan Ma'ad Nizar Mudar Ilyas Mudrikah Khuzaimah Kinana Al-Nadr Malik Fihr Ghalib fl. 230-240 Lu'ayy c. 274-350 Ka'b c. 305–??? Murrah Kilab c. 373–??? Qusayy 400-480 Abd Manaf c. 430–??? Hashim c. 464-497 Abd al-Muttalib c. 497-578 Abu Talib c. 535-619 Ali c. 600-661 Hasan c. 625-670 Hasan al-Muthanna c. 661-715 Abdullah al-Mahd 690-762 Musa al-Jawn c. 748-797 Abdullah al-Shaykh al-Salih d. 861 Musa al-Thani Muhammad al-Tha'ir Abdullah Ali Sulayman Hussein Isa Abd al-Karim Muta'in Idris Qatada Sharif of Mecca, c. 1130s or 1150s-1220/1221 Ali the Elder Abu Sa'd al-Hasan Sharif of Mecca, d. 1253 Abu Numayy I Sharif of Mecca, c. 1232-1301 Rumaythah Sharif of Mecca, d. 1346 Ajlan Sharif of Mecca, c. 1307-1375 Hasan Sharif of Mecca, 1373/1374-1426 Barakat I Sharif of Mecca, 1398/1399-1455 Muhammad Sharif of Mecca, 1437-1497 Barakat II Sharif of Mecca, 1456–1525 Abu Numayy II Sharif of Mecca, 1506–1584 Hassan Sharif of Mecca, 1525–1601 Abdullah Hussein Abdullah Mohsen Auon, Ra'i Al-Hadala Fawwaz Nasser Hazaa Nasser Arif Hatim al-Awni, b. 1966
See also 2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny Salman al-Ouda
References
External links Official website Twitter