Hatim al-Awni


Hatim ibn Arif al-Awni 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 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. 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 Takfīr Ahl al-Shahadātayn
  • ''Istīʾab al-Islām li al-ʾAdyān al-Mukhtalifa wa li Tanawuʾ al-Hiḍarat''

Ancestry

Patrilineal descent

  1. Adnan
  2. Ma'ad
  3. Nizar
  4. Mudar
  5. Ilyas
  6. Mudrikah
  7. Khuzaimah
  8. Kinana
  9. Al-Nadr
  10. Malik
  11. Fihr
  12. Ghalib fl. 230-240
  13. Lu'ayy c. 274-350
  14. Ka'b c. 305–???
  15. Murrah
  16. Kilab c. 373–???
  17. Qusayy 400-480
  18. Abd Manaf c. 430–???
  19. Hashim c. 464-497
  20. Abd al-Muttalib c. 497-578
  21. Abu Talib c. 535-619
  22. Ali c. 600-661
  23. Hasan c. 625-670
  24. Hasan al-Muthanna c. 661-715
  25. Abdullah al-Mahd 690-762
  26. Musa al-Jawn c. 748-797
  27. Abdullah al-Shaykh al-Salih d. 861
  28. Musa al-Thani
  29. Muhammad al-Tha'ir
  30. Abdullah
  31. Ali
  32. Sulayman
  33. Hussein
  34. Isa
  35. Abd al-Karim
  36. Muta'in
  37. Idris
  38. Qatada Sharif of Mecca, c. 1130s or 1150s-1220/1221
  39. Ali the Elder
  40. Abu Sa'd al-Hasan Sharif of Mecca, d. 1253
  41. Abu Numayy I Sharif of Mecca, c. 1232-1301
  42. Rumaythah Sharif of Mecca, d. 1346
  43. Ajlan Sharif of Mecca, c. 1307-1375
  44. Hasan Sharif of Mecca, 1373/1374-1426
  45. Barakat I Sharif of Mecca, 1398/1399-1455
  46. Muhammad Sharif of Mecca, 1437-1497
  47. Barakat II Sharif of Mecca, 1456–1525
  48. Abu Numayy II Sharif of Mecca, 1506–1584
  49. Hassan Sharif of Mecca, 1525–1601
  50. Abdullah
  51. Hussein
  52. Abdullah
  53. Mohsen
  54. Auon, Ra'i Al-Hadala
  55. Fawwaz
  56. Nasser
  57. Hazaa
  58. Nasser
  59. Arif
  60. Hatim al-Awni, b. 1966