Saad al-Shithri

Saad ibn Nasser al-Shithri [Arabic سعد بن ناصر الشثري] (born 1964/65[1]) is an Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Since 2015, he has been a member of the country's Council of Senior Scholars and an advisor to the royal court of King Salman.[2]

Family

Saad al-Shithri is "a member of a well-known family of ulama who had been in the service of the royal family for some time."[3] His father, Nasser al-Shithri, is known as "the advisor of kings" as he has served in advisory roles for King Khalid, King Fahd, King Abdullah, and King Salman.[4] His grandfather, Abd al-Aziz al-Shithri, was a notable scholar who was appointed by King Abd al-Aziz to serve the main religious figure, filling the position of religious teacher, judge and khatib, for the newly-established city of al-Rayn in 1918. He continued in this position until King Abd al-Aziz's death in 1953, at which point the then-grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh, invited him to be a teacher in the capital, Riyadh. He moved to Riyadh in 1954 and taught a number of students who went on to assume positions as teachers and judges themselves.

Education

al-Shithri obtained his bachelors, masters and doctorate degree from the Department of Shar'iah in the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. He completed his master's degree in 1988 and his PhD in Usul al-Fiqh in 1996.[5]

Some of al-Shithri's most important teachers include former grand mufti Abd al-Aziz bin Baz, current grand mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, and former member of the Council of Senior Scholars Abdullah al-Ghudayyan.[5]

Career

al-Shithri has worked in a variety of instruction roles in the Department of Shar'iah in the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, beginning as a teaching assistant in 1988 and moving up to the level of lecturer and professor. As of 2020, he is an associate professor in the Department of Shari'ah.[5]

al-Shithri also holds teaching positions at a number of other universities, in most cases teaching fiqh or usul al-fiqh. Since 2012, he has been a member of the teaching faculty at King Saud University in Riyadh. He also teaches at the Islamic University of Madinah and Knowledge International University.[5]

al-Shithri also served as the Dean of Knowledge International University, a distance education university based in Saudi Arabia,[6] between 2011 and 2017.[7]

As of 2020, al-Shithri has written more than 60 books and has published more than 10 articles in scholarly journals.[5]

al-Shithri was appointed to the Council of Senior Scholars in 2005 where he remained until being removed in 2009. He was reinstated to the council in 2015, and also appointed as an advisor to the royal court of King Salman.[8][2]

al-Shithri was selected to give the khutbah at on the Day of Arafah during the 2017 Hajj pilgrimage. He used this opportunity to address a global audience to denounce sectarianism and terrorism and to highlight the importance of security and stability in Islamic texts.[9]

KAUST controversy

In 2009, al-Shithri stated that religious scholars should be able to oversee the curriculum of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a key project of then-ruler King Abdullah.[10] He also criticized the mixed-gender format of the university.[11] al-Shithri was one of several cleric to voice similar concerns.[12] In the days after these comments, 18 articles from liberal Saudi news outlets criticized al-Shithri for his remarks, the first of which being written by then-editor and chief of al-Watan newspaper, Jamal al-Khashoggi.[1] al-Shithri attempted to clarify his comments and affirm the importance of the university's role in the country's progress in a letter to al-Watan in which he also claimed that al-Khashoggi had misrepresented his stance.[12][1] Shortly thereafter, al-Shithri was relieved of his duties as a member of the Council of Senior Scholars by a royal decree of King Abdullah.[10][13]

al-Shithri was later reinstated to a role in the Council of Senior Scholars in 2015 by the next ruler, King Salman, who also appointed him as an advisor to his royal court one week after having assumed the role of King.[2][14]

References
  1. Meijer, Roel. "The gender segregation ( ikhtilāt ) debate in Saudi Arabia : reform and the clash between 'Ulamā' and liberals". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Reuters. "Oil minister replaced in Saudi shake-up". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  3. "Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Gender-Segregation Debate | Middle East Policy Council". mepc.org. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  4. "عُرف بـ"مستشار الملوك".. من هو الشيخ ناصر الشثري الذي زاره الملك سلمان؟ (فيديو)". Erem News. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  5. "سيرة الشيخ" [Biography of the Sheikh]. alshathri.net. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  6. العبدالرحمن, بدر (December 13, 2016). ""الشثري" و"أوقاف الراجحي" يرعيان حفل برنامج المنح بـ"جامعة المعرفة"". Twasul. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  7. "اتفاقية تعاون علمي بين جامعة المعرفة العالمية ورابطة الجامعات الإسلامية". KIU. January 24, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  8. Murphy, Caryle. "In With the Old in the New Saudi Arabia". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  9. "Pilgrims urged to set aside politics during Haj". Saudigazette. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  10. "Saudi fires cleric who criticized mixed university". Reuters. 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  11. Fahim, Kareem (June 5, 2018). "Saudi Arabia's once-powerful conservatives silenced by reforms and repression". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  12. "Saudi cleric sacked over co-ed university spat". Al Arabiya. October 4, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  13. Ashwarya, Sujata; Alam, Mujib (2019-05-30). Contemporary West Asia: Perspectives on Change and Continuity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-51754-5.
  14. ""They Are Not Our Brothers" | Hate Speech by Saudi Officials". Human Rights Watch. 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
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