Discussion on Religious Authority and Practices

Live. Good evening, and welcome back. Our nine o’clock guest is Mr. Mohammed.

We’re welcoming you today to discuss this topic, which you’ve commented on before.

Today, this widely shared video features the late Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen.

In it, he confirms and says that broadcasting the call to prayer over loudspeakers is not obligatory.

What do you say in response, or what’s your opinion?

Welcome to you, and to the gentlemen and ladies watching.

We wrote about this topic a long time ago and said it was evidence of the cancerous spread of the Sahwa movement into every area of life here and into all official and unofficial institutions.

This obstinacy is telling. I called it microphone power.

The microphone is a source of power, and so is the partisan activist movement which Dr. Dr. Tawfiq Al-Sudairi, Deputy Deputy Minister of Islamic Affairs, admitted to.

These pulpits and microphones fall under that ministry.

He discussed it in his book, which will be released if approved, if approved.

It will be at the next book fair, and it is called Diagnosing the Sahwa.

The Sahwa movement, ma’am, does not take its fatwas from Ibn Uthaymeen or from Ibn Baz.

They also have their known foreign affiliations, and a spiritual guide to whom they pledge allegiance even if it is in secret.

This is evidence that the ministry banned the use of microphones based on a fatwa by Ibn Uthaymeen.

There is also a similar fatwa by Ibn Baz.

A decision by the ministry, Mr. Mohammed, you say.

Yes, it was issued in 2009. And it seems to me that Tawfiq— Tawfiq Al- Sudairi was also the one who made this decision, but it was not implemented.

And we used to wonder how a ministry— I mean, its employees don't listen.

Why do you think the decision wasn't implemented then?

Because the one— the one who makes this decision is the one using the microphones.

They're a team against the state, against the state in every sense of the word.

They want to embarrass the state. The state makes a decision, and we make one too.

I mean, we cancel it. We don't recognize the decision.

That's power. But with what time I have left…

Mr. Mohammed, go ahead. Why do some people see these customs, or this authority, as you called it, as part and parcel of the spirit and essence of Islam, even though they aren't?

This is what the Awakening movement does, and what it has continued to do and instill in people: that...

I mean, even to conceal such fatwas and bring forward what it sees as its agenda— an agenda of extremism, fear, and intimidation.

Imagine when this sound disturbs worshippers or little children, when it frightens them— one call to prayer from one side, and another from the other, in a terrifying way.

It spreads panic in this country, among these people.

I want ordinary people to feel anxious. Bear in mind, some mosques are very close to one another, in some populated areas.

There’s no dispute about that. Also, even the building of mosques.

I call them harmful mosques, mosques of harm.

The Messenger, peace be upon him, demolished a mosque built to undermine Quba Mosque in Medina.

He, peace be upon him, demolished it because it was harming that mosque.

Now we have a mosque of harm in every neighborhood.

Mosques should also be reduced so there will be more people in each one.

People are complaining now. Mosque imams are complaining about the low attendance at mosques because we have a mosque for every citizen.

So I suggested they announce a car raffle for prayers people are usually late for, like dawn prayer and raffle off one of the Commission's James Jeeps which was also a source of terror and intimidation for people by means other than what God Almighty revealed.

So, in the name of religion, I'm trying to spread panic and fear in this society.

We hope the picture is now clear. This is the Sahwa movement.

Yes, and this is a long discussion but unfortunately, our time on Nine has run out.

Thank you for being here and taking part with us.

Our guest from Riyadh, journalist and writer Muhammad.