Muhammad Surur bin Nayif Zayn al-'Abidin ( ar, محمد سرور بن نايف زين العابدين; 1938 – 11 November 2016) was a former

Syrian Muslim Brotherhood The Muslim Brotherhood of Syria ( ar, الإخوان المسلمون في سوريا, translit=al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn fī Sūrīya) is a Syrian branch of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organization. Its objective is the transformation ...

member. He is credited with developing the

Salafi Islamist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...

trend that later came to be known as Sururism (or Sururi), which combines "the organisational methods and political worldview of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

with the theological puritanism of

Wahhabism Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

." His developed trend is described as being "instrumental in promoting a politicised version of

in the

audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

kingdom." However, while he supported the non-violent criticism of Muslim rulers, he rejected attempts to overthrow the regimes of Muslim countries as a source of fitna (civil strife and chaos). Surur also wrote a highly popular anti-Shia book called ''Wa Ja'a Dawr al-

Majus ''Majūs'' (Arabic: مجوس) or ''Magūs'' (Persian: مگوش) was originally a term meaning Zoroastrians (and specifically, Zoroastrian priests). It was a technical term, meaning magus, and like its synonym ''gabr'' (of uncertain etymology) ori ...

'' (The Era of the Magians Has Come), published in 1984, where he explains that the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

is nothing but the starting point for a strategy of Shiite domination of the Middle East. The book was quoted extensively by

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...

Life

He was born in the Hawran. In the mid-1960s, while still a member of the Syrian Brotherhood, Surur started to criticise the group, e.g. for its toleration of

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

Brotherhood members. This discord partly led to him settling in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in 1965. After being expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1974 (due to received reports denouncing his activities as subversive), he moved to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

(where he founded the publishing house Dar al-arqam); later settling in the

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1984 (where he founded the Center for Islamic Studies), before finally moving to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

in 2004.

Influence

Surur admired Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh and was himself initially admired by

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi ( ar, أبو محمد المقدسي, ʾAbū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī), or more fully Abu Muhammad Essam al-Maqdisi ( ar, أبو محمد عصام المقدسي, ʾAbū Muḥammad ʿIṣām al-Maqdisī), is the assumed name ...

—who later considered him to be too lenient towards the Muslim rulers. Surur has also influenced

Safar Al-Hawali Safar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Hawali al-Ghamdi ( ar, سفر بن عبدالرحمن الحوالي الغامدي) (born 1950) is a scholar who lives in Mecca. He came to prominence in 1991, as a leader of the Sahwah movement which opposed the pre ...

and

Salman al-Ouda Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان بن فهد بن عبد الله العودة) or Salman al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان العودة), ''Salman al-Oadah'', ''Salman al-Audah'', or ''Salman al-Awdah'' ( ar, سلمان بن فه� ...

. After the death of Muhammad Surur in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Abdulrazzaq al-Mahdi released condolences upon him and commented on his impact.

Works

*''Wa Ja'a Dawr al-

'' (The Era of the Magians Has Come) *''Al-salafiyya bayna al-wula wal-ghula'' (Salafism between the Rulers and the Extremists)

References

External links

www.surour.net
- His website {{DEFAULTSORT:Surur, Muhammad 1938 births 2016 deaths Syrian Islamists Syrian Salafis Syrian writers Syrian expatriates in Saudi Arabia Syrian expatriates in Kuwait Syrian expatriates in the United Kingdom Syrian expatriates in Jordan Critics of Shia Islam Salafi Islamists Muslim Brotherhood of Syria politicians Atharis

Life

Influence

Works

See also

References

External links