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Rabīʿ bin Hādī ʿUmayr al Madkhalī ( ar, ربيع بن هادي عمير المدخلي), is a former head of the Sunnah Studies Department at the
Islamic University of Madinah The Islamic University of Madinah ( ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بالمدينة المنورة) was founded by the government of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree in 1961 in the Islamic holy city of Medina. Many have associated the uni ...
. He is a
Salaf Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
i
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
scholar and the founder of
Madkhalism Madkhalism is a strain of Islamist thought within the larger Salafist movement based on the writings of Sheikh Rabee al-Madkhali.ICG Middle East Report N°31Saudi Arabia Backgrounder: Who Are the Islamists?Amman/Riyadh/Brussels: International Cri ...
who is considered to be one of Salafism's prominent thinkers,
Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (abbr. RABIIT) is an international Islamic non-governmental, independent institute in Amman, Jordan. It is affiliated with the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. The late King Hussein ...

Sheikh Rabi’ Ibn Haadi ‘Umayr Al Madkhali
The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims
and is known for his unrelenting criticism 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 ...
.


Biography


Education and career

Rabee Al-Madkhali began seeking knowledge in his village from Ahmad bin Muhammad Jabir Al-Madkhali and Muhammad bin Jabir Al-Madkhali after he turned eight years old. His teacher before his study at the 'Ma’had al-’Ilmi' in
Samtah Samtah (also Romanized as Şāmitah or Samta; in Arabic صامطة) is a town and sub-division in Jizan Province, in southwestern Saudi Arabia.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. GeoNames database entry.search Accessed 13 May 2011. In March ...
was Nasir Khalufah Mubaraki (one of Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al-Qar’awi’s students). After completing several classical Islamic texts with him, he started his education at the Ma’had al-’ilmi in Samtah. The most notable of his teachers were: Hafidh ibn Ahmed Ali al-Hakami, Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Hakami, Ahmad bin Yahya Al-Najmi, Muhammad Aman Al-Jami' and Muhammad Saghir Al-Khamisi.Roel Meijer, "Politicizing al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil: p.377. In 1961, he entered the Faculty of Sharia at
Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (), commonly known as Al-Imam University, is a public university in Baladiyah al-Shemal in northern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1953. represented by the College of Sharia Sciences (n ...
in Riyadh for two months and then switched to the Faculty of Sharia at the
Islamic University of Madinah The Islamic University of Madinah ( ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بالمدينة المنورة) was founded by the government of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree in 1961 in the Islamic holy city of Medina. Many have associated the uni ...
, where his teachers included former Mufti of Saudi Arabia,
Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of S ...
,
Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
, Abdul-Muhsin Al-Abbad, Muhammad Amin Al-Shanqiti, Saleh Al-Iraqi and
Abdul-Ghaffar Hasan Al-Hindi Abdul-Ghaffar Hassan (1913–2007) was a scholar born in Umarpur, India, near Delhi in 1913. Upon the partition of India in 1947 he chose to migrate to the newly founded nation of Pakistan. Hassan died in 2007.Zahab, M. (2009) Salafism in Pakistan ...
. He graduated four years later with excellence. After working at the University, he returned to complete his higher education. He received his master's degree after publishing his thesis, ″Between imams Muslim and Daruqutni″ and achieved his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
with distinction with his dissertation. After completing his Doctorate at Umm al-Qura in 1980, Madkhali returned to the Islamic University of Madinah where he taught at the Faculty of
Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
and later became the head of the Department of
Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
in the Department of Higher Studies. He held the chair until his retirement in the mid-1990s.Lacroix, pg. 212. Having been an opponent of the
House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), and ...
George Joffé, ''Islamist Radicalisation in Europe and the Middle East: Reassessing the Causes of Terrorism'', pg. 317.
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
:
I.B. Tauris I.B. Tauris is an educational publishing house and imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It was an independent publishing house with offices in London and New York City until its purchase in May 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing. It specialises in non ...
, 2013.
but then having turned strongly pro-establishment by the early 1990s, the Saudi government promoted al-Madkhali to lead a countermovement against growing criticisms of the Kingdom's socioeconomic ills, late deliveries of farm subsidies and normalization of ties with
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. After the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
had concluded, Madkhali distributed a booklet justifying the decision of the Saudi Arabian government to allow the presence of U.S. troops (who later withdrew) on Arabian soil and criticizing rival controversial radical cleric
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 ...
for the latter's opposition to the government's decision. In 2016, he issued a fatwa calling upon "the Salafis of Libya" to rebel against the UN-recognized
Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord ( ar, حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. Th ...
in favor of
Khalifa Haftar Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) ...
, who has been described as "Libya's most potent warlord".


Scholarly works

Al-Madkhali has authored over 30 works in the field of Hadith and Islamic sciences, much of which has been compiled into a 15 volume set In 1984, the book which brought him fame in the Saudi religious field, 'Manhaj Al-Anbiyah Fi Da’wah Ila Allah' (The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allah), caused controversy over Al-Madkhali's criticisms of the Muslim Brotherhood and their methods in Muslim missionary work.Lacroix p.212 According to Lacroix, Al-Madkhali insisted that priority must be given to correcting
Islamic creed ''Aqidah'' ( (), plural ''ʿaqāʾid'', also rendered ''ʿaqīda'', ''aqeeda'', etc.) is an Islamic term of Arabic origin that literally means "creed". It is also called Islamic creed and Islamic theology. ''Aqidah'' go beyond concise statem ...
amongst the people, whereas the Muslim Brotherhood's initial focus was on political reform. Some observers state that Al-Madkhali is most noted for his refutations of Islamic thinker
Sayyid Qutb Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptians, Egyptian author, educato ...
. Al-Madkhali received acclamations for his works refuting radical preacher Sayyid Qutb from other Salafist scholars such as
Saleh Al-Fawzan Saleh Al-Fawzan ( ar, صالح بن فوزان الفوزان; born 1933) is an Islamic scholar and has been a member of several high religious bodies in Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia. His s ...
,
Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i Muqbil bin Hadi bin Muqbil bin Qa’idah al-Hamdani al-Wadi’i al-Khallali (1933 – 21 July 2001) ( ar, مقبل بن هادي الوادعي) was an Islamic scholar and a major proponent of Quietist Salafism in Yemen. He was the founder of a ...
, and
Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Biography Uthaymeen was born on ...
. Of his four books on Sayyid Qutb, 'Adhwa Islamiyyah ala aqidat Sayyid Qutb wa fikrihi' is considered the most important. Apart from his praised works in refutations, his other authorships include: * “''Bainal-Imāmain Muslim Wad-Daruqutnī''” – “''Between the Two Imams: Muslim and Ad-Dar Qutni.''” And this was one large volume which was the thesis of his Magistrates degree. * “''An-Nukat ‘Ala Kitāb Ibn Salāh''” – “''Points Upon the Book of Ibn Salāh.''” Published in 2 volumes and it was his PhD thesis. * “''Manhajul-Anbiyā’ Fid-Da’wah IlAllāh Fīhī Al-Hikmah Wal-‘Aql''” – “''The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allāh: In it was Wisdom and Intellect''” * “''Manhaj Ahlus-Sunnah Fī Naqd Ar-Rijāl Wal-Kutub Wat–Tawā’if''” – “''The Methodology of The People of Sunnah in Criticism of Men, Books, and Groups.''” * “''Kashf Mawqif Al-Ghazālī Min As-Sunnah Wa-Ahlihā''” – “''Exposing Ghazālī’s Position Regarding the Sunnah and Its People.''” * “''Makānatu Ahlil-Hadīth''” – “''The Position of the People of Hadīth''” * “''Manhaj Al-Imām Muslim Fī Tartībi Sahīhihī''” – “''Al-Imām Muslim’s Method in Ordering his Sahīh.''” * “''Adhwā’ Islāmiyyah ‘Alā ‘Aqīdah Sayyid Qutb wa Fikarihī''” – “''The Illumination of Islām Regarding the Creed of Sayyid Qutb and his Ideas.''” * “''Matā’in Sayyid Qutb fī As-hābi Rasūlillāh SallAllāhu Alaihi wa Sallam''” – “''The Slanders of Sayyid Qutb Upon the Companions of the Messenger of Allāh'' (H).” * “''Al-Hadd Al-Fāsil Bainal-Haqq Wal-Bātil''” – “''The Distinct Separation Between Truth and Falsehood,''” which was part of critical dialogue between him and Bakr Abū Zaid * “''Jamā’ah Wāhidah Lā Jamā’āt; Wa Sīrat Wāhid Lā ‘Asharāt''” – “''One Jamā’ah – Not Many Jamā’ahs; and One Path – Not Tens of Paths,''” which was part of a critical dialogue with ‘Abdur-Rahmān ‘Abdul-Khāliq.


Contemporary evaluation

In 2009, the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, in their list of "The 500 Most Influential Muslims" placed him amongst notable radicals such as al-Baghdadi, and he has consistently made the list since. However, opinions on Al-Madkhali vary between supporters and opponents. Contemporary hadith scholar
Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
regarded Al-Madkhali to be very knowledgeable in the field of hadith, particularly in Al-Jarh wa-l-Ta’dil. Al-Albani stated that, “the carrier of the flag of nowledgeof Jarh wa Ta'deel today, in this present time, and rightfully so, is our brother Dr. Rabee’, and those who refute him do so without any knowledge." He has also received praise from other contemporary Salafist scholars such as
Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of S ...
,
Saleh Al-Fawzan Saleh Al-Fawzan ( ar, صالح بن فوزان الفوزان; born 1933) is an Islamic scholar and has been a member of several high religious bodies in Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia. His s ...
,
Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Biography Uthaymeen was born on ...
,
Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i Muqbil bin Hadi bin Muqbil bin Qa’idah al-Hamdani al-Wadi’i al-Khallali (1933 – 21 July 2001) ( ar, مقبل بن هادي الوادعي) was an Islamic scholar and a major proponent of Quietist Salafism in Yemen. He was the founder of a ...
, and the
Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is the most senior and most influential Muslim religious and legal authority in Saudi Arabia. The holder of the position is appointed by the King. The Grand Mufti is the head of the Permanent Committee for Islamic ...
among many others who praised him for being a firm defender of Islam's core values. Roel Meijer notes that some analysts view Madkhali’s followers as having an obsession with his defense and continuously cite scholarly praise of him as a mechanism "for maintaining, defending and enhancing this authority", which is contested by Madkhali's detractors. He has been accused by contemporaries, of applying labels such as "Qutbee" (
Qutbism Qutbism ( ar, ٱلْقُطْبِيَّةِ, al-Quṭbīyah) is an Islamist ideology which was developed by Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. It has been described as adv ...
), in order to silence dissent. Political scientist
Gilles Kepel Gilles Kepel, (born June 30, 1955) is a French political scientist and Arabist, specialized in the contemporary Middle East and Muslims in the West. He is Professor at the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and director of the Middle Ea ...
has described Madkhali as being the perfect example of pro-regime "court scholars" in the Middle East, as opposed to more radical trends within the Salafist movement. In contrast to his early opposition to the Saudi Arabian government, Madkhali is now considered one of the Saudi royal family's staunchest defenders. While politically quietist within his own country, Madkhali has supported violent conflict in other areas, having called on Muslims both inside and outside
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
to participate in the
Maluku sectarian conflict The Maluku Islands sectarian conflict was a period of ethno-political conflict along religious lines, which spanned the Indonesian islands that compose the Maluku archipelago, with particularly serious disturbances in Ambon and Halmahera island ...
. Madkhali's source of religious authority within the Salafist movement is unclear. He has not been involved with official religious bodies of the Saudi government, does not belong to the significant line of 20th-century Salafist scholars including
Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of S ...
and
Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
, and has been described as below the level of contemporaries such as
Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Biography Uthaymeen was born on ...
or
Saleh Al-Fawzan Saleh Al-Fawzan ( ar, صالح بن فوزان الفوزان; born 1933) is an Islamic scholar and has been a member of several high religious bodies in Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia. His s ...
.Roel Meijer, "Politicizing ''al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil'': Rabi b. Hadi al-Madkhali and the transnational battle for religious authority." Taken from ''The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honor of Harald Motzki'', pg. 377. Eds. Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort,
Kees Versteegh Cornelis Henricus Maria "Kees" Versteegh (; born 1947) is a Dutch academic linguist. He served as a professor of Islamic studies and the Arabic language at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands until April 2011. Versteegh graduated from R ...
and Joas Wagemakers.
Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
:
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
, 2011.
Some anti-
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 ...
figures like Muqbil ibn Hadi al Wadi'i are huge supporters of Al-Madkhali and consider him to be a senior scholar. According to Al-Wadi'i:
"From the most insightful of people concerning the isguidedgroups and their taints in this era is the brother, Shaikh Rabī’ bin Hādī, may Allāh preserve him. Whomever he declares to be a ''hizbī'', then it will be unveiled nd made clearfor you after some days that he is indeed a ''hizbī''...I advise you to ask Shaikh Rabī’ bin Hādī, may Allāh  preserve him. A great deal of his life has passed with ealing with''al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn''. He is the most knowledge person concerning them and their realities"


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madkhali, Rabee 1931 births Living people Hadith scholars Saudi Arabian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Saudi Arabian Salafis Salafi Quietists Umm al-Qura University alumni Islamic University of Madinah alumni