Yasser Al-Habib

Sheikh Yasser al-Habib (Arabic: ياسر الحبيب born 20 January 1979) is a Kuwaiti Twelver Shia scholar, and the head of the London-based Khoddam Al-Mahdi Organization, as well as Al-Muhassin mosque in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, and the writer of The Lady of Heaven.[3][4][5][6] Al-Habib's work focuses on Islamic history, drawing on Shia and Sunni sources.

Ayatollah Sheikh
Sheikh Yasser al-Habib (A.S)
ياسر الحبيب
TitleAyatollah[1]
Personal
Born (1979-01-20) 20 January 1979
ReligionIslam
NationalityStateless Bedoon (formerly Kuwaiti)
DenominationShia
SectTwelver
JurisprudenceJa'fari (Usuli)
MovementShirazi[2]
Alma materKuwait University
InstituteKhoddam Al-Mahdi
Founder ofFadak (TV channel)
Muslim leader
Based inLondon
Websitehttps://alhabib.org

Al-Habib started his religious activities in Kuwait, starting off as a member of the Dawah Party, later he founded a non-profit religious organization named Khoddam Al-Mahdi Organization, and he also expressed his religious views regarding Abu Bakr and Umar, and criticized them sharply, which led to anger the mainstream Sunnis in Kuwait and other Arabic-speaking Sunni communities, and finally led to the arrest of Al-Habib. Later, in February 2004 he was released under an annual pardon announced by the Emir of Kuwait on the occasion of the country's National Day, but his rearrest was ordered a few days later. Al-Habib fled Kuwait before he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment,[7] and spent months in Iraq and Iran before gaining an asylum in United Kingdom.

Early life

Al-Habib was interviewed by Elaph, a well-known Arabic online newspaper, where he stated that he was born in a religious Kuwaiti family of Iranian descent, and started his education in the Kuwaiti governmental schools, before joining Kuwait University and graduating from its Political sciences faculty. Besides his secular studies, Al-Habib stated that he studied the traditional Islamic sciences under the guidance of his teacher Ayatollah Mohammed Reza Shirazi.[8]

In 2001, he founded Khoddam Al-Mahdi Organization in Kuwait.

Imprisonment

Al-Habib was reportedly arrested on the afternoon of 30 November 2003, in connection with an audio cassette recording of a lecture he gave to an audience of ten to twenty people in a closed environment on Islamic historical issues.

On 20 January 2004, he was reportedly convicted of "questioning the conduct and integrity of some of the 'companions' of the prophet Muhammad" in a lecture he had delivered, and sentenced to ten years in prison in Kuwait.[9]

However, his imprisonment was cut short in 2004 by a royal pardon on the occasion of the country's National Day; his rearrest was ordered a few days later, as his name was included in the royal pardon through a clerical error. He fled the country first to Iraq, then to Iran. Then, he went to London and was able gain asylum in Britain.[10]

Now, he works in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, and had started his religious and political activity, such as founding Al Muhassin Mosque and setting up Fadak (TV channel).[11]

Views

He recorded two lectures in English, titled: Who killed the Prophet Muhammad and Why do Shiites hate Umar Ibn al-Khattab.[12] Sunni Al-Sha'ab newspaper described Sheikh al-Habib as a traitor and apostate in its main page, at the time that Al-Habib cursed Abu Bakr and Umar.[13]

Wahhabism

Al-Habib said:

Wahhabism is a criminal and violent ideology, founded by a mentally ill man named Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab about three centuries ago. Its main principle is that all Muslims who perform Tawassul and visit their graves are regarded as apostates and infidels. Therefore, the seizure of their life, property and women would, like that of the infidels, be religiously lawful and permissible![14]

Views on Sunnis

Sheikh al-Habib refers to Sunnis as Bakris, meaning the followers of Abu Bakr. He says that the real Sunnis (Ahlul Sunnah) are the ones who follow the Sunnah of Muhammad, that is Shia Muslims. He continues that Sunnis today follow the Sunnah and teachings of Abu Bakr instead, having rejected Ali ibn Abi Talib and Ahlulbayt. He explains in one of his lectures titled Bakris think they are Sunnis, but in reality are not that when people wanted to distance themselves from the Shia, and follow Muawiyya, they started calling themselves the Jama'ah. He explains that the reality behind why people called themselves Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama'ah only began after the Umayyad ruler Umar bin Abdul Aziz forbade the Sunnah (tradition) of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib publicly (as previously invented by Muawiyah). It was upon then that people protested to this new prohibition, declaring that Umar bin Abdul Aziz had prohibited the Sunnah of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib. Thus they began calling themselves Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama'ah; stressing that they adhere to the Sunnah of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib, and that they are the Jama'ah of Muawiyah.

He also refers to those whom claim to be Shi'a but do not denounce Abu Bakr, Umar, Aisha and other personalities in Islamic history such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, as Batris.

He described Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah (the Lebanese marja who died on 4 July 2010)[15] as Batri. Al-Habib said that Fadlallah left a great number of doctrinal deviations, ignorant views and bad conduct which he introduced to the religion of Islam.[16]

Celebrating Aisha's death anniversary and its reaction

In September 2010, al-Habib angered the Sunni Muslims by calling Aisha, "an enemy of God" which led Kuwait to revoke his citizenship accusing him of trying to stir up discord among Muslims.[17][18][19][20][21]

In October 2010, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tried to calm tensions between Shias and Sunnis by issuing a fatwa against insulting Muhammad's companions and wives.[22]

Cursing the wives of the prophets and the wives of the Great Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is one of the taboos and prohibitions.[22]

Criticism

After Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued the fatwa outlawing the insult of Sunni Dignitaries (Aisha, Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattāb),[23] Al-Habib responded by calling the Islamic Republic of Iran "oppressive". He continued by referring to Khamenei as "so-called Ali al-Khamenei – who pretends to be a Shia scholar". His reasoning for naming the Iranian government as "oppressive" was because the "regime in Iran today unjustly arrests anyone who celebrates the occasion of Farhat-ul-Zahra and prevents people from visiting the tomb of Abu Lulu".[24]

Senior Iranian cleric Naser Makarem Shirazi has referred to Al-Habib as a "hired agent or a mad man"[25] and stated: "Recently, an illiterate fool non clergy U.K citizen in the name of Shia has insulted sacred matters of Sunni Muslim brothers".[26]

Al-Habib has been criticized by several figures and leaders who claim to speak in the name of Shiism including leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah and Ali Khamenei (who also issued a fatwa against insulting of Muhammad's companions) and Naser Makarem Shirazi.

Works

Yasser al-Habib has published many books and articles throughout the years, here are some of his works.[27]

Bibliography
  • Solving The Issue
  • The Peaceful State
  • The Nine Introductions
  • Liberation of the Shi’a Individual
  • The Veil of Allah
  • The Creed of the Predecessors
  • A Commentary on the Supplication The Idols of Quraish
  • The Rulings of Praying While Seated
  • The Idols of Quraish in Tafseer al-Ayashi
  • Obscenity – The Other Face of Aisha (2010)[28]
  • "How was Islam Hijacked?" (2015)[29]
  • The Trial of the Second Tyrant: Umar ibn al-Khattab (2017)[30]
  • The Murder of Muhassin: The Prophet's Third Grandson (2022)[31]

Filmography

References
  1. "Notable Scholars' Testimonies". alqatrah.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  2. Linge, M., 2016. Sunnite-Shiite Polemics in Norway. FLEKS-Scandinavian Journal of Intercultural Theory and Practice, 3(1).
  3. Haddad, Fanar (2020). Understanding 'Sectarianism': Sunni-Shi'a Relations in the Modern Arab World. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 179. ISBN 9780197510629. Even a figure as unrelentingly and unapologetically anti-Sunni as Shi'a cleric Yasser al-Habib does not frame Sunnis as a threat.
  4. Shanneik, Yafa (2022). The Art of Resistance in Islam: The Performance of Politics Among Shi'i Women in the Middle East and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 9781009034685. Yasser al-Habib, for example, is a well-known Shi'i cleric who at the beginning of the twenty-first century attracted public attention through a series of sectarian anti-Sunni statements.
  5. Wehrey, Frederic (2014). Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780231165129. A young cleric (he was only twenty-one when he first attracted public attention), al-Habib issued a series of vitriolic, anti-Sunni statements that over the course of the next six years would place Shi'a moderates under pressure, provoke the vitriol of Sunni extremists, and force the government to take the role of referee and arbiter.
  6. "Is "The Lady of Heaven" true in its claim?". Tehran Times. 29 December 2020. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  7. "International Religious Freedom Report 2004 – Kuwait". Amnestyusa.org. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  8. ياسر الحبيب: هذه قصة خروجي من السجن.. والمستقبل للتشيع (in Arabic). Elaph. 28 November 2010. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  9. "Writer, journalist and researcher Yasser al-Habib sentenced to one year in prison; reports of ill-treatment in prison". IFEX. 9 February 2004. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  10. Omar Shahid and Tamanna Ali (10 May 2013). "Meet the Controversial Cleric Threatening to Turn UK Muslims Against Each Other". Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  11. Milmo Chahal (24 June 2011). "Sunni vs Shia... in Gerrard's Cross: New mosque highlights growing tensions among British Muslims". The independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  12. "The drop, Office of Sheikh Al-Habib in London – Video Youtube". Alqatrah.net. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  13. "القطرة – موقع رؤى ومحاضرات الشيخ الحبيب – الطائفة البكرية تفتح النار على الشيخ الحبيب بالأكاذيب والافتراءات في وسائل الإعلام". Alqatrah.net. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  14. "The drop, Office of Sheikh Al-Habib in London – Answers – What do Wahhabis believe in". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  15. "Politics – Tuesday official mourning day for Fadlallah". The Daily Star. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  16. "The drop, Office of Sheikh Al-Habib in London – Sheikh al-Habib Hails our Great Scholars' Refusal to pay tribute to Fadlullah". Alqatrah.net. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  17. "Financial Times". London. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  18. Diana Elias (23 September 2010). "Kuwait cleric comments raise fear of sectarian tension". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  19. "Federal News Radio". wtop.com. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  20. "Revoking Al-Habib's citizenship premature Safar KuwaitSamachar". kuwaitsamachar.com.
  21. "Kuwait strips Shiite activist of citizenship". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  22. "Fatwa closes the doors in front of any sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites". Islam Times. 9 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  23. "Tehran Times". tehrantimes.com. 4 October 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  24. "The drop, Office of Sheikh Al-Habib in London – Sheikh al-Habib takes an oath to 'publicly' voice opposition to the enemies of Ahlul Bayt and warns al-Khamenei". Alqatrah.net. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  25. "The drop, Office of Sheikh Al-Habib in London – Sheikh al-Habib remarks on Naser Makarem Shirazi's statement". Alqatrah.net. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  26. Staff writer (5 October 2010). "Grand Shia Cleric Calls "Yaser Alhabib" a Fool". ABNA. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  27. "Sheikh al-Habib's books". The Office of His Eminence Sheikh al-Habib. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  28. al-Habib, Yasser (2010). Obscenity – The Other Face of Aisha (in Arabic). London. ISBN 978-0956623003.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  29. al-Habib, Yasser (2015). How was Islam Hijacked. London. ISBN 978-1517514983.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  30. al-Habib, Yasser (2017). The Trial of the Second Tyrant: Umar ibn al-Khattab. London. ISBN 978-1546682578.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  31. al-Habib, Yasser (2022). The Murder of Muhassin: The Prophet's Third Grandson. London. ISBN 978-1399937108.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. King, Eli (23 December 2022), The Lady of Heaven (Action, Drama, History), Enlightened Kingdom, Sarke Studio, retrieved 8 January 2023
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