Al Maghamsi tweet .. the return of the Saudi Sheikh to the shadow

Ahmed Rawy - Al-Jazeera Net

The man who started the imam of Al-Salam Mosque in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in 1987, and in his youth, he wrote letters to the pilgrims, and offered to read newspapers to buy dinner in his youth; As stated in the Sheikh's tweet, which he later deleted, referring to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in Saudi Arabia and 170 countries, and claimed the lives of more than 33 thousand people around the world.

As soon as the news of Sheikh Saleh al-Maghamsi’s exemption spread on Twitter, the most used platform in Saudi Arabia, on March 29, several accounts celebrated him, and she was affixed to the sheikh who was accused of “Brotherhood” and “Sufism”, in what appeared to be an attempt to justify the Sheikh’s exemption due to His intellectual background, not by writing a tweet that was understood as the desire to release prisoners of conscience.

The same calculations welcomed the appointment of Sheikh Suleiman Al-Rehaili to succeed Sheikh Al-Maghamsi and praised the step taken by the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdul-Latif Al-Sheikh.

While Sheikh Al-Rehaili was known only through his university education, and his limited appearance on religious television channels.

Sheikh al-Maghamisi was widely known - for the first time - when he gave the speech of the people at the ceremony organized to celebrate King Abdullah’s visit to Medina on July 12, 2009. At that time, the sheikh stood before the king to praise the establishment of the Allegiance Commission, and saw in it an investigation of the principle of Shura in Islam In his speech, he went to the blessing of King Abdullah's call for dialogue on religions, and considered it "a great victory for the glory of Islam."

The Sheikh was on a date with the limelight. After the cameras turned off his lenses, the Sheikh Al Maghamsi did not return as he was, and he became famous, and he became a guest of high-level councils and advocacy forums inside and outside the Kingdom, and public and Islamic satellite channels raced to host him, to give scientific lessons, or Answers the questions of the respondents.

Different doctrinal opinions
The masses of the Sheikh expanded, and he began holding sessions in which to interpret the Qur’an, and he presented juristic opinions that he did not sign as a cold and peace to some of the “classical” sheikhs, who saw in some of his jurisprudence open to closed doors, until the mandate of the covenant fell to Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who seemed clear to him - since His early days - on the old school in Ifta, and his preference for young voices, including Sheikh Al Maghamsi, who can go on the passengers of Vision 2030, and achieve its goals away from the awakening and its symbols.

A Saudi researcher - preferring not to mention her name in these circumstances - goes on commenting to Al Jazeera Net on the news of the exemption that "the Crown Prince's interest in Sheikh Maghamisi is due to his popularity among young people, even those who are not religious."

She characterized the sheikh, his eloquence, and his sensitivity provided him with a wide audience, who used to tear the sheikh's tears and sound his voice in every TV episode that social media circulates during Ramadan and throughout the year. In addition, the sheikh’s answers to the questions of his programmers show their containment, and they recognize their ability to overcome their mistakes, in a language that does not approach bashing.

This acceptance among the youth was reinforced when the Sheikh issued a fatwa on the TV screen in 2014 that “music is not forbidden to release.” This sparked discontent among the employees of the traditional religious school in Saudi Arabia, led by Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, so that Khalaf Al-Maghamisi led the Quba Mosque. Sheikh Suleiman al-Rehaili described the permissibility of music at the time as a "corrupt saying."

The presence of Sheikh Maghamsi on screens, in support of the Crown Prince's vision, and the competitions of the Entertainment Authority to memorize and recite the Qur’an, in addition to the spread of his statements on official projects in Saudi newspapers; documented his connection to the New Testament, and became one of his most prominent men. In the period following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in October 2018, the sheikh was hosted on news bulletins to give his opinion on the incident.

Tweet and prisons
The decision to exempt Sheikh Al-Maghamsi was removed from the tribune of Quba, who has been in the position for more than 14 years, and no official sources have disclosed any reason for that. Political detainees and others are among the prisons that international human rights reports and leaked images show that they are overcrowded and lack of health care, which may mean a significant increase in cases of coronavirus infection, to the extent that the Saudi health authorities may not be able to contain it.

The London-based Al-Qastus Support Organization for Human Rights reported in one of its reports in 2017 that “infectious diseases are prevalent in Saudi prisons” and that it documented deaths due to illnesses that the Saudi authorities did not take serious steps to prevent recurrence of; Until dozens of prisoners were sharing the same sleeper bed, sleeping in the corridors and between the sections of the Makkah General Prison.

After the spread of the Coruna epidemic this year, the organization itself called on the Saudi government to "conduct a comprehensive audit of prisoners and reduce the number of prison inmates by promptly releasing detainees and" less serious "prisoners, including those convicted or being held on trial for non-violent crimes, and administrative detainees, And those who are unjustified for their continued detention. "

Sheikh al-Maghamisi was relieved of the leadership of the Quba Mosque, and two other sheikhs, Khaled al-Shehri and Ibrahim al-Duwaish, were arrested on the same day because of their opinions, which brings to mind the state of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which the Amnesty International Report 2019 says that “all Human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia behind bars. "