Tareq Mohammed Al-Suwaidan () (September 15, 1953) is a Kuwaiti Islamic author and speaker, and businessman. He has been among the 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2022. Al-Suwaidan is considered to adopt a moderate ideology amongst Muslim thinkers.
He has written many religious, historical and management books and several of his books were translated into English and French.
Childhood and education
Al-Suwaidan was trained in the classical Islamic sciences in his youth. He lived and studied in the United States from the age of 17 and remained in the US for 20 years. He graduated from high school, and received a Bachelor of Science in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State University in 1975. He earned a Master of Science and subsequently PhD in 1990 in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.
Media and management
Al-Suwaidan is a TV personality who has prepared and presented numerous Islamic television shows on Islamic subjects ranging from broadcasting of the Quran, stories of Muhammad, notable women and Andalusian history. His shows have aired on Kuwait television, First Channel, Space Channel and MBC.
Al-Suwaidan was formerly the general manager of Al-Resalah Satellite TV, the brainchild of Saudi businessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. In August 2013, Prince Talal fired Suwaidan for his role as the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait. Prince Talal wrote on his Twitter account that he sacked Tarek Al-Suwaidan "for admitting he belongs to the Brotherhood movement." In a letter to Al-Suwaidan, Prince Al Waleed wrote that there was no place for a Muslim Brotherhood member on the channel. Prince Alaweed bin Talal criticized him as having "extremist inclinations".
In 2014, Al-Suwaidan along with Salman al-Ouda got banned by the Saudi authorities to sell their books in the kingdom. Before that he was also barred from Makkah pilgrimage by Saudi Arabia.
Educational initiatives
Al-Suwaidan was one of the founders of the American Creativity Academy in Kuwait, a private institution that offers an American college-preparatory education within the context of Islamic values.
He is also one of the founders of Advanced Generations School (AGS) in Saudi Arabia, a "Canadian school with an Islamic identity." Students study English under the Canadian curriculum, and take Islamic and Arabic classes as well.
He is also the co-founder of the Etqan Global Academy (EGA) school in Qatar, which is an accredited International Baccalaureate (IB) school (PYB), built on a 60 thousand square meters in Al Kheesa area.
Productions
Al-Suwaidan is the author of 54 books, his most popular being: Iidad Alkada (Preparing Leaders), and spoken word audio tape albums. His album, Qasas al Anbiyaa (Stories of the Prophets) is the highest-selling Islamic album in the world. Additionally, over 3.4 million listeners have downloaded his lectures on the Islamic broadcast website "Islamway". He has also translated multiple books into English and French.
Bibliography
The Jews: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (2009) Great Women in Islam, Kindle 2013 - Imam Abu Hanifa An-Numan, Kindle 2019 - The Illustrated History Of Islam, Kindle 2013 - Imam Malik, Kindle 2013 - Imam Al-Shafi'i, Kindle 2013 - Imam Ahmad Ibn-Hanbal Skills of Influencing The Art of Giving Revisiting Our Concepts The School of Life Understanding Religion Secrets of Hajj and Umrah Stories of the Prophets in Al-Quran Prophet Muhammad (SAW): The Hallmark of Leadership
Views and ideology
Al-Suwaidan is a strong supporter of women's rights within Islamic sharia law and advocated for reforming traditional understanding of Islam. He has participated in the Doha Debates arguing in favor of women's political and social rights. He said forced marriages are "un-Islamic." During a session with Tim Sebastian at the Doha Debates, he stated that "'Women are equal to men.' This is the basis of Sharia, this is the basis of Islamic law. Now, what happened is that in the past 400 or 500 years, we have been backward, we have been occupied, and tradition has mastered our society and some people are mixing up between Sharia and Islam and the tradition, and thus in the name of Islam, they are putting woman down." Kuwait granted woman the rights in 2005, and he was one of those who were advocating woman rights to those who were blaming Sharia for it. He stated that "I am for the participation of women in building the society and for them taking all positions including the presidency of a country. These are my religious views and I don't hide them,"