| Tareq Al-Suwaidan | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 15, 1953 Kuwait |
| Education | Penn State University |
| Occupation | An Author, a speaker and the director of the arabsat TV channel Alresalah |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Website | |
| www.suwaidan.com | |
Dr. Tareq Mohammed Al-Suwaidan (Arabic: طارق محمد السويدان; born November 15, 1953) is a Kuwaiti entrepreneur, Islamic author, speaker and director of the arabsat TV channel Alresalah as well as a leader of the Kuwati Muslim Brotherhood . He is well-known in the Middle East and in Muslim communities throughout the world for his management/strategic planning training, motivational speaking and television shows and appearances. According to Forbes magazine (Arabic edition: Forbes Arabia), Al-Suwaidan ranks second in annual net income among Islamic speakers in the Muslim world with an estimated net profit of $1 million in 2007.[1] Al-Suwaidan was trained in the classical Islamic sciences in his youth and lived and studied in the United States, having received a B.S. in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State University and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.[2] He currently resides in Kuwait with his wife and six children.
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Al-Suwaidan is a TV personality, with TV shows ranking among the highest in ratings on Middle East satellite TV channels such as MBC, Abu Dhabi TV, Orbit, Dream, Iqra and Al-Resalah TV.[3][4][5] An estimated 10 million viewers tune in daily to his show on MBC annually in Ramadan[6]
Al-Suwaidan is the General Manager of Al-Resalah Satellite TV, the brainchild of Saudi businessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.[7]
Al-Suwaidan is a management, leadership and strategic planning consultant in the Middle East and is CEO of the Gulf Innovation Groups.[8] He is frequently consulted by prominent regional governmental and private sector organizations.[9] He is also the chairman of the AWARE (Advocates for Western-Arab Relations & Exchange) center in Kuwait.[10]
Al-Suwaidan is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait and describes himself as a "moderate Islamist".[11][12] Al-Suwaidan holds pro-democratic, free speech and freedom of religion viewpoints and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.[13][14] He has supported women's rights within Islamic sharia law and advocated for reforming traditional understanding of Islam.[15][16] Al-Suwaidan has condemned the 9/11 terrorists saying "these people are very dangerous to themselves, to the Arab world, to the Islamic world itself, and to Islam itself."[17]
Al-Suwaidan has called for the liberation of Palestine and said Muslims would be willing to sacrifice their sons for the cause of the Al-Aqsa mosque.[18] In May 2007, Al-Suwaidan was listed by U.S. federal prosecutors, along with a group of U.S. Muslim Brotherhood members, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development which was convicted along with its leaders of financing Hamas.[19][20][21] Al-Suwaidan has not been charged in any associated prosecutions.
In 2006 he demanded that the European Union, as well as the rest of the world, enact “a law that forbids the insult to religious figures and religious sacred opinions.”[22][23]
Al-Suwaidan founded the American Creativity Academy in Kuwait, a private institution that offers an American college-preparatory education within the context of Islamic values.[24][25][26]
He is also one of the founders of AGS (Advanced Generations School) 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.
Al-Suwaidan is the author of thirty best-selling books, his most popular being: Iidad Alkada (make leaders), and spoken word audio tape albums. His album, Qasas al Anbiyaa (Lives of the Prophets) is the highest-selling Islamic album in the world with well over 2 million copies sold. Additionally, over 1.2 million listeners have downloaded his lectures on the popular Islamic broadcast website "Islamway".[27]