Tareq Al-Suwaidan

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Tareq Al-Suwaidan M.Sc., Ph.D.
Born (1953-11-15) November 15, 1953
Kuwait
Nationality Kuwaiti
Education Penn State University
University of Tulsa
Occupation

General Manager, Alresalah Satellite TV

CEO, Gulf Innovation Group
Religion Islam
Website
www.suwaidan.com

Dr. Tareq Mohammed Al-Suwaidan (Arabic: طارق محمد السويدان‎; born November 15, 1953) is a Kuwaiti entrepreneur, author and speaker, and a leader of the Kuwaiti 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]

Media and management

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 was formerly the General Manager of Al-Resalah Satellite TV, the brainchild of Saudi businessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.[7] 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."[8]

Al-Suwaidan is a management, leadership and strategic planning consultant in the Middle East and is CEO of the Gulf Innovation Groups.[9] He is frequently consulted by prominent regional governmental and private sector organizations.[10] He is also the chairman of the AWARE (Advocates for Western-Arab Relations & Exchange) center in Kuwait.[11]

Views and ideology

Al-Suwaidan is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait and describes himself as a "moderate Islamist".[12][13] 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.[14][15]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.”[16][17] He has supported women's rights within Islamic sharia law and advocated for reforming traditional understanding of Islam.[18]

[19] 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." 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.[20]

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.[21][22][23] A Federal court subsequently ruled that the list of unindicted co-conspirators should not have been released to the public.[24]

In an April 2012 interview for Al-Quds, a TV station affiliated with Hamas, he claimed that since politicians were controlled by money and the media which are controlled by the Jews, only "armed resistance" and not Western aid or Western popular sympathy could change the situation in Palestine and Jerusalem. He also said in the interview that the most dangerous thing facing Muslims is the Jews calling them "the greatest enemy." [25] Al-Suwaidan subsequently denied charges of anti-semitism stating "We are not against the Jews, let this be very clear." He alleged that the anti-Semitic comments were based on a report by MEMRI which he called a "Zionist organization." [26]

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.[27][28][29]

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.

Books and audio productions

Al-Suwaidan is the author of thirty best-selling books, his most popular being: Iidad Alkada (Preparing 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 3.4 million listeners have downloaded his lectures on the popular Islamic broadcast website "Islamway".[30]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/02/28/46255.html
  2. ↑ http://www.suwaidan.com/cv.jsp
  3. ↑ http://www.suwaidan.com/cv.jsp
  4. ↑ http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html
  5. ↑ http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/Page29.asp
  6. ↑ http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/Page29.asp
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/18/saudi-prince-muslim-brotherhood/2668443/
  9. ↑ http://www.gulfinnovation.com/index.jsp?inc=2&cid=1&lang=en
  10. ↑ http://www.suwaidan.com/cv.jsp
  11. ↑ http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html
  12. ↑ "Help cure West's ills, Muslims told", Catherine Porter, Toronto Star, Monday, January 6, 2003, Ontario edition, Section: News, p. A08
  13. ↑ http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html
  14. ↑ http://acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=faq#link7
  15. ↑ http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html
  16. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecews5f7xts
  17. ↑ http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/?c=ireland&jp=cweyidqlauey
  18. ↑ Al-Suwaidan on Tim Sebastian's the Doha Debates arguing pro the motion 'This House believes that Arab women should have full equality with men'* http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/page30.asp
  19. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4679252
  20. ↑ "Muslims urged to `liberate the Holy Land', Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times, November 25, 2000
  21. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20081202111922/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/112508dnmetholylandverdicts.1e5022504.html?
  22. ↑ http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/423.pdf
  23. ↑ http://www.nysun.com/national/islamic-groups-named-in-hamas-funding-case/55778/
  24. ↑ http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20101106-Judge-ruled-prosecutors-should-not-have-6808.ece
  25. ↑ "http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/mixed-messages-from-touring-muslim-lecturer/story-e6frgcjx-1226386791743
  26. ↑ http://muslimvillage.com/2012/06/26/24397/tareq-al-suwaidan-defends-charges-anti-semitism/
  27. ↑ http://www.tbsjournal.com/SuwaidanInterview.html
  28. ↑ http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/Page29.asp
  29. ↑ website
  30. ↑ http://ar.islamway.net/lessons/scholar/69

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