Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Tuwayjiri

Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Tuwayjiri is a contemporary Saudi scholar and researcher in Islamic creed and jurisprudence, best known for his treatise al-Bida al-Hawliya ("The Annual Innovations") Nataij al-Buhuth wa Khawa…+1.

Education and Scholarly Focus

His full name is Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Tuwayjiri Mawqi al-Islam Su'al wa J…+1. He pursued his higher education in Riyadh at the Faculty of Theology (Kulliyat Usul al-Din), specializing in the Department of Creed and Contemporary Doctrines (Qism al-Aqida wa-l-Madhahib al-Muasira) al-Bida al-Hawliya. During his graduate studies, he completed a preparatory year and prepared his master's thesis on cyclical and seasonal religious innovations, which subsequently formed the basis of his published work al-Bida al-Hawliya+1.

Scholarly Contribution

Al-Tuwayjiri's academic contribution centers on the systematic documentation, classification, and doctrinal critique of recurring religious innovations across the Islamic lunar calendar al-Bida al-Hawliya+1. In al-Bida al-Hawliya, he defines annual innovations (al-bida al-hawliya) as those unlegislated religious practices that recur once each year at a fixed time and cannot repeat within the same year al-Bida al-Hawliya.

His study organizes these practices chronologically across the months of the Islamic year, examining seasonal rites such as mourning practices in Muharram, pessimism associated with Safar, celebrations of the Prophet's birthday in Rabi al-Awwal, the ragha'ib prayer in Rajab, and specific night observances in mid-Sha'ban al-Bida al-Hawliya+1. In analyzing the causes behind the emergence and persistence of such rites, al-Tuwayjiri highlights ignorance of the prophetic Sunnah, the following of personal desires, and the silence of scholars in denouncing newly invented practices, maintaining that every religious innovation is an error and that there is no praiseworthy innovation in Islamic law Nataij al-Buhuth wa Khawa…+1.