Nawal Al-Eid

Nawal Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Eid is a professor of the Sunnah and its sciences at Princess Nourah University in Riyadh, and a Saudi preacher counted among the most prominent women preachers in Saudi Arabia, beyond it, and in the Muslim world. ^{1 2} She won the Prince Naif International Prize for the Prophet's Sunnah for her research on women's rights in the light of the Sunnah. ^{2 3} An academic study of Saudi women preachers reports that her followers on Twitter exceeded four and a half million, and that in 2012 she founded the Ithra' al-Ma'rifa endowment in Riyadh. ⁴

She was born in the city of Shaqra in Saudi Arabia in 1397 AH. ^{2 1} She took her secondary schooling at the First Secondary School in Shaqra, ranking first in the central region. ^{2 3}

She received her bachelor's degree from the College of Education for Girls in Riyadh, in the literary sections, specialising in Islamic studies, in 1419/1420 AH, with distinction and honours, ranking first in the college. ² She then took her master's degree at the same college in the Prophetic hadith and its sciences; her thesis was a study and critical edition of part of Ibn Battal's commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, from the Book of the Virtues of Medina to the Book of Jihad. ^{3 1} She received her doctorate in hadith and its sciences from the same college in 1424 AH, with a study and critical edition of the Book of Adhan from Ibn Kathir's al-Ahkam al-Kubra. ^{3 1} Her official website dates the doctorate to 1424/1425 AH, while the Arabic Wikipedia article gives the thesis title in the form al-Ahkam al-Sughra; this article follows the form given by her website and the Saudi Encyclopedia. ^{3 2}

She was appointed a teaching assistant at the College of Education in Riyadh in 1419/1420 AH, then a lecturer in 1424 AH, an assistant professor in 1425 AH, an associate professor at Princess Nourah University in 1432 AH, and a full professor in the Department of Islamic Studies (hadith and its sciences) at the university's College of Arts in 1435 AH. ^{2 3 1}

Her memberships and posts include the committee for developing hadith curricula in general-education schools, and advisory membership of the mosque administration, the Al-Emaar foundation and the Qur'an memorisation society. ² She was a member of the board of trustees of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue from 1435 to 1439 AH. ³ In 2009 she became a certified family-dialogue consultant at the same centre, in 2010 she was accredited as a trainer by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, she taught as a cooperating professor at the National Guard's nursing college, and she also taught at King Saud University, Prince Sultan University and Al Yamamah College. ¹

She received the Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Prize for the Sunnah, its sciences and contemporary Islamic studies in 1427 AH, for her research on women's rights in the Sunnah, and the Princess Nourah University award for research excellence in 1438 AH. ³

She has taken part in conferences and scholarly meetings inside Saudi Arabia and abroad, including conferences in Casablanca and Marrakesh in Morocco, a conference in Canada where she presented a paper on women's rights in Islam, and a conference at Cairo University on the Prophetic biography. ^{3 1}

She gives a weekly lesson explaining the Names of God, and radio programmes on women's rights and family affairs, among them the programme "Nawafidh Usariyya" (Family Windows). ² Her lectures, as her biography article lists them, include an explanation of the Book of Tawhid, an explanation of al-Tajrid al-Sarih (a compendium of Sahih al-Bukhari), and lectures on raising children, on the hijab, and "Ramadan... the Opportunity of a Lifetime". ² She has published articles, a number of which the article lists, on family, society and women. ² The Arabic Wikipedia article's external links point to her official website, her Twitter account, her Facebook page and her own YouTube channel. ²

In 2012 she founded the Ithra' al-Ma'rifa endowment in Riyadh, which the academic study describes as a pious endowment offering programmes for women's cultural and social progress, and courses in memorising the Qur'an and preserving the Prophet's legacy. ⁴ She chairs the board of trustees of the Ithra' al-Ma'rifa limited endowment company, according to her official website, and is the general supervisor of the Ithra' al-Ma'rifa centre for educational and pedagogical consultancy, according to the Saudi Encyclopedia. ^{3 1}

Her books, as the sources list them, include: "Women's Rights in the Light of the Prophetic Sunnah", "Facilitation for Women in Hajj in the Light of the Prophetic Sunnah", "An Actual Programme for Repentance to God", "What After Hajj?", "The Believer's Stance toward Tribulations in the Light of the Hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr", and "Controls on Takfir in the Light of the Prophetic Sunnah". ² The Saudi Encyclopedia adds: "How Do You Strengthen Your Faith?", "How Do You Support Your Prophet", and a book on her series explaining the Names of God. ¹

This section sets out classifications and positions as they appear in the academic literature; it is not a verdict by the museum. Academic studies group university-educated Saudi women preachers under the category of "intellectual preachers" (da'iyat muthaqqafat); Pellegrino places these preachers, "in general", within the Wahhabi tradition, while noting that the preachers themselves do not adopt the labels their detractors assign them in the debate over women's roles. ⁴ The study summarises an article she published on her website in 2012, titled "The Great Lie", in which she holds that the difference between men and women is foundational in creation, that rights and duties rest upon it, and that a demand for an equality that erases this difference departs from justice and approaches injustice. ⁴ The study also records that in 2014 she threatened to sue those who accused her of belonging to the Ikhwan current and linked her to the Muslim Brotherhood. ⁴

She has been counted among the most important and most prominent women preachers in Saudi Arabia and beyond, with work inside the Kingdom and outside it. ^{1 2} The academic study published in 2020 reported that her followers on Twitter exceeded four and a half million; such figures belong to the time of the study's publication and change constantly. ⁴

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.