Abdul Somad Batubara (born 18 May 1977) is an Indonesian

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

, scholar and motivator from Asahan,

North Sumatra North Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It borders Aceh to the northwest, Riau to the sou ...

. He served as a lecturer at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II State Islamic University (UIN Suska) in

Riau Riau (Jawi script, Jawi: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including s ...

. In addition to his lectures, he has authored books, including translations of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

publications, and religious guides on subjects such as Qurbani and

Salah ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...

. Somad's often controversial views has resulted in him being considered ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'' in various countries, and he along with his supporters has been accused of being engaged with

Islamic extremism Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...

Background

Abdul Somad was born on 18 May 1977 in Silo Lama, a village in

Asahan Regency Asahan Regency is a regency in North Sumatra Province of Indonesia. Following the creation of the new Batubara Regency (which was carved out of Asahan Regency on 15 June 2007), the regency now covers an area of 3,732.97 square kilometres; it had ...

, as the son of Bakhtiar and Rohana. From the mother's side, he is descended from Sheikh Abdurrahman, nicknamed Tuan Syekh Silau Laut I, a Sufi scholar of the

Shattari The Shattari or Shattariyya are members of a tariqah, Sufi order that originated in Safavid Iran in the fifteenth century and developed, completed, and codified in India. Later, secondary branches were taken to the Hejaz and to Indonesia. The ...

Order who was born in Rao, Batu Bara. He is descended from

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see bel ...

immigrants whose ancestors came from Mudik Tampang, Rao, Pasaman. Abdul Somad rose to prominence primarily due to YouTube and social media in a time of rapid growing internet users in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. He is well known for his humorous rhetoric in delivering

dawah ' (, , "invitation", also spelt , , , or ) is the act of inviting people to Islam. The plural is () or (). Preachers who engage in dawah are known as da'i. Etymology literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation". Gramma ...

. His views of Islam is considered to be

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

and objective with his lectures encompassing literal topics on

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

and

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

Controversies

Islamic views

In an October 2017 video posted on the Islamic-oriented YouTube channel Fodamara TV, Abdul Somad attracted controversy for stating that Muslims who shop or buy at coffee shops owned by

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

would go to hell due to the company's pro-

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

policies. The video went viral in March 2018 with many online mocking the preacher for being hypocritical, noting that many of the platforms that Somad uses to spread his message such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have similar pro-LGBT policies like Starbucks. In 2019, Somad was reported to police for delivering a speech in which he denounced the

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

, and stated that any Muslim dying in a hospital with crucifixes would be sent to

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

because the crucifix contained a

jinn Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam. Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...

, a supernatural creature believed to exist by pre-Islamic Arabian tribes and Muslims. Somad was also affiliated with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). The latter organization was eventually banned by the Indonesian government due to radicalism as well.

COVID-19 pandemic

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, in one of his sermons, Somad claimed that the virus causing it is the "soldier of Allah" that was sent to protect the Uyghur Muslims from Chinese repression. He stated that Uyghur Muslims are not infected by the virus because they perform

wudu ''Wuduʾ'' ( ) is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The steps of wudu are washing the hands, rinsing the mouth and nose, washing the face, then the forearms, then wiping the head, ...

regularly. After the pandemic entered Indonesia, and some of the Muslims living there caught the disease and died because of it, including Tengku Zulkarnain, an Indonesian

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

who Somad considered as his teacher, Somad changed his stance, claiming that every Muslim who dies due to the pandemic are considered

Shahid ''Shahid'' ( , , ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); the latter sense acq ...

, and asserted that his previous claim that said the virus is the "soldier of Allah" is just of one of the many interpretations, and it would be wrong if people think that it is just the only interpretation.

Banned from various countries

Somad had been refused entry to several countries such as East Timor, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany. On 16 May 2022, Somad, accompanied with six individuals came to Singapore, claiming to be on holiday purpose, but his entry was denied and he was deported to

Batam Batam, officially the City of Batam (, not to be confused with ''Batam Kota'', a kecamatan, district within this city), is the largest List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. The city administra ...

on the same day. Singapore's

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

(MHA) cited his past "extremist and segregationist" preachings as the reason for the government's refusal to let him enter the country. The MHA added that Somad, in the past, had preached that suicide bombings are legitimate in the context of the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israelis (; ) are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jews and Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percent and 20 percent of the national figure, followed by other ethnic and ...

, and are considered "

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...

" operations; and he has also made comments denigrating members of other faiths, such as Christians, by describing the Christian crucifix as the dwelling place of an "

infidel An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person who is accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or irreligious people. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which th ...

jinn (spirit/demon)". Somad then reacted in a video, claiming that "Singapore actually belongs to the Malays", and that

Singaporeans Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

of other races are just immigrants there. He added, "In the future, God willing, the time will come, perhaps in the era of our grandchildren, the ones who will be in power are the Malays and that country shall be conquered back, so they will feel the pain, impudent!" He also remarked that if "all Indonesians take a piss together and channel it towards Singapore, the island will sink". His supporters spammed the social media accounts of various Singapore's political leaders and governmental organizations, with several threatening to wage a repetition of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

on Singapore. Somad also added that he would not "give up" in trying to visit Singapore.

Claiming music as a medium for Satan's entry

In a video recording of one of his sermons, Somad said: "

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

enters through the ear into the heart via music; the songs that we often hear will be stuck in our ears, and when we go to sleep

he devil The Seven Devils Mountains are notable peaks in the western United States, located in west central Idaho in the Hells Canyon Wilderness. They are above the east bank of the Snake River, which forms the Idaho-Oregon border. The Seven Devils are ...

comes, so don't listen to music." However, another video emerged in which Somad, accompanied by a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, sang Bila Tiba by Pasha Ungu.

Wikipedia edits

On 16 June 2022, Somad stated that Wikipedia published defamatory information that are harmful to him. Somad claimed that his Wikipedia article called him an extremist and he had allowed suicide bombing. Somad claimed that his cyber team had attempted to change the article, but the changes are rejected by Wikipedia and his changes are undone.

Personal life

Somad married Mellya Juniarti in 2012. The couple divorced in 2019. In 2021, he married Fatimah Az Zahra Salim Barabud. He has two children, one from his earlier marriage, and the second from his present one.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somad, Abdul Minangkabau people 1977 births 21st-century Muslim scholars of Islam Indonesian Muslim missionaries Mandailing people Indonesian people of Malay descent Living people Sunni clerics People from Pekanbaru Al-Azhar University alumni Omdurman Islamic University alumni Indonesian YouTubers Anti-Chinese sentiment in Indonesia Anti-Christian sentiment in Indonesia Far-right politics in Indonesia