Muhannad Alazzeh’s intellectual predilections underwent a radical transformation after the growth of extremist religious movements following the events that swept the countries of the Arab region at the beginning of this century. These include the occupation of Iraq, the war on Gaza and the infiltration of these movements after the Arab Spring revolutions, and the control of totalitarian and sectarian regimes. Initially, he was moved by the teachings of the founder of the extremist Salafi thought of Sheikh Muhammad Nasir al-Din Al-Albani. However, later he took a leftist approach and became one of the prominent writers who provide an objective and critical reading of violent extremist intellectual and cultural heritage, especially from the point of view of women’s and children’s rights and religious minorities.
His weekly articles on the AmmanNet community media network website was attacked by the hard-line religious movement and its supporters. These articles deal with criticism, analysis of much discriminatory legislation, and behavioral phenomena based on extremist fundamentalist concepts.
In 2017, he participated in a long unannounced debate with 8 professors of Sharia and Islamic jurisprudence and representatives of various religious institutions after authoring a discussion on “Women’s Right to Inheritance in Jordanian Legislation: Requirements and Prospects for Change,” which was rejected for publication in Jordan. The debate was organized by the Jordanian National Committee for Women, and it was published on the website of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar. It was also published in English and on other websites. The research called for a review of the provisions of inheritance in the personal status laws in light of social changes and since women are active participants in the economy and sometimes are the breadwinners in the family. He based his claim on various legal evidence and bases in Sharia Law, including the analogy with what the second Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab said when he disputed a “zakah” for “those who bring hearts together for Islam,” even though it was stated definitively in the Holy Qur’an. Circumstances and conditions during Ibn Al-Khattab’s reign changed since the time of the revelation of the verse that granted them their share.
His criticism of Hamas in 2014 angered the movement’s supporters who attacked him fiercely on various social media sites. He described the movement as a pragmatic political movement that suffers from ideological duality and invests in religion to achieve authoritarian goals. It pushes conflict at times and resorts to peace at other times depending to its agendas and interests. It is also indifferent to the will of the people under its control in the Gaza Strip. He also strongly condemned the movement for using violence and abuse and for the elimination of its opponents, including Palestinians who belong to other movements and factions; the movement accused them of working without investigation or trial while the innocence of many of them was proven later.
Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh 