The Honored No. (33) Saria Al-Rifai

• He is Sariyah Abdul Karim Al-Rifa’i, a well-known Syrian Islamic preacher from Damascus.
• He was born in Damascus in 1948 and grew up with his brother Sheikh Osama under the care of their father, Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Rifa’i, the leader of the prominent group of Zayd bin Thabit.
• He graduated from the Faculty of Islamic Theology at Al-Azhar University.
• He earned his Master’s degree from there in 1977.
• He worked in the field of Islamic da’wah (call to Islam) and founded many charitable, beneficial, and social projects in Syria and abroad.
• Among the most important of these projects are the “Preservation of Blessings” project, the Zayd bin Thabit Center for the service of the Quran, the Da’wah Satellite Channel, the Excellence Project for orphan sponsorship, and the Zayd bin Thabit Charitable Foundation.
• He has wide popularity and a strong presence in Syrian society, particularly in Damascus.
• He worked as an imam, preacher, and teacher at the Zayd bin Thabit Mosque located on Khalid bin Al-Walid Street in the heart of Damascus.
• He is married and has six children: Yasser, Ammar, Omama, Bashar, Mohammed, and Ghufran.
• He founded his own business, “Al-Ghazali Library,” a well-known publishing house in Damascus, which has published thousands of religious and literary scientific works.
• He was one of the prominent scholars who took a stance in support of the Syrian revolution against the Assad regime, delivering notable sermons calling for the preservation of peaceful demonstrations and rejecting violence.
• He played a significant role in the success of the strike in Damascus on May 29, 2012, following the Houla massacre.
• He left Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2012, first going to Egypt and then to Turkey, where he settled.
• He is a member of the Association of Scholars of the Levant.
• He played an active role in supporting committees that gathered aid for thousands of Syrians inside Syria and in countries of displacement. He also opened over 45 educational schools in Eastern Ghouta and northern Syria. He was highly respected among the merchants in Damascus, as well as businessmen, who did not hesitate to support projects he endorsed and directed people towards.

At the Syrian Future Movement, and in recognition of its religious, social, and charitable history, as well as its support for the people in their revolution against oppression and tyranny, and in appreciation of the great figures of Syria and its prominent men, we present this week’s Syrian Future Movement shield to the Islamic preacher Sheikh “Sariyah Al-Rifa’i,” a symbolic Syrian shield that carries our vision and our inclusive national approach.