Abdullah al-Muhaysini (Arabic: عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱلمُحَيْسِنِي, romanized: ʿAbdallāh al-Muḥaysinī), is a Saudi Arabian Salafi cleric who is known for having served as a religious judge in the Army of Conquest in the Syrian Civil War.
[citation needed] Since his arrival in Syria in 2013, Muhaysini actively served as a preacher and judge, delivering sermons in local mosques, issuing religious verdicts and counseling Islamic groups.
Working independently, Muhaysini has good ties to a great range of Islamic factions in Syria, which enables him to intervene in conflicts and settle on resolutions.
[3][2][4] The U.S. Department of State identified Madid Ahl al-Sham as a "fundraising campaign that was suspected of sending funds to violent extremist elements in Syria.
[29] Muhaysini called himself a "national symbol" according to Syrians and expressed his "shock"" at being declared a terrorist by the United States Treasury when he spoke to The New York Times.
[31][non-primary source needed] In October 2016, Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak interviewed Muhaysini, praising Turkey for its role in Syria and denouncing Iran.
[36] In August 2015, Abdullah Al-Muhaysini praised the Turkistan Islamic Party fighters in their attacks against the "Nusayris" of Assad's army (Alawites).
[37] At the end of 2015, the Turkistan Islamic Party released a video titled "A Message to the Turkestanis" (رسالة الى التركستانيين) featuring Abdullah Al-Muhaysini, an Al-Qaeda cleric of Saudi origin.
[40] At the end of 2015, the Turkistan Islamic Party released a new video titled "Importance of Martyrdom Operations in Our Current Time" (أهمية العمليات الإستشهادية في زمننا الحاضر) (زامانىمىزدىكى پىدائىيلىق ئەمەلىيىتىنىڭ ئەھمىيىتى) by Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
[50][51] The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria released "Blessed Are the Strangers #6" featuring a speech by Hasan Mahsum, as well as by Army of Conquest leader Abdullah al-Muhaysini and fellow scholar Abdurazak al Mahdi at the start of 2017.
[55] Muhaysini, Abu Taher Al Hamawi, and Abdelrazzak Mehdi worked on the formation of the group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in January 2017.
[57][58] Attendance at a speech by Moheiseni was manipulated by drawing IDP impoverished people with promises of motorbikes and refrigerators through a raffle by HTS.
[66][better source needed] In 2016, virgins whose spit would allegedly sweeten oceans in the afterlife were promised by Muhaysini to fighters before preparing for battle in Aleppo.
[69] In late 2016, Muhaysini released a video of himself congratulating a Saudi boy from Buraidah he was going to send off to be a suicide bomber, telling his mother that he would go to paradise and be rewarded with virgins, according to MEMRI.
[72][non-primary source needed] On 9 June 2017, he was one of 69 individuals designated by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain that have financed terrorist organizations and received support from Qatar.