Habib Rizieq yang bernama lengkap Muhammad Rizieq bin Hussein Shihab (lahir di Jakarta, 24 Agustus 1965; umur 51 tahun)[1] adalah seorang tokoh Islam Indonesia yang dikenal sebagai pemimpin organisasi Front Pembela Islam. Lahir di Jakarta pada tanggal 24 Agustus 1965. Ayahnya Habib Husein bin Muhammad Shihab dan ibunya Syarifah Sidah Alatas. Ayahnya meninggal semenjak ia masih berumur 11 bulan, dan semenjak itulah Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab tidak dididik di pesantren. Namun sejak berusia empat tahun, is sudah rajin mengaji di masjid-masjid. Ibunya yang sekaligus berperan sebagai bapak dan bekerja sebagai penjahit pakaian serta perias pengantin, sangat memperhatikan pendidikan Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab dan satu anaknya yang lain.Setelah lulus SD, Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab masuk ke SMP Pejompongan, Jakarta Pusat. Ternyata jarak sekolah dengan rumahnya di Petamburan, juga di Jakarta Pusat, terlalu jauh. Ia pun kemudian dipindahkan ke sekolah yang lebih dekat dengan tempat tinggalnya, SMP Kristen Bethel Petamburan. Lulus SMA, Habib Rizieq meneruskan studinya di King Saudi University, Arab Saudi, yang diselesaikan dalam waktu empat tahun dengan predikat cum-laude. Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab pernah kuliah untuk mengambil S2 di Malaysia, tetapi hanya setahun.
Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab mendeklarasikan berdirinya Front Pembela Islam (FPI) tanggal 17 Agustus 1998. Front Pembela Islam (FPI) adalah sebuah organisasi massa Islam yang berpusat di Jakarta. Selain beberapa kelompok internal, yang disebut oleh FPI sebagai sayap juang, FPI memiliki kelompok Laskar Pembela Islam, kelompok paramiliter dari organisasi tersebut yang kontroversial karena melakukan aksi-aksi "penertiban" (sweeping) terhadap kegiatan-kegiatan yang dianggap maksiat atau bertentangan dengan syariat Islam terutama pada masa Ramadan dan seringkali berujung pada kekerasan.
FPI mulai dikenal sejak terjadi Peristiwa Ketapang, Jakarta, 22 November 1998, sekitar 200 anggota massa FPI bentrok dengan ratusan preman. Bentrokan bernuansa suku, agama, ras, antargolongan ini mengakibatkan beberapa rumah warga dan rumah ibadah terbakar serta menewaskan sejumlah orang. Pada tanggal 30 Oktober 2008 Habib Muhammad Rizieq Shihab divonis 1,5 tahun penjara karena dinyatakan bersalah terkait penyerangan terhadap massa Aliansi Kebangsaan untuk Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan atau AKKBB pada peristiwa Insiden Monas 1 Juni.
Muhammad Rizieq Shihab (Arabic: محمّد رزق شهاب , translit. Muḥammad Rizq Šihāb; Arabic pronunciation: [(ʔ)mʊˈħæmmæd rizq ʃihaːb]) also known as Habib Rizieq (born in Jakarta, August 24, 1965) is an Indonesian Islamic scholar, activist, the founder and the mastermind behind the Islamic Defenders Front (Arabic: الجبهة الدفاعة الاسلميه; Indonesian: Front Pembela Islam, abbreviated as FPI). Rizieq was born in Jakarta on August 24, 1965 to Husein bin Shihab and Syarifah sidah Alatas. Both his parents were Arab Indonesians of mixed Hadhrami and Betawi blood heritage. His father was Sayyid Husayn, born in around 1920, a cofounder of Panda Arab Movement, a kind of boy scouts movement for Arab Indonesians[3] founded with his friends in 1937 (which later transformed to become PII or Islamic Scouting Organization of Indonesia.) His father died in 1966 when Rizieq was 11 months old, and because of that Rizieq was not put in boarding school. Starting at the tender age of 4, he continues to be diligent in reading Koran at mosques. As a single parent, his mother worked as a tailor and bridal makeup artist. Rizieq is a Sayyid with his family Shihab (or Shihabuddin Aal bin Husein) lineage traces back to Imam 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib through Imam Ahmad al-Muhajir. Meanwhile, his wife is also of Sayyid family from Aal bin Yahya.
After graduating from SDN 1 (Public Elementary School No.1) Petamburan, Tanah Abang, Jakarta in 1975, Muhammad Rizieq continued his middle school at SMP 40 (Public Middle School No.40) in Pejompongan in 1976, Central Jakarta, but it turned out the school was too far from his residence. He then transferred to a school closer to his home, the Bethel Christian Middle School in Petamburan, and graduated in 1979. He continued his high school at SMAN 4 in Gambir, but graduated his high school from Islamic Village High school in Tangerang in 1982. Furthermore, he took Arabic class at LIPIA in Jakarta. Considered by neighbors to be a troublesome youth with a penchant for getting into fighting, his family sent Rizieq to Saudi Arabia in 1990 to continue his study at King Saud University, majoring in Usul al-fiqh and Education, which he completed in four years with Cum Laude.
Muhammad Rizieq Shihab took some graduate program at International Islamic University Malaysia, but only for one year and went back to Indonesia before he could finished it. This was due to the problem with his scholarship, where the scholarship's fund was intended for himself, not his whole family to stay in Malaysia. Later time, he was able to continue his education and earned MA degree in Shariah from the same university[8] in 2008 with thesis entitled "Pengaruh Pancasila terhadap Pelaksanaan Syariat Islam di Indonesia'" (The Influence of Pancasila on the implementation of Islamic Laws in Indonesia). After some time, he returned to Malaysia to continue his post-graduate study in shariah. He later earned his doctoral degree in Shariah from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) with dissertation titled "مناهج التميز بين الأصول والفروع عند أهل السنة والجماعة" (The Distinction of origins and branches of Ahl Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah) under supervision of Prof. Dr. Kamaluddin Nurdin Marjuni.
