Salman al-Ouda
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Salman al-Ouda (Arabic: سلمان العودة ) or more fully Salman bin Fahd al-Ouda ( سلمان بن Ùهد العودة ) is a Saudi cleric. His surname is sometimes rendered as al-Oadah or al-Awdah. The title al-Sheikh ( الشيخ ) is often prepended to his name, as is customary for any Muslim religious scholar.
Recordings of al-Ouda's sermons are widely distributed in the Middle East and on the internet[1]. In addition, al-Ouda is director of the Arabic edition of the website Islam Today[2]. The deputy director is his longtime close affiliate and fellow Saudi, Safir bin Abdur-Rahman al-Hawali ( سÙر بن عبدالرØمن الØوالي ) of Jeddah. But al-Ouda's notoriety in the West is due to his longstanding affiliation with, and endorsement from, Sunni terrorists.
In the 1990's al-Ouda and al-Hawali were imprisoned for several years by the Saudi government, partly for their opposition to the participation of Western forces in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq[3]. Their imprisonment was condemned by Osama bin Ladin in his 1996 "declaration of war" fatwa (see fatÄwÄ of Osama bin Laden). Tape recordings of some of al-Ouda's sermons were found in a residence of bin Ladin in Afghanistan after the 2001 ouster of the Taliban regime. In 2004 it emerged that bin Ladin wanted Saddam Hussein's regime to broadcast al-Ouda's sermons in Iraq[4]. Al-Ouda and al-Hawali were among the 26 Saudi scholars who signed a fatwa or open letter in November 2004 endorsing violent resistance in Iraq[5]. Both were also identified in the first World Trade Center trial as spiritual advisors to bin Ladin[6]. Reports in El Mundo and Corriere della Sera allege that the Madrid train bomber Rabei Osman Ahmed was a follower of, and was paid by, Salman al-Ouda[4].
In 2005 a senior al-Qaeda member in Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Muhammad Rashid al-Rashoud, fell out with al-Ouda and al-Hawali, accusing them of cowardice and apostasy[7], and then left for Iraq to join Zarqawi's organization[8][9]. Soon thereafter a statement by Zarqawi said that al-Rashoud had been killed by American bombing at Qa'im[7][9], near Syria, but what actually happened to him is uncertain.
Al-Ouda disapproved of the Riyadh Compound Bombings of 2003, causing some militant writers, such as Abdullah bin Nasir al-Rashid and Abdul-Aziz bin Salih al-Jarbu, to renounce and condemn al-Ouda[10]. Al-Ouda now gets no mention on al-Qaeda's Tawhed website, and none in the as-Sahab propaganda, and only tangential mention in the recent Militant Ideology Atlas[10] from the American military.
[edit] External links
- Civil complaint against al-Ouda and many others; contains information on his activities, associations, and policies
- 2006 photograph of al-Ouda, from Islam Online
[edit] References
- ^ Audio recordings of al-Ouda's sermons (Arabic)
- ^ Islam Today (Arabic)
- ^ Washington Post, May 7, 2006
- ^ a b Weekly Standard, March 24, 2006
- ^ Fatwa of the 26 Saudis, in English
- ^ Washington Post, October 2, 2003
- ^ a b Report of death of al-Rashoud, Arab News 24 June 2005, mentions his conflict with al-Ouda
- ^ Arab News, June 24, 2005
- ^ a b Al-Watan (KSA), June 24, 2005
- ^ a b USMA Militant Ideology Atlas, p. 54 and p. 283
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ouda, Salman al- |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | N/A |
| PLACE OF DEATH | N/A |
