Sheikh Ali al-Khudair
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Sheikh Ali al-Khudair (Arabic: شيخ علي الخُضير, transliteration: Sheikh ’Ali al-Khuḍayr), also known as Sheikh Ali bin al-Khudair, or Ali bin al-Khudayr is a well-known and influential Saudi Arabian cleric and scholar. He was arrested in 2003.
[edit] Before his 2003 arrest
According to Michael Scott Doran in Foreign Affairs [1] Sheikh Ali al-Khudair "is known as a leader of the takfiri-jihadi stream of Islamic radicalism -- that is, as someone quick to engage in takfir, the practice of proclaiming fellow Sunnis guilty of apostasy (a crime punishable by death)."
Sheikh Ali al-Khudair had issued fatwas against several Saudi-Arabian thinkers, among them Turki al-Hamad, Mansour al-Naqeedan and Abdullah Abusamh declaring them as infidel. [2]
His taped sermons and religious decrees are reported to have influenced many young people in Saudi-Arabia. [3]
[edit] Arrest, 2003, and afterwards
He was arrested in 2003 in Madinah, Saudi-Arabia for supporting terrorist attacks.
Days after his arrest, an Islamist Web site posted a message from Osama bin Laden warning the Saudi government not to harm the cleric. Bin Laden described al-Khudair as "our most prominent supporter" and cautioned that if he was hurt, al-Qaieda's response would be "as great as the sheik's high standing with us", this according to Mohamad Bazzi [4]
In an interview with Saudi television Sheikh al-Khudair withdrew the fatwas he had issued declaring Turki al-Hamad, Mansour al-Naqeedan and Abdullah Abusamh as infidel, this according to Ain-al-Yaqeen in 2003,
[edit] References
- [5] Michael Scott Doran in Foreign Affairs
- "Sheikh Nasser Ibn Hamad al-Fahd withdraws several fatwas ...", Ain al-Yaqeen, November 28, 2003
- Mohamad Bazzi
