Ali al-Khudair ( ar, علي الخُضير, translit=’Ali al-Khuḍayr, also known as Ali bin al-Khudair, or Ali bin al-Khudayr) is a
Saudi Arabian
Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...
thinker and scholar. He was arrested in 2003. He has been called a member of the “al-Shu’aybi school”, named after his teacher,
Hamoud al-Aqla al-Shuebi.
Before his 2003 arrest
Ali al-Khudair had issued
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
s against several Saudi-Arabian thinkers, among them
Turki al-Hamad
Turki al-Hamad ( ar, تركي الحمد, ) is a Saudi Arabian political analyst, journalist, and novelist, best known for his trilogy about the coming-of-age of Hisham al-Abir, a Saudi Arabian teenager, the first installment of which, ''Adama'', ...
, Mansour al-Naqeedan and Abdullah Abusamh declaring them as infidel.
[
His taped sermons and religious decrees are reported to have influenced many young people in Saudi-Arabia.
After the ]9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
on New York and Washington DC, he issued a fatwa calling on his followers to rejoice in the attacks and listed American "crimes" that justified the attacks "killing and displacing Muslims, aiding the Muslims' enemies against them, spreading secularism, forcefully imposing blasphemy on peoples and states, and persecuting the mujahideen."[the saudi paradox]
Michael Scott Doran , Foreign Affairs , January/February 2004
Arrest, 2003, and afterwards
He was arrested in May 2003 in Madinah
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
, Saudi-Arabia following the May 2003 suicide bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
that killed 34 people.[ According to Ain-al-Yaqeen he was one of three scholars who had issuing a fatwa `that declared the killing of security personnel during confrontations "halal" or permissible.`][ Two other scholars arrested were Nasser al-Fahd, and Ahmad Al-Khaledi.][
Days after his arrest, an Islamist Web site posted a message from ]Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
warning the Saudi government not to harm the cleric. Bin Laden described al-Khudair as "our most prominent supporter" and according to ''Mohamad Bazzi'', cautioned that if he was hurt, Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
's response would be "as great as the sheik's high standing with us".tharwa project
''Mohamad Bazzi'', dead link
According to Ain-al-Yaqeen, in November 2003 interview with Saudi television, al-Khudair
"recanted and condemned the suicide bombings which took place in Riyadh" and withdrew
the fatwas he had issued declaring Turki al-Hamad
Turki al-Hamad ( ar, تركي الحمد, ) is a Saudi Arabian political analyst, journalist, and novelist, best known for his trilogy about the coming-of-age of Hisham al-Abir, a Saudi Arabian teenager, the first installment of which, ''Adama'', ...
, Mansour al-Naqeedan and Abdullah Abusamh infidels, which was later proven to be false..["Sheikh Nasser Ibn Hamad al-Fahd withdraws several fatwas ..."]
, ''Ain al-Yaqeen'', November 28, 2003
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khudair, Ali
Saudi Arabian Islamists
Saudi Arabian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Saudi Arabian prisoners and detainees
Living people
Critics of Shia Islam
Year of birth missing (living people)