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

, 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)