Education
He has been called a member of the “al-Shu’aybi school”, named after his teacher, the cleric Hamoud al-Aqla al-Shuebi.
He has been called a member of the “al-Shu’aybi school”, named after his teacher, the cleric Hamoud al-Aqla al-Shuebi.
He was arrested in 2003. 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. His taped sermons and religious decrees are reported to have influenced many young people in Saudi-Arabia.
He was arrested in May 2003 in Madinah, Saudi-Arabia following the May 2003 suicide bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh 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 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's response would be "as great as the sheik's high standing with us". 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, Mansour al-Naqeedan and Abdullah Abusamh infidels.
