JEDDAH, 21 June 2003 — Interior Minister Prince Naif has called on religious scholars to pay more attention to the young and use their sermons to educate them on the true path of Islam.

He said imams, preachers, ulema, intellectuals, university professors and school teachers must engage the young in useful discussion to correct any misconceptions in their minds and inoculate them against subversive ideas. The minister was receiving the families of dozens of Saudis detained by US authorities at Guantanamo, Cuba, on suspicion of having links to Al-Qaeda.

The Saudi detainees, who number more than 100, as well as others from different nationalities were arrested in Afghanistan by the American forces following the ouster of the Taleban regime.

Prince Naif assured the families the government would do everything in its power to ensure the release of their loved ones.

He said more should be done to stop young Saudis joining militant groups after last month’s devastating suicide bombings in Riyadh and the bloody gun battle in Makkah. Parents must keep a closer watch on their children and report suspect behavior, the prince added. “We must take care of ourselves, our sons and our families so nobody can manipulate them. If we let our sons’ minds be filled with wrong ideas, it means we have neglected them.”

Many of the relatives of suspected Saudi militants say they had no idea their sons could have been involved. One man attending the meeting said his nephew left for neighboring Bahrain some time ago without explanation. The next his family heard from him was a letter posted from the US military prison in Guantanamo.

Prince Naif urged families of the detainees to come forward and speak with the authorities regarding their sons. “None of you should hesitate to speak to us, or come to us ... if a son or a brother is missing.”

He said young men who joined the ranks of Al-Qaeda were less guilty than the preachers or senior fighters who convinced them to take up arms. He warned that anyone found inciting the young or driving them to acts not in conformity with Islamic teachings would be brought to justice. “Whoever drove them to these convictions is more dangerous than them and the greater criminal,” he said.

At Friday sermons in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah the imams of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque slammed the “heinous crime” committed by a group of terrorists in Makkah last week, which resulted in the killing of two police officers and five members of the group and the discovery of huge quantities of weapons and explosives.

Imams throughout the Kingdom condemned the incident as unacceptable and urged the authorities to take the necessary measures to end such activities and punish those behind them.

The imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Sheikh Osama Khayat, said no true Muslim would condone what happened in Makkah and earlier in Riyadh, where innocent lives were lost and the security and peace of people shattered.

“This is a terrorist act that neither God nor the Prophet nor any good Muslim would accept. To commit such a crime in the holiest place on earth adds to the gravity of the act, and it must be rejected by everyone. Those individuals have turned Makkah into a haven for manufacturing and stashing of weapons and other means of destruction. They went further in their plot and booby-trapped copies of the Holy Qur’an to cause death by targeting anyone coming close to the Holy Book,” the imam said.

In Madinah, Sheikh Abdul Bari Al-Thubaiti, who led Friday prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque, said Islam rejects any kind of violence and aggression and that the incidents that took place in Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah were a great sin.

“One stands perplexed before this chain of sad events that has not spared the holiest places, where everyone should feel safe and secure,” Al-Thubaiti said.

“Islam totally rejects all such acts where sacred places are desecrated and innocent people killed and threatened. Those behind such acts are driven by deviant thoughts that should not be allowed to flourish in this sacred land,” he added.