BURAIDAH, 23 November 2003 — Sheikh Nasser ibn Hamad Al-Fahd has recanted and withdrawn his controversial fatwas, describing them as “a grave mistake” in an interview broadcast yesterday.
Fahd was the second Saudi scholar detained for promoting militancy this year who took to the airwaves to renounce his support for militants and condemn terrorist attacks.
Fahd, 35, is one of three scholars arrested in Madinah last May following the Riyadh bombings for issuing fatwas declaring killing security personnel during confrontations “halal” or permissible.
He had also ruled against giving information to security forces about the 19 suspects announced by the Ministry of the Interior a week before the May 12 bombing. The other two were Ali Al-Khudair, who recanted on Saudi TV last Monday, and Ahmad Al-Khaledi.
Al-Fahd was first arrested in 1995 following events in Buraidah along with several other religious scholars. He remained in prison for more than three years.
Al-Fahd said he requested the interview of his own accord after being “shocked” by the suicide bombing at a Riyadh housing compound this month which killed 18 people, mostly Arabs.
He said the attack was a sin and the bombers were not martyrs because they violated Islam by killing both Muslims and non-Muslims who were under the protection of the state, murdering women and children, harming security and property, distorting the image of jihad (holy war) and Islam.
“Blowing oneself up in such operations is not martyrdom, it is suicide. How can they kill Muslims, innocent people, and destroy property in the home of Islam?
“We did not think matters would reach this point ... My message is: Fear God and stop shedding blood. Fear God and repent your mistakes. It is not shameful to admit mistakes,” he said in the interview conducted by Dr. Ayed Al-Qarni.
