RIYADH, 15 December 2003 — Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaldi, known for his extremist views, has become the third religious scholar to recant his fatwas encouraging terrorism.
In a pre-recorded interview aired on Saudi Arabian Television Saturday night, Al-Khaldi said his edicts sanctioning armed resistance against the police and intelligence officers were based on “wrong assumptions”.
Al-Khaldi, notorious for exercising “takfir” or pronouncing other Muslims heretics or infidels, said he had used his time in jail for soul-searching and was convinced his old fatwas and ideology were wrong. “It was an inspiration from God to return to the right path,” he said.
The sheikh called on the terrorists and other hard-liners to “put down your weapons and forsake your extreme and destructive ideas.”
“They should not begin where others have ended,” he told Sheikh Ayed Al-Qarni in the television studio. He said terrorist attacks and bloodshed in the country tarnished the image of Islam.
He said the “takfiriyeen” — those given to “takfir” — had reached a dead end. They were usually “religious students who feel that some senior religious scholars are not sufficiently qualified, and that confuses them.”
Al-Khaldi said he was “deeply moved” when he heard about the explosion in the Al-Muhaya compound on Nov. 8 which left 17 people dead. “I was shocked to see how easily Muslim blood was spilt,” he said. However, he did not mention anything about the May 12 terrorist attacks on three Western compounds.
The sheikh said no pressure was put on him by Saudi authorities to recant.
Al-Khaldi was arrested along with Sheikh Nasser Al-Fahd and Sheikh Ali Al-Khudair after they urged Saudis not to cooperate with security forces trying to track down suspects behind the May bombings in Riyadh. All three have now recanted.
