Saudi Arabia religious leaders call terrorism financing un-Islamic

Al Azhar got there first

For one thing, Al-Azhar University in Egypt, one of the oldest and most respected Islamic institutions in the world, already holds this opinion, says Ayman Khalil, a researcher at the Arab Institute for Security Studies in Amman, Jordan.

“This is not a new position. It has always been on the agenda for Islamic scholars,” he says. “This has always been the understanding among moderate Muslims, the large majority of Muslims.”

Until the Sept. 11 attacks – which were conducted by a majority of Saudi nationals – the Saudi kingdom had been more tolerant of militant groups abroad, allowing funding to flow from Saudi charities to groups like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Since then, the Saudi leadership has taken a harder line, not least because of US pressure and Al Qaeda's repeated attacks on the monarchy.

"There is a distinction between the jihadi activities at home and jihadi activities abroad,” says Mai Yamani, an independent British academic who has written several books about Saudi Arabia.

Since 2003, when Al Qaeda bombings killed many Saudi civilians, most Saudis have been committed to stopping Al Qaeda-related violence. However, when it comes to funding militant groups in India- or Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, for instance, the line is much less clear. Many Saudis don't consider them terrorist organizations, and many clerics agree with them.

“People may try to justify [their support] and say, ‘This is not an act of terrorism. I am supporting the Muslims fighting the Indian occupation in Kashmir.’ … For them it’s sort of a religious duty to help their Muslim brothers,” says Jubeir. “But we’re saying, ‘No, you can’t, because once what these groups are doing is defined as acts of terrorism, you can’t do that anymore.’”

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