Saudi Sheikh Salman Al-Odah Issues Fatwa Allowing Cyber Vandalism

Salman Al-Odah Popular Saudi preacher Salman Al-Odah, who is currently supervisor of Islamtoday.net and of the Al-Dalil satellite channel, was one of the leaders of the radical Saudi Sahwa movement, and spent four years (1994-99) in prison due to his opposition to Saudi government policy during the 1990-91 Gulf War. In recent years, Al-Odah has moderated his views and has publicly rebuked Osama bin Laden. In 2012, he was ranked No 1 of the 100 most influential Arabs on Twitter, with 647,690 followers. Asked on October 31, 2008 about his view of hackers, whether groups or individuals, active in destroying infidel or Israeli websites or sites that attack Islam, Sheikh Al-Odah stated that doing so was acceptable if the websites targeted were un-Islamic. He recommended that hackers choose their targets carefully, and not base their choice merely on personal opinion. Saudi Sheikh Salman Al-Odah's fatwa Sources: Arabianbusiness.com, January 28, 2012; Brydah.com