Salman Al-Odah

Education

Born in December 1956 in the village of al-Basr, west of Buraydah, he spent six years at the Buraydah Scientific Institute before studying at the College of Sharia and Usul al-Din in Qassim, part of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University. He wrote his master's thesis on al-ghurba (estrangement) and its rulings, and his doctorate, supervised by Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, on a commentary of the chapter on purification in Bulugh al-Maram. His teachers included Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Sheikh Muhammad ibn Uthaymin, Sheikh Abdullah ibn Jibrin and Sheikh Salih al-Bulayhi.

The Sahwa and first imprisonment

He taught at the Buraydah Scientific Institute and then at the College of Sharia in Qassim, while his public lessons at Buraydah's main mosque drew large audiences. In the early 1990s he was one of the leading preachers of the Sahwa (Islamic Awakening) and took part in the petitions addressed to the king, including the 1992 Memorandum of Advice. Removed from his teaching post in 1993, he was arrested in 1994 with other figures of the movement and remained in prison until 1999.

Preaching and media

After his release he became general supervisor of the Islam Today group and website, presented many programmes, including Hajar al-Zawiya on MBC1 (2004–2009), Milad (2012) and Wasm (2015), and joined the board of trustees of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. In 2007 he publicly rebuked Osama bin Laden on television over the blood shed in al-Qaeda's name. His books include Al-Ghuraba' al-Awwalun (The First Strangers), Bunayyati (My Daughters), Shukran Ayyuha al-A'da' (Thank You, Enemies), Ma'a Allah (With God), Tufulat Qalb and a commentary on Bulugh al-Maram.

Detention since 2017

He was arrested in September 2017, shortly after the start of the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In September 2018 prosecutors sought the death penalty against him on 37 counts, including terrorism-related charges; his trial has been repeatedly postponed, and human rights organisations reported that he was still in detention in 2025.