Shehri's father, Ali Bin Jaber Al-Shehri, told Okaz in September that his son had accused him of being an “infidel” before he left for Yemen, a position described by Saleh Bin Muhammad Al-Wunayyan, Professor of Sunnah at Al-Qassim University, as a “great sin and criminal offense”. “Islam forbids a Muslim from accusing his Muslim brother of unbelief. Such a thing is evidence of disobedience to parents and corrupts mankind,” Al-Wunayyan told Okaz Sunday. According to the professor, Al-Shehri's branding of the government as infidel opposes Muslim consensus, and that “no one would listen to this deviant group which disguised themselves in women's clothes and stopped praying in mosque congregations”. “Ironically, they allow acts like these which are absolutely against the principles of the true Islamic Teachings and Prophet's Traditions,” Al-Wunayyan said. “People are stupid to believe in such contradictions which have no roots in Islam.” Al-Wunayyan also urged Muslims not to respond to calls from Al-Qaeda in Yemen for funding. “Muslims are fully aware of the ill intentions of this deviant group which would spend the money on killing innocent people, so anyone who donates to them will be committing an unforgivable sin,” he said. “Al-Shehri is a criminal, as shown in his disobeying the ruler and fleeing to Yemen and abducting two children unrelated to him, thereby exposing the lives of innocent children to danger.” Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Khudairi, a judge at the Court of Cassation in Riyadh, said that many scholars such as Ibn Taymiya and imams Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Abu Hanifa and Al-Shafe'ee, said that judging a Muslim to be an apostate should only be conducted through the judiciary and supported with evidence. “Such a judgment must be in accordance with all judiciary conditions,” Judge Al-Khudairi said. “Allah in His Book ordered Muslims to be kind to their parents even if they are infidels. Calling someone an infidel is intended as an insult, which is a major sin when it comes out from a son to his father,” the judge said. “The son judged his father without knowledge and committed several crimes. He committed takfeer, he was ungrateful to his father (disobedience), he lied about the Shariah (by judging someone to be an infidel) and produced fatwas without having the knowledge required.”
