Official - Saudi mosques cannot be used to spread extremism

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Mosques in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to preach extremism or recruit for Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, a senior member of the Saudi religious establishment said Sunday.

Young Arabs, including Saudis, should not obey bin Laden's militant Islamic message because the world's most wanted man does not have the qualifications to speak in the name of Islam, Tawfeeq al-Sediry, deputy minister of Islamic affairs, told The Associated Press.

"A man like him, who has specialized in business administration and economics, may be pious, may love Islam or may be generally familiar with Islam, but that does not qualify him to issue edicts and talk about big issues that determine the destiny of people," said al-Sediry.

Al-Sediry insists the 15 Saudi hijackers who were among the 19 Arabs who carried out the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States were not a product of Saudi schools and mosques but were indoctrinated in Afghanistan by unlicensed clergymen.

Islam and the way it is practiced in the Arab world, especially in Saudi Arabia, came under scrutiny following the attacks. Bin Laden, the main suspect in the attacks, has called on Muslims to rise against the West in defense of Islam.

Some in the United States have blamed Saudi Arabia's heavy religious environment, inspired by the ascetic teachings of an 18th century clergyman called Muhammad Ibn Abdel-Wahhab, for breeding the likes of bin Laden and the 15 hijackers.