Abdul Majeed al-Zindani

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Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani (Other spellings: Abdelmajid al-Zendani, Abdul Majeed Zendani, Abd Al Majid Zandani) (Arabic: عبد المجيد الزنداني ‎) is a Yemeni academic scholar and politician. He is a Professor of Islamic studies at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.^[1]

He is the founder and the former secretary-general of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia. He founded the Iman University in Sanaa, Yemen. Iman University aims to produce Muslims who understand and practice Islam in a way that will spread proper understanding of Islam. Sheikh Zindani spent his early college years in Egypt, where he was influenced by the Islamic Movements and devoted his life to Islamic endeavors. He was heavily involved in scientific research from an Islamic point of view, and has since gotten deeply involved in Yemeni politics.

Zindani serves as one of the leaders of the major Islamist opposition political party in Yemen, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-Islah) and is a member of the Yemeni Presidential Council.

In the photograph in this Al-Arabiya article from February of 2006, Zindani is the person in the foreground with the red beard.

In 2006 Zindani pressed charges against 21 newspapers and their editors in Yemen for printing the controversial Muhammad cartoons, originally printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-posten in 2005. The 25th of November 2006, the first case against the newspaper Al-Rai Al-A'm closed with al-Zidani winning the case. The newspaper was sentenced to cease printing for 6 months and the editor Kamal al-Olufi was sentenced one year of prison. Furthermore, al-Olufi was to pay for the sentence to be printed in all major newspapers in the world.

Abdul-Majid al-Zindani gave a speech praising the quality of scientific and medical research carried out at the university, claiming that they have treated many cases of AIDS.

In 20 AIDS cases, al-Zandani said the virus had vanished completely without any side effects. He called on the UN, which "spends enormous amounts of money to fight the disease," to send "its senior scientists to review [the university's] findings.” These claims are bound to be greeted with enormous skepticism, given how much research has gone into this illness. If al-Zandani can prove his claims, then this would certainly be of global interest. But his research has not yet been verified by other scientists.

[edit] Alleged affiliation with al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam

On 2004-02-24, the United States Treasury added Zindani to its list of banned entities^[2], alleging that he is a supporter of the banned terrorist organizations al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam. His name subsequently appeared on the UN 1267 Committee's list^[3] of individuals belonging to or associated with al-Qaeda.

Among the factors offered to Guantanamo captive Abdul Rahman Mohamed Saleh Naser's Administrative Review Board, justifying his continued extrajudicial detention were:^[4]

"The detainee decided to go to Afghanistan after hearing and speaking with Sheik Al Zindani.
"Abd Al Majid Zandani was an active supporter of Usama Bin Laden. Zandani was involved in raising funds and recruiting volunteers for the Bin Laden organization. Zandani is also a religious and legal expert for Usama Bin Laden.
"Executive Order 13224 designates Shaykh Abd Al Majid Al Zindani as a person who commits, threatens to commit, or supports terrorism."