Abdul Majeed al-Zindani
| Abdul Majeed al-Zindani | |
|---|---|
| Native name | عبد المجيد الزنداني |
| Born |
January 1, 1942  Ibb, Yemen
|
| Nationality |
Yemeni |
| Occupation | Academic and Politician |
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani (Arabic: عبد المجيد الزنداني, ʿAbdul Majeed ; born in 1942 in Ibb, Yemen) has been described by Daniel Golden of the Wall Street Journal as "a charismatic Yemeni academic and politician." and by CNN as "a provocative cleric with a flaming red beard". A leading militant Islamist, he is the founder and head of the Iman University in Yemen, head of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood political movement and founder of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia.
In 2004 the US Treasury Department published a press release stating that the United States had by executive order designated Zindani as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist".
al-Zindani spent his early college years in Egypt, studied at Ain Shams University (first studying biology and chemistry, but then switching to Islamic studies) where he failed to get a degree, returned to Aden in 1966, went to Saudi Arabia in 1967 where he was a senior official in the Islamic Call Organization, and was sent home in 1962 when he was arrested by the ruler of Egypt. In 1970, he returned to Yemen where he formed the Yemini Muslim Brotherhood and devoted his life to politics.
Al-Zindani is the founder and president of the Iman University in Sanaa, Yemen. The institution was founded in 1995 with Yemeni government support. It also received foreign donations from the conservative Wahhabist heritage nations of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, receiving about 400 students annually.
The US Treasury statement that Zindani is loyal to bin Laden states that some students at Iman University have been arrested for political and religious murders. Some believe that the school's curriculum deals mostly, if not exclusively, with Islamic studies, and that it is an incubator of extremism.
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