Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Ahdal, a native of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, was the great

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He died in 1989 in Brussels. On March 29, 1989, while he was rector of the Great Mosque of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, a gunman entered and shot him. The Lebanese terrorist organization

Soldiers of the Right A ''Jund al-Haqq'' (''Soldiers of the Right'') organization claimed in 1988 and 1989 from Beirut a kidnapping in Lebanon, three assassinations in Brussels, a murder in Bangkok and an attempted murder in Karachi. The precise nature of this group was ...

claimed credit for the murders Belgian authorities and the news media linked the killings to ''The Satanic Verses'' controversy: the previous month Iranian

Ayatollah Ayatollah (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most di ...

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

had issued a

fatwā A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a '' mufti'' ...

ordering Muslims to kill novelist

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

because of their objections to the publication of his book ''

The Satanic Verses ''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel from the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical re ...

''. Al-Ahdal had publicly criticized Rushdie, but had also argued that the fatwā was contrary to Islamic law. Al-Ahdal was killed along with the Tunisian Muslim librarian Salem el-Beher. Doubts persist on this theory because the Imam had received death threats because of his sermons on the possibility of different religions to coexist with Islam, before his rejection of the fatwa. In 2008, the Belgian tabloid ''

Het Laatste Nieuws (''HLN''; ; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium. H ...

'' reported that

Abdelkader Belliraj Abdelkader Belliraj (, ; born 1957, Nador) is a Moroccan- Belgian citizen who was found guilty in 2009 of arms smuggling and planning terrorist attacks in Morocco. Petty criminal in the 1980s In the 1980s, he was convicted in Belgium of assaul ...

, a Moroccan-Belgian arms smuggler, had murdered Al-Ahdal, el-Beher and Jah al-Rasul, a driver for the Saudi embassy in Brussels. The three victims had reportedly witnessed fraud at the Saudi embassy. All three men were killed with the same 7.65mm handgun. These allegations were not sustained by later investigations by the Belgian police.

References

20th-century imams Belgian clergy 1989 deaths Assassinated religious leaders People murdered in Belgium Year of birth missing Belgian Muslims {{SaudiArabia-bio-stub