Sheikhs from the tribes of Bani Shehr to which Saeed Al-Shehri belongs have condemned his declaration of takfeer against his father and his refusal to pray with other Muslims in mosques. Speaking by telephone several sheikhs told Okaz newspaper that Al-Shehri's ingratitude to his father proved conclusively the “deviation and odious takfeeri method” of Al-Qaeda and their ignorance of Shariah principles. “He is a pathetic, hateful criminal and a corrupt member that should be eradicated so that Muslims may be kept from his evil,” one sheikh said, adding that some half a million Bani Shehr men, women and children rejected Al-Shehri's behavior and ingratitude to his father, country and people. “We are soldiers at the service of the country and its leadership that rules by the Book of Allah and His messenger's Sunna,” the sheikh said. Fahd Bin Dhahir Bin Da'a'bash, Sheikh of Aal Walid, the branch from which Saeed Al-Shehri descends, said Al-Shehri's takfeer statement was an act of ingratitude towards his father and to the country “in whose protection he was raised” and to the “leadership that brought him back from the darkness of Guantanamo through considerable efforts that could only be denied by a sick, hateful person like him and his ilk.” Sheikh of the Salman tribe, Turki Bin Shaker Al-Asbali, said Al-Shehri had shown his “ignorance, deviation and sickness”. “Would a true Muslim accuse his own father of being an infidel? Saeed sold himself to the devil and threw himself into the arms of a malicious enemy and reached a point where he couldn't differentiate between right and wrong,” Sheikh Turki said. “I ask Allah that he perish to guard Muslims from his evil.” Sheikh of the Bani Kareem tribe, Meshrif Bin Abdullah Bin Sukut, described the Bani Shehr tribes as “famous for their loyalty to and love of their country and leadership”, and said that Al-Shehri's accusations were “shameless, sick and ignorant and only represent himself”.
