Saudi king dismisses cleric after criticism

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi king dismissed a prominent hard-line cleric who criticized a university he recently launched for allowing men and women to take classes together.

King Abdullah issued a royal decree relieving Sheik Saad bin Naser al-Shethri from his duties on the powerful government-sanctioned Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The decree issued Sunday did not provide a reason for al-Shethri’s dismissal, but the cleric was quoted by local media in late September as demanding an end to coed classes at the newly opened King Abdullah Science and Technology University

He said that mixing students of the opposite sex was “a great sin and a great evil” under Islam and would distract men from focusing on their education. The comments indicated that there may be significant opposition to the country’s first fully integrated coed university among conservative elements within the kingdom’s powerful religious establishment.

Most of the country’s newspapers, which are government-guided, criticized al-Shethri, accusing him of trying to undermine Abdullah’s reforms and suggesting such criticism breeds terrorism.

The multibillion dollar postgraduate institution, which officially opened its doors to students in late September, has been touted by Abdullah as a “beacon of tolerance.” Saudi officials have envisaged the university as a key part of the kingdom’s plans to transform itself into a global scientific hub — its latest efforts to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

The school boasts state-of-the-art labs, the world’s 14th fastest supercomputer and one of the biggest endowments worldwide.

More than 800 students from 61 different countries have enrolled at the school so far. The university aims to expand to around 2,000 students within eight to 10 years.

Of that total, 15 percent will be Saudi, university officials have said.

The Saudi government hopes that the school will succeed in promoting scientific freedom in a country where strict implementation of Islamic teachings has often been blamed for stifling innovation.

Abdullah has encouraged change in the oil-rich kingdom since becoming crown prince in 1982, and has intensified his efforts since assuming the thrown upon the death of his half brother, King Fahad, in 2005.