Juhayman al-Otaybi

Little is known about Juhayman al-Otaibi , famous for his seizure of Masjid al Haram (The Great Mosque) in Mecca on November 20 , 1979 . v t e

Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaibi ( ) ( 1936 – 9 January 1980) was a militant who led the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca , Islam's holiest site, in the last months of 1979 .

Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi ( ‎16 September 1936 – 9 January 1980) was a religious activist and militant who led the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca , Islam's holiest site, to protest against the Saudi monarchy and their ruling, in the last months of 1979.

Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi ( ‎16 September 1936 – 9 January 1980) was a Saudi militant and soldier who in 1979 led the Grand Mosque seizure of the Great Mosque of Mecca , Saudi Arabia 's holiest mosque, to protest against the Saudi monarchy and the House of Saud . Juhayman said that his justification for the siege was that the House of Saud had lost its legitimacy through corruption and imitation of the West, an echo of his father's charge in 1921 against former Saudi king Ibn Saud . Unlike earlier anti-monarchist dissidents in the kingdom, Juhayman attacked the Saudi ulama for failing to protest against policies that betrayed Islam, and accused them of accepting the rule of an infidel state and offering loyalty to corrupt rulers in "exchange for honours and riches." On 20 November 1979, the first day of the Islamic year 1400, the Great Mosque of Mecca was seized by a well-organized group of 400 to 500 men under al-Otaybi's leadership. A siege lasted more than two weeks before Saudi special forces broke into the mosque. French Special Forces provided a special tear gas ( CS gas ) which prevents aggressiveness and slows down breathing. al-Otaybi was executed by the Saudi authorities, in public, on 9 January 1980, in Mecca.

Saudi dissident and Ikhwan militant (1936–1980) Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi ( Arabic : جهيمان بن محمد بن سيف العتيبي ; ‎16 September 1936 – 9 January 1980) was a Saudi religious dissident and ex-soldier who led the Ikhwan during their Grand Mosque seizure in 1979. He and his followers besieged and took over the Grand Mosque of Mecca on 20 November 1979 ( 1 Muharram 1400 ) and held it for two weeks. During this time, he called for an uprising against the House of Saud and also reportedly proclaimed that the Mahdi had arrived in the form of one of the Ikhwan's leading officials; al-Otaybi's insurgency ended with Saudi authorities capturing the surviving militants and publicly executing them all, including al-Otaybi. The incident led to widespread unrest, culminating in large-scale anti-American riots throughout the Muslim world , particularly after Iranian religious cleric Ruhollah Khomeini of the Islamic Revolution claimed over a radio broadcast that Juhayman's insurgency at the holiest Islamic site had been orchestrated by the United States and Israel . Saudi Arabia: The Coming Storm . Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam . [On 2 December 1979.] EMBASSY OF THE U.S. Bureau of Public Affairs (Report).