Official government website of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
As part of its efforts to combat terrorism and deviant thought, the university has added two new courses that are being taught for the first time at the beginning of the semester in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at the university. The first course, «Contemporary Extremist Doubts,» is being taught in the Department of Doctrine, while the course «Jurisprudence of Terrorism Crimes» is being taught in the Department of Jurisprudence in the college. This is to introduce male and female students to the doubts of contemporary extremist currents and provide scientific answers to historical events and related fatwas. In addition, it aims to introduce the principles and rules related to terrorism crimes and the jurisprudential classification of these crimes.
The course «Contemporary Doubts of Extremism,» which will be taught in the Department of Creed, aims to identify the most prominent contemporary doubts of extremist currents related to the fundamentals of creed, and how to respond to them, and to realize the consequences of these doubts, such as bloodshed and the disruption of societal security. It also aims to extract the errors in reasoning and understanding of the Islamic texts by the extremist and radical current, and to understand the concept of terrorism, its contemporary examples, and Islam's position on it, and to understand the concept of freedom and its related rulings.
This course includes a number of topics, including an introduction to the concept of suspicions and extremism and their causes in general, exposing suspicions related to imamate and caliphate, reviewing models of historical events related to suspicions of imamate and how to deal with them, in addition to exposing suspicions related to the takfir (excommunication) of individuals, groups, and Muslim countries, reviewing models of events and fatwas related to takfir and their criticism, and exposing the suspicions of violent groups about legitimate jihad and its controls.
The course also reviews examples of cases and fatwas related to the controls of jihad, the concept of terrorism and its history, the Kingdom's stance on it, the concept of freedom and its relationship to faith, and refuting doubts related to the concept of freedom and its controls.
In turn, the course «Jurisprudence of Terrorism Crimes,» which will be taught in the Department of Jurisprudence, aims to clarify the terms and concepts of terrorism crimes, mention the jurisprudential rulings on terrorism crimes, and develop jurisprudential competence that enables the inference of Sharia rulings on terrorism crimes and their application to facts, in addition to acquiring the etiquette and skills for dealing with opponents in controversial issues, and benefiting from modern technology in accessing information on the course's topics.
The syllabus also includes a list of topics to be covered, such as: the definition of terrorist crimes, and related terms ("fixed penalties for waging war on God, fixed penalties for rebellion, crimes against the person, etc."), in addition to the elements and characteristics of terrorist crimes, and the types, categories, and forms of terrorist crimes (incitement, aiding, harboring, and participation), and a discussion of related ambiguities.
The course includes an introduction to the impact of aggravating circumstances in terrorist crimes, their penalties, the classification of these crimes in the Saudi system, the classification and combating of terrorist crimes in international agreements and resolutions, the relationship between the crime of terrorism and international crime, and the crime of theorizing terrorism (its concept, forms, and jurisprudential classification). Additionally, it covers the crime of financing terrorism (its concept, forms, sources of terrorist financing, jurisprudential classification, and how to combat it), as well as cyber terrorism (its concept, forms, jurisprudential classification, and combating it).
It is mentioned that the university recently announced a major project, directed by His Excellency Professor Dr. Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Dawood, President of the University, to reformulate the "Islamic Culture" courses taught at the university. The aim is to prepare university students and form individuals who are balanced religiously, intellectually, behaviorally, culturally, and ethically, which will help protect the nation, preserve societal unity, and contribute to the country's development and progress, while promoting national sentiment through the development of Islamic Culture curriculum courses, enabling them to be scientifically and skillfully qualified to serve their religion and homeland.
The implementation of this project at the university ensures the achievement of the goals of the general preparation courses in Islamic culture, which are to build the personality of the male and female student, develop their awareness of the values and ethics of science, in addition to giving them the ability for cognitive and intellectual criticism, and developing their national and intellectual dimension.
