Dr Saud Saleh AlSarhan has been Head of Research and Head of Contemporary Political Thought Unit at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies since 2013. He is Visiting Research Fellow of Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence in Islamic Thought Project, at Exeter University, and Honorary Research Fellow, the College of Social Science and International Studies, Exeter University. He holds a Ph.D. in Arab and Islamic Studies from Exeter. He has contributed books and articles in English and Arabic to scholarly journals including: “The Huthis and al-Qaida in Yemen: A Comparative Analysis on Justification for Violence against the State”; “The Struggle for Authority: The Jihadi-Salafism’s Shaykhs in Saudi Arabia” and “The Neo-Reformists: A New Democratic Islamic Discourse.”