Abu Omar al-Saif (Arabic: أبو عمر السيف)(1968/69-2005) was an informal name or nom de guerre of a Saudi Islamist and fighter operating first in Afghanistan (1986–1988) and later in the North Caucasus (1996–2005) as the mufti of Arab fighters in Chechnya, allegedly with close ties to al-Qaeda.
[1][2] Al-Saif seems to have been the trustee of Arab financiers, receiving money from them through some institution in Dagestan (likely the Makhachkala office of Benevolence International Foundation, a KSA-based Islamic charity, now banned[3]) and distributing it to the Islamic insurgent forces across southern Russia.
Abu Omar al-Saif was known to a small extent as an ideologue and spiritual leader.
In the Chechen government of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in 1996, he held the title of chairman of the Sharia judges and was responsible for implementation of the Islamic courts in the republic.
He also wrote several articles and books, especially related to the issues of Iraq and democracy which he considered un-Islamic and idolatrous,[4][5] and the conflict in the Caucasus which he believed could only be solved through armed Islamic Jihad.