[5] He is a director of the Arabic edition of the website Islam Today and appears on a number of TV shows and authors newspaper articles.

[15][16][17] Condolences to al-Ouda over this accident were given on Twitter by Mohamad al-Arifi,[18] Aid al-Qarni,[19] Ibrahim al-Dawish,[20] Hassan al-Husseini,[21] Ziyad al-Shahri,[22] Nayef al-Sahfe,[23] Moussa al-Omar,[24] and Muhammad al-Yaqoubi.

[citation needed] The 1990–1991 Gulf Crisis and War, in which an American-led coalition of forces aligned against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in response to its seizure of Kuwait, proved an opportunity for al-Ouda and others to tap into an already-existing current of discontent within the Kingdom.

The first, in 1991, was known as the Letter of Demands and was signed by leading Saudi religious, mercantile, and socially prominent figures seeking changes in the form of government, notably the establishment of a Shura (consultative) Council.

Meanwhile, audiotapes of al-Ouda's sermons gained wide circulation and encouraged to other opposition voices after the first Gulf War, as the United States military settled in for a long stay at an airbase outside the capital.

[citation needed] Following his five years of imprisonment for having incited opposition to the Saudi government, al-Ouda emerged "rehabilitated" in 1999 to become one of the kingdom's most prominent religious spokespersons.

With a television program and a website in four languages, he was viewed in 2007 as a supporter of the Saudi government, operating under its protection and in competition with the government-sponsored establishment Ulama (clergy).

[citation needed] In May 2017 he was banned along with Bilal Philips and four others from entering Denmark for a period of two years over concerns that they would preach hate towards Danish society and indoctrinate others to commit violence against women and children and disseminate ideas about a caliphate.

[31][32][33] In September 2017, Al-Ouda, along with other prominent preachers and activists such as Awad Al-Qarni and Ali Al-Omari, were arrested by the Saudi authorities for "terrorism and conspiracy against the state".

[34] Calls have been made by "international and Islamic personalities and organisations for their release" and concern has mounted since 37 Saudis were executed in April 2019 for what authorities said were "terrorism-related crimes",[35] one of the charges against Al-Ouda.

[34] In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Abdullah Alaoudh highlighted the deteriorating condition of his father Salman al-Ouda, who was kept in solitary confinement in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi scholar and activist said that due to three years of abuse and isolation, his father's physical and mental condition has been declining at a greater pace.

After his release, al-Ouda resumed his activities from his home, giving lessons from Wednesday to Friday weekly on topics such as Qur'anic commentary, ethics, education, and personal reform.

In 2007, around the sixth anniversary of 11 September, he addressed Al Qaeda's leader on MBC, a widely watched Middle Eastern television network, asking him: My brother Osama, how much blood has been spilled?