A group of 22 hardline Sunni clerics last month said the Shia branch of Islam was having "infidel precepts". The statement came after Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah movement routed supporters of the Sunni-led government in the Lebanese capital.
It was the latest in a series of statements against Shias since sectarian tension dragged Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and Iranian-backed Hezbollah began mobilising opposition to the Sunni-led government in Lebanon.
A prominent Sunni Muslim Saudi cleric met with minority Shia Muslim leaders last month in an attempt to soothe anger over the edict.
Saudi clerics, who adhere to an austere Sunni school often termed Wahhabism, have traditionally viewed Shiaism as a heresy. But many government-allied clerics have toned down anti-Shia rhetoric as King Abdullah has promoted "moderation".
"This sharp tone and discordant voice suffers from psychological complexes and has adopted confrontation and insults as its policy," 85 Shia clerics and community leaders said in an unusual riposte.
"It is this voice that is responsible for the bloody scenes and incidents that have shaken this country," said the statement, referring to a campaign to destabilise the Saudi government launched by Al Qaeda sympathisers in 2003.
"We ask our brothers who have wronged us with their fatwas (religious edicts) branding Muslims as infidels to reconsider and re-read the contemporary Shia reality in a responsible manner," said the statement.
