Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Sheikh, has passed away at 82, the Royal Court confirmed on Tuesday. His passing marks the end of over two decades of service as the Kingdom’s supreme religious authority.
Funeral prayers for Sheikh Abdulaziz will be performed following the Asr prayer at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh. Huge numbers of citizens, officials and scholars will gather in the capital for the service.
In an official statement recently released by the Royal Court, authorities stated, “With his passing away, the Kingdom and the Islamic world have definitely lost a great scholar who has given many services in the endeavours of accessibility to knowledge, Islam, and Muslims.”
Sheikh Abdulaziz was born in 1940 in Mecca and became one of the most powerful religious scholars in Saudi Arabia. Kingdom authorities appointed him Grand Mufti in 1999, succeeding Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Shaikh and Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz.
He was also chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars and chairman of the General Presidency of Islamic Research and Ifta, both ministerial rank posts, indicating the significance of his authority in religious and judicial matters.
Condolences came from government officials, religious scholars, and respected citizens. Even King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent condolence messages, noting that the Grand Mufti was a scholar whose work will be a “generator” for months and generations to come.
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