Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh Dies at 82
The funeral prayer is scheduled to take place after Asr prayer at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh, according to the Royal Court.
Funeral prayers in absentia will also be performed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and other mosques across the country.
Al-Asheikh, born on November 30, 1943, was a descendant of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement. The Al-Sheikh family has long held influence in Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment.
He began his Quran studies at Ahmad bin San’an Mosque before joining the Imam al-Da’wah Institute in 1954. He graduated from its College of Sharia in 1962. Al-Asheikh started teaching at the same institute in 1971 and later moved to the College of Sharia at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, where he taught until 1991.
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In 1999, King Fahd appointed him as Grand Mufti, succeeding Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz. In that role, Al-Asheikh headed the Council of Senior Scholars, the highest religious body in the kingdom. He was frequently seen on Saudi state television and radio, issuing religious decrees and participating in scholarly forums.
During his tenure, he issued a number of high-profile rulings. In a 2012 statement referencing a hadith, he called for the destruction of churches in the Arabian Peninsula.
In 2016, a video circulated in which he declared chess and similar games prohibited due to links to gambling. He had earlier told Al-Madina newspaper that celebrating the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday was an unlawful innovation with no basis in Islamic tradition.
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