 Print
Saudi Arabia's grand mufti dies
9-24-2025
Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia 's grand mufti who served the kingdom's top religious figure over a quarter century that saw the ultraconservative Muslim nation socially liberalize, died on Sept. 23. He was in his 80s.
Sheikh Abdulaziz's role as grand mufti put him as one of the top Islamic clerics in the world of Sunni Muslims. Saudi Arabia, home to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, hosts the annual Hajj pilgrimage required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their lives.
While closely aligned to Al Saud ruling family, which has allowed women to drive, opened movie theaters and further socially liberalized in recent years, Sheikh Abdulaziz denounced extremists like those in ISIL and al-Qaida. He also made pronouncements during his time as grand mufti viewed as sectarian and more following Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism, a strictly austere form of Islam that for decades saw the kingdom segregate the sexes, restrict music and follow other puritanical pursuits.
Saudi Arabia's state media reported Sheikh Abdulaziz's death, without offering a cause. The kingdom's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended funeral prayers for the late mufti.
Footnotes:
|