Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Asheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia since 1999, was one of the most prominent religious figures in the Islamic world. Born in the early 1940s to the al-Sheikh family—descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab—he carried with him historic religious authority. From a young age, he devoted himself to the study of Islamic law and mastered the sources of Sharia despite his blindness. After serving as a lecturer and preacher, he was appointed a member of Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars and later deputy grand mufti. In 1999, following the death of his predecessor Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Baz, King Fahd appointed him grand mufti of the Kingdom.
The role of the grand mufti is to endorse and formulate religious rulings with legal, social, and political significance. In many ways, the positions of Sheikh Abdulaziz provided religious backing and legitimacy to the royal family’s policies. He frequently emphasized the duty of obedience to rulers, warned against harming them, and called to protect the kingdom’s unity. In doing so, he reinforced the close link between political leadership and religion—a fundamental feature of Saudi governance. At the same time, he was notable for statements against the Shiites and for rulings opposing extremism and terrorism. He condemned al-Qaeda and ISIS, labeling them enemies of Islam and its distorters, ruled against suicide bombings, calling them “grave crimes,” and thus sought to undermine the religious legitimacy of radical currents.
In the social and cultural sphere, his rulings sometimes sparked sharp controversy, but in recent years—and especially to align with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms—Sheikh Abdulaziz accepted some changes, such as supporting the decision to allow women to drive and to open cinemas in the kingdom. By doing so, he showed that even though his personal views leaned toward strict conservatism, he often acted in line with official policy.
The death of the grand mufti marks an important turning point. The highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia is vacant for the first time in a quarter of a century. In the Muslim world, the Saudi grand mufti holds an additional symbolic dimension—since the two holiest sites of Islam are within the kingdom, his words have often been seen as binding guidance, especially among conservative circles. Now, a new appointment could signal a religious-ideological shift or at least an adaptation to the “Vision 2030” agenda and the aspiration to present Saudi Arabia as a more moderate Muslim power to the outside world.
Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Asheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia since 1999, was one of the most prominent religious figures in the Islamic world. Born in the early 1940s to the al-Sheikh family—descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab—he carried with him historic religious authority. From a young age, he devoted himself to the study of Islamic law and mastered the sources of Sharia despite his blindness. After serving as a lecturer and preacher, he was appointed a member of Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars and later deputy grand mufti. In 1999, following the death of his predecessor Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Baz, King Fahd appointed him grand mufti of the Kingdom.
The role of the grand mufti is to endorse and formulate religious rulings with legal, social, and political significance. In many ways, the positions of Sheikh Abdulaziz provided religious backing and legitimacy to the royal family’s policies. He frequently emphasized the duty of obedience to rulers, warned against harming them, and called to protect the kingdom’s unity. In doing so, he reinforced the close link between political leadership and religion—a fundamental feature of Saudi governance. At the same time, he was notable for statements against the Shiites and for rulings opposing extremism and terrorism. He condemned al-Qaeda and ISIS, labeling them enemies of Islam and its distorters, ruled against suicide bombings, calling them “grave crimes,” and thus sought to undermine the religious legitimacy of radical currents.
In the social and cultural sphere, his rulings sometimes sparked sharp controversy, but in recent years—and especially to align with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms—Sheikh Abdulaziz accepted some changes, such as supporting the decision to allow women to drive and to open cinemas in the kingdom. By doing so, he showed that even though his personal views leaned toward strict conservatism, he often acted in line with official policy.
The death of the grand mufti marks an important turning point. The highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia is vacant for the first time in a quarter of a century. In the Muslim world, the Saudi grand mufti holds an additional symbolic dimension—since the two holiest sites of Islam are within the kingdom, his words have often been seen as binding guidance, especially among conservative circles. Now, a new appointment could signal a religious-ideological shift or at least an adaptation to the “Vision 2030” agenda and the aspiration to present Saudi Arabia as a more moderate Muslim power to the outside world.