Saudi Arabia’s standing as residence to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina means grand mufti’s pronouncements are carefully watched.
Revealed On 23 Oct 2025
Saudi Arabia has named Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan because the nation’s new grand mufti, the dominion’s high non secular scholar.
The state-run Saudi Press Company reported that King Salman appointed the 90-year-old to the place late on Wednesday, based mostly on a advice from his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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Born in Saudi Arabia‘s al-Qassim province, Sheikh Saleh studied the Quran with a neighborhood imam after his father’s demise and gained prominence by way of the Noor ala al-Darb (Gentle the Method) radio present, in addition to his books and his tv appearances.
Sheikh Saleh has confronted criticism in Western media up to now for a few of his pronouncements. When requested if Sunni Muslims ought to view Shia Muslims as their “brothers”, he allegedly responded that they have been “brothers of Devil”, in line with Human Rights Watch in 2017.
Such feedback concerning the Shia from non secular leaders in Saudi Arabia are frequent, notably amid political tensions with Iran. Sheikh Saleh additionally criticised Yemen’s Houthi rebels for firing missiles in the direction of holy websites within the kingdom.
His fatwas, which have been shared by way of social media, embrace a 2016 order to ban the cellular recreation “Pokemon Go” as a type of playing. Underneath Crown Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia owns a sizeable stake in Nintendo and the gaming division of Niantic, the maker of Pokemon Go.
In 2003, Sheikh Saleh was quoted as saying: “Slavery is part of Islam. Slavery is a part of jihad, and jihad will stay so long as there may be Islam.” Jihad means an internal non secular battle.
He takes the submit after the September demise of Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, who held the place of grand mufti for 1 / 4 of a century.
The al-Sheikh household, descendants of Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, had lengthy seen its members function the grand mufti.
Sheikh Mohammed’s ultraconservative teachings of Islam within the 18th century, broadly known as “Wahhabism” in his identify, had guided the dominion for many years.
The grand mufti is without doubt one of the high Islamic leaders on the planet of Sunni Muslims. Saudi Arabia’s standing as residence to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina means grand mufti pronouncements are carefully watched.
