Saudi Arabia appoints Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan as new grand mufti

Saudi Arabia’s presumption arsenic location to the beatified cities of Mecca and Medina means expansive mufti’s pronouncements are intimately watched.

Saudi Arabia has named Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan arsenic the country’s caller expansive mufti, the kingdom’s apical spiritual scholar.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported that King Salman appointed the 90-year-old to the presumption precocious connected Wednesday, based connected a proposal from his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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Born successful Saudi Arabia‘s al-Qassim province, Sheikh Saleh studied the Quran with a section imam aft his father’s decease and gained prominence done the Noor ala al-Darb (Light the Way) vigor show, arsenic good arsenic his books and his tv appearances.

Sheikh Saleh has faced disapproval successful Western media successful the past for immoderate of his pronouncements. When asked if Sunni Muslims should presumption Shia Muslims arsenic their “brothers”, helium allegedly responded that they were “brothers of Satan”, according to Human Rights Watch successful 2017.

Such comments astir the Shia from spiritual leaders successful Saudi Arabia are common, peculiarly amid governmental tensions with Iran. Sheikh Saleh besides criticised Yemen’s Houthi rebels for firing missiles towards beatified sites successful the kingdom.

His fatwas, which person been shared via societal media, see a 2016 bid to prohibition the mobile crippled “Pokemon Go” arsenic a signifier of gambling. Under Crown Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia owns a sizeable involvement successful Nintendo and the gaming part of Niantic, the shaper of Pokemon Go.

In 2003, Sheikh Saleh was quoted arsenic saying: “Slavery is simply a portion of Islam. Slavery is portion of jihad, and jihad volition stay arsenic agelong arsenic determination is Islam.” Jihad means an interior spiritual struggle.

He takes the station aft the September decease of Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, who held the presumption of expansive mufti for a 4th of a century.

The al-Sheikh family, descendants of Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, had agelong seen its members service arsenic the expansive mufti.

Sheikh Mohammed’s ultraconservative teachings of Islam successful the 18th century, wide referred to arsenic “Wahhabism” successful his name, had guided the kingdom for decades.

The expansive mufti is 1 of the apical Islamic leaders successful the satellite of Sunni Muslims. Saudi Arabia’s presumption arsenic location to the beatified cities of Mecca and Medina means expansive mufti pronouncements are intimately watched.