Saudi Arabia bids farewell to its long-serving Grand Mufti, the ultraconservative Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Asheikh, who passed away on Tuesday. He had been the kingdom’s leading religious authority for over two decades.
Appointed in 1999, Sheikh Abdulaziz led the esteemed Council of Senior Scholars, a governmental body responsible for issuing religious decrees. This council once commanded significant influence, both within Saudi Arabia and among Muslim communities globally.
However, in recent years, the council’s authority has visibly diminished. This shift coincides with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud’s ambitious agenda to modernize the kingdom, which includes easing social and religious restrictions while centralizing power.
The Saudi royal court announced the mufti’s death without disclosing his age or the cause, though he was believed to be in his early to mid-80s. Crown Prince Mohammed himself led the funeral prayers in Riyadh. A successor has not yet been named.
His death symbolizes the end of an important chapter for Saudi Arabia, a nation historically rooted in a strict religious ideology often labeled as “Wahhabism,” named after the 18th-century scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who was instrumental in the kingdom’s formation.
Sheikh Abdulaziz was a staunch adherent to this religious tradition. Yet, his tenure as grand mufti spanned a period of profound change, notably after the September 11, 2000, terror attacks, which involved 15 Saudi citizens and prompted intense self-reflection within the kingdom.
Mansour al-Nogaidan, a former radical Saudi preacher now a religious reformist and writer residing in the United Arab Emirates, remarked, “His death draws the curtain on the last of the great Wahhabis. During his 25 years as the grand mufti, he tried to adapt to the transformations and challenges the kingdom faced after the events of Sept. 11.”
Consistent with many Saudi religious scholars, Sheikh Abdulaziz advocated a rigorous and deeply conservative interpretation of Islam. For instance, in 2004, he garnered attention for criticizing the mingling of unveiled women and men at an economic forum, describing such behavior as a source of “evil and catastrophe.”
The religious and cultural landscape of the kingdom was long shaped by the belief system espoused by clerics like him. However, over the past decade, the vision of Prince Mohammed, now 40, has brought about dramatic changes. A key early move in 2016 was stripping the religious police of their authority, ending their patrols to enforce conservative social norms.
Further reforms followed: in 2018, the ban on women driving was lifted. By 2019, the kingdom welcomed foreign tourists, removed the requirement for women to wear long robes in public, and abolished the need for women to seek male guardian permission for international travel.
While the Council of Senior Scholars, led by Sheikh Abdulaziz, acted primarily as an advisory body, the ultimate decision-making power always resided with the royal family. Nevertheless, for many decades, Saudi rulers had shown considerable respect for conservative clerics, granting them significant influence over education, social life, and religious discourse.
Alongside these sweeping social changes, Prince Mohammed has also overseen a significant crackdown on dissent, curbing the limited political freedoms that once existed. This has included silencing religious conservatives who opposed the rapid reforms, with many facing detention. Official clerics, including the mufti, largely aligned themselves with the state’s direction.
Born in the 1940s, Sheikh Abdulaziz became blind at the age of 14. He memorized the Quran early in life and later pursued careers as a teacher, academic, and preacher, as highlighted in a biographical video by Saudi state television.
As mufti, he hosted a popular call-in radio show, offering immediate religious edicts to listeners’ queries. His pronouncements often stood in stark contrast to the modern reality unfolding in the kingdom.
For instance, he once famously described the game of chess as the “work of Satan.” In another instance, he denounced Twitter, calling it a source of “evil and harm.”
However, demonstrating some adaptability, he issued a ruling in 2005 banning forced marriages, and in 2018, he formally supported the decision to allow women to drive.
“He faced intense pressure, sometimes, from his colleagues and those loyal to Wahhabi teachings,” Mr. al-Nogaidan observed. “He was forced to swing between his loyalty to the teachings of his Wahhabi forebears and the demands of modernity and avoiding embarrassing the state.”
On Tuesday, Saudi scholars took to social media to commend his extensive legacy.
Mohammed Alazzam, a retired Saudi professor and researcher in heritage and history, who knew the mufti from his student days, wrote on X, “Throughout his entire life, he was distinguished by his faith, high moral character, virtue, and righteousness, as well as his dedication to seeking knowledge.”