Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh has passed away, the Saudi News Agency reported on Tuesday. Custodians of the two holy mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have offered their condolences to his family, the Saudi people, and the Islamic world on the passing away of Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh.
“With the passing of Al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia and the Islamic world have lost a distinguished scholar who made significant contributions to the service of Islam and Muslims,” the Royal Court stated.
According to the Kingdom’s media, the funeral prayer of Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh will be held after Asr prayer at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
King Fahd in 1999 appointed Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh as the Saudi Grand Mufti. He was the successor of Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Baz. Sheikh Abdul Aziz was also the president of the Council of Senior Scholars and had also performed the duties of delivering the Hajj sermons. His funeral prayers in absentia will also be performed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and in all mosques across the kingdom upon the orders of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
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Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh is a member of the Al-Ash-Sheikh family. In 1969-70, he assumed the leadership of the Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Mosque in Riyadh. In 1979, he was appointed an assistant professor at the College of Sharia Makkah. Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh died on 23rd September 2025 at the age of 84.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz has given some critical fatwas on terrorism and suicide bombings. He called the suicide bombings great crimes and called the bombers criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions. He argued that the idea of extremism and militants are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims.