Why Saudi Arabia's new grand mufti is sparking debate

Saudi Arabia has appointed Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan bin Abdullah Al-Fawzan as the kingdom’s new grand mufti, its highest religious authority, following the death of Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh in September.

According to Saudi media, the appointment was made by royal decree issued by King Salman on Wednesday, based on a recommendation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A conservative scholar in his nineties

Born on 28 September 1935 in Al-Shamasiya, Qassim province, Sheikh Al-Fawzan is one of the kingdom's most senior religious scholars and a long-time member of the Council of Senior Scholars.

At 90 years old, he becomes the fourth person to hold the position of grand mufti since the role was created in 1953, after Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, Abdulaziz bin Baz, and Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh.

Al-Fawzan has long been considered a leading conservative voice within Saudi Arabia's religious establishment. Over the years, he has issued controversial opinions, including opposition to setting a minimum age for marriage and statements critical of the country's Shia Muslim minority.

Human Rights Watch cited him in 2017 as having called Shia "brothers of Satan" in a public Q&A session.

Education and early life

Al-Fawzan lost his father at a young age and studied the Qur'an and basic literacy under local scholars before attending the Faisaliah School in Buraydah. He later joined the Islamic Institute in the same city and graduated from Riyadh's College of Sharia in 1961. He went on to earn a master's degree in Islamic inheritance law and a doctorate in jurisprudence, both from the same college.

He studied under prominent scholars such as Abdulaziz bin Baz, Abdulrahman al-Saadi, and Abdullah bin Humaid, who were influential in shaping his theological approach.

Career and influence

After graduating, Al-Fawzan began teaching at the Riyadh Institute and later at the College of Sharia, the College of Fundamentals of Religion, and the Higher Judicial Institute, where he eventually served as director. He supervised numerous postgraduate theses and continued to lecture and preach at Prince Mut’ib bin Abdulaziz Mosque in Riyadh.

Al-Fawzan became a member of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Ifta and the Council of Senior Scholars, as well as the Fiqh Council in Mecca under the Muslim World League. His writings, radio programs, and fatwas are widely circulated, and he is regarded as one of the key figures preserving Saudi Arabia's traditional Hanbali-Wahhabi doctrine.

He was deeply influenced by his mentor, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, under whom he worked at the Ifta authority. Colleagues and students describe him as a meticulous jurist who insists on basing all rulings strictly on the Qur’an and Sunnah.

A traditional appointment amid modern reforms

Al-Fawzan's appointment continues the kingdom's tradition of selecting the most senior scholar from the Council of Senior Scholars to serve as grand mufti. The move underscores continuity in the religious establishment, even as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushes sweeping social and economic reforms.

Under the crown prince, Saudi Arabia has sharply reduced the power of the religious police, expanded women’s rights, including allowing women to drive, and opened up entertainment and tourism sectors once considered taboo.

Still, the appointment of the deeply conservative Al-Fawzan signals that while Saudi society is changing, the state's religious hierarchy remains anchored in traditional structures.

"The social atmosphere has changed and is changing," Umar Karim, a Saudi policy analyst at the University of Birmingham, told AFP, "but the modalities of the religious field and its workings remain the same".