Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz
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His Eminence Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz |
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|---|---|
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| Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia | |
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In office 1993 – 13 May 1999 |
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| Monarch | King Fahd |
| Preceded by | Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh |
| Succeeded by | Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 November 1910 Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd and Hasa |
| Died | 13 May 1999 (aged 88) Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Resting place | Al Adl cemetery, Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Nationality | Saudi Arabian |
| Awards |
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Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز) (November 21, 1910 – May 13, 1999), was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar and a leading proponent of the Salafi form of Islam. He was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1993 until his death in 1999. According to French political scientist Gilles Kepel, Baz was a "figurehead for institutional Wahhabism" whose "immense religious erudition and his reputation for intransigence" gave him prestige among the population of Saudi Arabia and he "could reinforce the Saud family's policies through his influence with the masses of believers", and his death left the government without a comparable figure from within the Wahhabite clergy to "fill" his "shoes".
Bin Baz issued a fatwa authorizing a wealth tax to support the Mujahideen during the anti-Soviet jihad. His endorsement of In Defense of Muslim Lands, principally written by Abdullah Azzam, was a powerful influence in the successful call for jihad against the Soviet Union. It is said to be the first official call for jihad by a nation state against another nation state in modern times.
Many of Ibn Baz's views and rulings are considered controversial (both inside and outside Saudi Arabia), including those relating to cosmology, women's rights, Saudi Arabia's support for the Oslo Accords, and the acceptability of stationing non-Islamic troops in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques (Haramayn) during and after the Gulf War. Osama bin Laden bitterly condemned Bin Baz and his rulings that supported Saudi Arabia's foreign policy and alliances with Western powers.
Ibn Baz was born in the city of Riyadh during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, 1910 to a family with a reputation for their interest in Islam. His father died when he was only three. By the time he was thirteen he had begun working, selling clothing with his brother in a market. He also took lessons of the Qur’an, Hadith, Fiqh, and Tafsir, with the man who would precede him as the country's top religious official, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh. In 1927, when he was sixteen, he started losing his eyesight after being afflicted with a serious infection in his eyes. By the time he was twenty, he had totally lost his sight and had become blind.
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