Saudi Arabia appointed a prominent ultraconservative scholar late on Wednesday (October 22, 2025) as the country's new grand mufti, the kingdom's top religious scholar.
Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan, 90, took over the position, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported. The decision came from King Salman, based on the recommendation of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the report added.
Sheikh Saleh, reportedly born Sept. 28, 1935, in Saudi Arabia's al-Qassim province, studied the Quran with a local imam after his father's death. He became a prominent scholar, speaking to the faithful via the “Noor ala al-Darb,” or “Light the Way,” radio show and via multiple books he's authored and his television appearances. His fatwas, or religious orders, have been shared via social media as well.
Sheikh Saleh has faced criticism in Western media in the past for some of his pronouncements. Human Rights Watch in 2017 reported Sheikh Saleh, when asked if Sunni Muslims should view Shiite as their “brothers,” responded: "They are brothers of Satan."
The Shiite “lie about God, his prophet, and the consensus of Muslims … There is no doubt about the unbelief of these” people, Human Rights Watch separately quoted Sheikh Saleh saying at another moment.
