JEDDAH: The Royal Court announced Tuesday the passing of Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars, state-run Al-Ekhbariya reported. His funeral prayer will be held at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh later today. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has directed that an absentee funeral prayer be performed for him at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, and all mosques across the Kingdom after the Asr prayer. Al-Asheikh was appointed to the position in 1999.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz passed away on Tuesday morning, the Royal Court said today.

JEDDAH: The Royal Court announced Tuesday the passing of Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars, state-run Al-Ekhbariya…

The death of Abdulaziz Al Asheikh, Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, was the symbolic end of an era as the kingdom transforms.