ISLAMABAD/MAKKAH: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed grief over the passing of Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, terming it a great loss for the Muslim Ummah.
In their separate statements, both leaders offered condolences to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi leadership, and the people of the Kingdom. They also prayed that Allah grant the late Grand Mufti a high place in Jannah and accept his religious services.
Earlier, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) confirmed that Sheikh Abdulaziz passed away in Makkah at the age of 81 after a prolonged illness. He served as Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and headed the Council of Senior Scholars, the Kingdom’s highest religious authority.
Born in 1943, Sheikh Abdulaziz was regarded as one of the most influential clerics in the Muslim world. Over the decades, he played a pivotal role in shaping religious guidance and scholarship across Saudi Arabia. He also delivered more Hajj sermons than any other scholar in history, addressing millions of pilgrims in Makkah and Medina.
His religious rulings, sermons and guidance were followed not only in Saudi Arabia but across the Islamic world, making him a central figure in the Kingdom’s religious and social landscape.
SPA reported that funeral prayers for Sheikh Abdulaziz will be held at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh after the Asr prayer. King Salman directed that absentee funeral prayers also be offered at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Masjid-e-Nabwi in Medina, and in mosques across Saudi Arabia.
