Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz

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, considered as one of the most renowned Islamic scholars of the twentieth century and a leading proponent of the Salafi form of Islam (often referred to as Wahhabism). He was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1993 until his death in 1999.

Youth

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, placing a big responsibility on his mother to raise him. When asked about his childhood, the sheikh said: “my father died when I was three years old, and I only had my mother who took care of me and educated me encouraging me to learn more about Shari'ah; she also died when I was twenty six.” By the time he was thirteen he had begun working, selling clothing with his brother in a market. Despite the fact that he helped a great deal in supporting his family, he still found time to study the Qur’an, Hadith, Fiqh, and Tafsir. 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 forty, he had totally lost his sight and had become blind.^[1][2]

Education

At that time, Saudi Arabia lacked a modern, sophisticated university system. However, Ibn Baaz managed to learn a great deal through his constant reading of Islamic literature as well as his association with different scholars from whom he learned. These include:^[3][4]

• 'Abdullāh bin Fayrij whom he studied the Qur'an with at an early age.
• Muhammad ibn Zayd, the chief judge in the Eastern region.
• Rāshid ibn Sālih al-Khunayn.
• 'Abdul-Latif ibn Muhammad ash-Shudayyid.
• 'Abdullāh bin 'Abdur-Rahmān ibn Kimar
• 'Abdullāh bin Qu'ood.
• Sālih ibn Hussayn al-'Irāqi.
• 'Abdur-Rahmān al- Warrāq.
• The Mufti of his time, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn 'Abdul-Latif ash-Shaikh. Ibn Bāz studied under this scholar for ten years. He had studied all the branches of Shari'ah from him during the years 1927 until 1938.
• Muhammad ibn 'Abdul-Latif ibn 'Abdur-Rahmān ibn Hassan ibn ash-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhāb.
• Sa’ad ibn Hamad ibn Atiq, the chief judge of Riyadh at the time.
• Hammad ibn Farris, under whom ibn Bāz studied the field of Arabic grammar.
• Sa’ad Waqqās al-Bukhāri, one of Makkah’s most renowned scholars in Tajweed.
• Sālih ibn 'Abdul-Aziz ibn 'Abdur-Rahmān ibn Hasan ibn Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abdul-Wahhāb, one of the judges in the city of Riyadh.

Career

He had assumed a number of posts and responsibilities such as:^[5]

• The judge of Al Kharj district upon the recommendation of Muhammad ibn 'Abdul-Lateef ash-Shaikh from 1938 to 1951.
• Held a teaching position in Riyadh at the Ma'had al-'Ilmee in 1951
• In 1951 after spending fourteen years in al-Kharj as a judge, he was transferred to Riyadh where he became a teacher in the Riyadh Institute of Science and taught in the Faculty of Sharia from 1951 to 1961.
• In 1961 he was appointed Vice President, and later President, of the Islamic University of Madinah.
• In 1970 he became the Chancellor of the University upon the death of Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem Aal ash-Shaykh and he remained chancellor until 1975.
• In 1975 a royal decree named him Chairman of the Department of Scientific Research and Ifta with the rank of Minister.
• In 1992 he was appointed Grand Mufti of the Saudi Arabia and Head of the Council of Senior Scholars and was granted presidency of the administration for scientific research and legal rulings.
• President of the Permanent Committee for Research and Fatawa.
• President and member of the Constituent Assembly of the World Muslim League.
• President of the Higher World League Council.
• President of the Islaamic Fiqh Assembly based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
• Member of the Higher Council of the Islamic University of Medina.
• Member of the Higher Committee for Islaamic Da'wah in Saudi Arabia.

Over the years, he held a large number of positions as president or member of various Islamic councils and committees, and chaired a number of conferences both within Saudi Arabia and overseas, in addition to writing a great number of books in different fields and issuing a large body of fatwa. In 1981 he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.^[6][7] He was the only Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia not to come from the Al ash-Sheikh family.^[8]

Activities

Ibn Bāz had undertaken a number of charitable and other activities such as:^[6]

• His support for Dawah organizations and Islamic centers in many parts of the world.
• The establishment and supervision of schools for teaching the Qur'an.
• The foundation of an organization that facilitates marriage for Muslim youth.
• The popular radio program, Nurun AlaDarb ("light on the path"), in which he discussed many current issues and answered questions from listeners as well as providing fatwa if needed.

Ibn Bāz was considered by many to be prolific speaker both in public and privately at his mosque. Like his books, his lectures and sermons were numerous and revolved frequently around the situation of the Muslim world. In addition, much of his time was devoted to the lessons he gave after Fajr prayer, teaching during the day, meeting delegates from Muslim countries and sitting with people after Maghrib prayer to provide counseling and advice on personal matters. He also used to invite people after Isha prayer to share a meal with him.^[6]Ibn Bāz was among the Muslim scholars who opposed regime change using violence.^[9] He called for obedience to the people in power unless they ordered something that went against God.^[10]

Works

This section requires expansion. (September 2011)

The number of books written by Ibn Bāz exceeds sixty and the subject matter covered many topics such as Hadith, Tafsir, Fara'ed, Tawheed, Fiqh and also a great deal of books on Salat, Zakat, Dawah, Hajj and Umrah.^[6]

Death

On Thursday morning, 13 May 1999, Ibn Bāz died at the age of 88. The next day, following Friday prayer, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince 'Abdullah bin 'Abdul 'Aziz, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, and hundreds of thousands of people performed the funeral prayer at the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.^[11] He was buried in Al Adl cemetery, Mecca.^[12]
King Fahd issued a decree appointing Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh as the new Grand Mufti after Ibn Bāz's death.^[13]
In his career as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, he attempted to both legitimize the rule of the ruling family and to support calls for the reform of Islam in line with Salafi ideals. Many criticized him for supporting the Saudi government when, after the Gulf War, it muzzled or imprisoned those regarded as too critical of the government, such as Safar al-Hawali and Salman al-Ouda.
When Ibn Bāz died in 1999. The loss of "his erudition and reputation for intransigence" was so great the Saudi government was said to have "found itself staring into a vacuum" unable to find a figure able to "fill ibn Bāz's shoes."^[14] His influence on the Salafi movement was large, and most of the prominent judges and religious scholars of Saudi Arabia today are former students of his.

Controversies

His obituary in The Independent said "His views and fatwas (religious rulings) were controversial, condemned by militants, liberals and progressives alike".^[15] He was also criticized by hardline Salafists and Jihadists for supporting the decision to permit U.S. troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1991.^[16]
In 1966, when Ibn Baz was vice-president of the Islamic University of Medina, he wrote an article denouncing Riyadh University for teaching the "falsehood" that the earth rotates and orbits the sun: "The Holy Quran, the Prophet's teaching and the majority of Islamic scientists and the actual fact all prove that the sun is running in its orbit, as Almighty God ordained, and that the earth is fixed and stable".^[17] King Faisal was reportedly so angered by this statement and ordered the destruction of every unsold copy of both papers.^[17]

In 1982 Ibn Baz published a book, Al-adilla al-naqliyya wa al-ḥissiyya ʿala imkān al-ṣuʾūd ila al-kawākib wa ʾala jarayān al-shams wa al-qamar wa sukūn al-arḍ ("Treatise on the textual and rational proofs of the rotation of the sun and the motionlessness of the earth and the possibility of ascension to other planets"), in which he repeated his belief that the sun orbited the earth.^[18] According to some sources, he threatened all who did not accept his views with a fatwa of , declaring them infidels.^[19] However, Ibn Baz later wrote a response stating that "I did not declare those who believe that [the earth rotates] to be Kafirs, but I do so for those who say that the sun is static and does not move. This is because saying so contradicts the explicit texts in the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah, which confirm that the sun and the moon run on their courses."^[20] He changed his mind concerning the rotation of the Earth in 1985, when Prince Sultan bin Salman returned home after a week aboard the space shuttle Discovery to tell him that he had seen the earth rotate.^[17] ibn baz also said that he never declared a person infidel who believe in round earth and earth revolving around sun.^[21]

Gulf War

During the Gulf War Ibn Bāz issued fatwa allowing the deployment of non-Muslim troops on Saudi Arabia soil to defend the Kingdom from the Iraqi army. Some noted that this was in contrast to his opinion in the 1940s, when he contradicted the government policy of Islamically allowing non-Muslims to be employed on Saudi soil.^[22] However, according to The New York Times, his fatwa overruled more radical clerics.^[23] In response to criticism, ibn Baz condemned those who "whisper secretly in their meetings and record their poison over cassettes distributed to the people."^[23]

Osama bin Laden

Ibn Baz held the view of righteously following the Salaf (Predecessors')].^[15] However, his views were, according to The Independent, not draconian enough for Osama bin Laden who condemned ibn Baz for "his weakness and flexibility and the ease of influencing him with the various means which the interior ministry practices".^[15] Ibn Bāz was the subject of Osama bin Laden's first public pronouncement intended for the general Muslim public. This open letter condescendingly criticized him for endorsing the Oslo peace accord between the PLO and Israeli government.^[24] Ibn Baz defended his decision to endorse the Oslo Accords by citing the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, saying that a peace treaty with non-Muslims has historical precedent if it can avoid the loss of life.^[25][26]