Abdul-Aziz Ibn Baz

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Ibn Baaz
EraModern era
RegionSaudi Arabian scholar
SchoolSunni

Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1993 until his death in 1999.

Name

(عبدالعزيز بن عبدالله بن باز)' (also 'Abdul Aziz bin 'Abdullaah bin Baz(الشيخ عبدالعزيز بن باز) or Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz) The name means "Servant of the Almighty, son of the servant of God, son of Falcon".

Biography

Early life, Education and Character:

He was born in the 1910 in the city of Riyadh الرياض ,in Najd نجد province. At the age of sixteen, ibn Baaz contracted a serious eye infection. His sight deteriorated and by the age of twenty he was completely blind. His blindness notwithstanding, ibn Baaz continued to study Islam under the direction of some of the most renowned Islamic thinkers of his day, such as the North African Sheikh Shanqeeti.

Ibn Baaz first developed notoriety and a reputation for integrity in the 1940s when he served time in prison as punishment for contradicting government policy with a fatwa declaring the employment of non-Muslims in the Persian Gulf forbidden by Islam. Ironically 50 odd years later, in a seeming reversal, he issued another fatwa allowing the deployment of non-Muslim troops on Saudi Arabia soil to defend the Kingdom from the Iraqi army.[1]

Many who met Ibn Baaz loved him for his noble character, simplicity and generosity. Despite the high positions he held during his lifetime, he lived a very simple life and spent most of his wealth on education and charity.

Flat earth allegations

Ibn Baaz is best known in the West from a report claiming he issued a fatwa (pronouncement regarding sharia law) declaring: "The earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment."[2] Ibn Baaz described this flat earth-report as "a pure lie"[3]. Several muslim leaders argued that, in fact, he maintained not that the earth is flat but that it is a stationary globe that the sun and moon revolve around, using Quranic literalism as evidence. (Discussion of the issues can be found in Islam and flat-earth theories).

The explanation for this misunderstanding would be that when Arabs say the 'Ard (Arabic for earth or its surface) is flat, they refer to the ground and the surface and not the planet earth itself.[citation needed]

Gulf War

In his career as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia (the highest legal authority in the country) he attempted to both legitimize the rule of the ruling family of Saud 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 some Salafi scholars regarded as too critical of the government. It is said that the mother of one of the jailed scholars reprimanded Ibn Baaz, and he wept, which some believe shows that he later regretted his actions. Ibn Baaz was the subject of Osama bin Laden's first public pronouncement intended for the general Muslim public when he (bin Laden) issued an open letter respectfully criticizing Ibn Baaz for endorsing the Oslo peace accord between the PLO and Israeli government.[4]

When Ibn Baaz 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 bin Baaz's shoes."[5] His influence on the Salafi movement was large, and most of the prominent judges and religious scholars of Saudi Arabia today are his students.

Osama bin Laden

Ibn Baaz was the subject of Osama bin Laden's first public pronouncement intended for the general Muslim public. This open letter respectfully criticized Ibn Baaz for endorsing the Oslo peace accord between the PLO and Israeli government.[6]

This resulted in Ibn Baaz declaring Bin Laden a Kharije, one who rebels against the state..[7]

Positions held

  • Judge of Kharj الخرج from 1357 H to 1371 H
  • Teacher, Faculty of Shariah [Islamic Law] كلية الشريعة , Riyadh Institute of Science , 1373 H to 1381 H.
  • Vice President, and later President, of the Islamic University in Medina, 1381 H to 1391 H.
  • Chairman of the Government Department of Scientific Research and Ifta (guidance) with the rank of Minister. 1395 H to 1414 H.
  • Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Head of the Council of Ulema (Senior Scholars) - 1993 to 1999 CE (1414-1420 AH)
  • President of the Permanent Committee for Islaamic Research and Fataawa

Activities

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 the Kingdom and overseas, in addition to writing a great number of books in different fields and issuing a large body of fatwa. In 1982 CE (1420 AH), he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.

Books

Books written by Shaykh ibn Baaz include:

References

  1. ^ Kepel, The War for Muslim Minds, 2004, p.184
  2. ^ Youssef M. Ibrahim, "Muslim Edicts Take on New Force," The New York Times, February 12, 1995, Sunday, p. 14
  3. ^ Shakiel Humayun (25 June 2004). "Polemic Rebuttals: Who Says the Earth is Flat ? Refuting Lies Against Ibn Baaz". thetruereligion.org. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Messages to the World, The Statements of Osama Bin Laden, Edited and Introduced by Bruce Lawrence, Translated by James Howarth, Verso, 2005
  5. ^ Kepel, The War for Muslim Minds, 2004, p.186
  6. ^ Messages to the World, The Statements of Osama Bin Laden, Edited and Introduced by Bruce Lawrence, Translated by James Howarth, Verso, 2005
  7. ^ http://www.troid.org/articles/manhaj/innovation/thefitnahoftakfeer/binlaadin.pdf
  • Kepel, Gilles (2004). The War for Muslim Minds : Islam and the West,. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01575-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |Translator= ignored (|translator= suggested) (help)

External links

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