Riyadh: Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan bin Abdullah Al-Fawzan has been appointed Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and the Chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars.

The appointment was made by royal decree and based on a proposal by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

The religious scholar will also undertake the role of president of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, SPA said.

Sheikh Saleh succeeds former Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, who passed away on Sept. 23.

Born in 1935 in Ash-Shimasiyyah, Qassim, Sheikh Saleh Al Fawzan grew up as an orphan. He was nurtured by his extended family and guided by the local mosque’s imam, Sheikh Hammoud bin Suleiman Al Tilal, who taught him the Quran and the basics of reading and writing.

Al Fawzan began his formal education at a public school in ash-Shimasiyyah in 1950, completing his primary studies at Al Faisaliyah School in Buraydah in 1952.

He initially worked as a primary school teacher before joining the Scholarly Institute in Buraydah in 1954 as one of its first students.

After four years, he graduated and went on to study at the College of Sharia in Riyadh, earning his degree in 1961.

He subsequently completed both a master’s and a doctoral degree in Fiqh at the same institution.

His master’s thesis focused on “Satisfactory Investigations Applying Hypothetical Approaches in the Science of Inheritance”, while his doctoral thesis explored “Rulings Concerning Food in Islamic Sharia”.