MAKKAH: Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh will not be delivering the annual Haj sermon from the plains of Arafat this year.
Local media said Al-Asheikh “will not be able to address the massive congregation of pilgrims from Namirah Mosque in Arafat on Sunday due to health reasons.”
The grand mufti has been addressing the annual gathering since 1981. This would have been his 36th address from Arafat.
The Haj sermon will be delivered this year by Saleh bin Humaid, who previously served as chairman of the Shoura Council and was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Al-Asheikh was appointed grand mufti in 1999 after the death of his predecessor Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz.
Al-Asheikh had for about two decades prior to that given the annual address to the Haj throng at the site where Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, delivered his famous last sermon.
The grand mufti is a descendant of Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab, the 18th-century scholar.
In previous Arafat sermons, Al-Asheikh denounced radical extremists and Yemeni rebels who receive weapons from Iran.