Salih al-Fawzan

Salih ibn Fawzan ibn Abd Allah al-Fawzan (born 1354 AH / 1933 CE) is a prominent contemporary Saudi scholar, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia and the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas. He was born in Shuqra in the Qasim region and studied at the College of Sharia and later at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, where he also taught for many years.

He is known for his work in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), theology (aqeedah), and hadith commentary. His book al-Mulakhkhas al-Fiqhi (A Summary of Islamic Jurisprudence) became one of the most widely used fiqh references in the Gulf region and beyond. He also wrote extensively on Athari theology including a commentary on Kitab al-Tawhid and works on the dangers of innovations in religion.

His fatawa cover contemporary issues including financial transactions, media, family law, and interfaith relations, and are widely disseminated through the internet and printed collections. He is associated with the scholarly tradition of Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymin in the contemporary Salafi-Athari tradition, emphasizing strict adherence to textual evidence and warning against bid'ah (religious innovation).

He has been a public defender of orthodox Sunni theology against what he identifies as deviant theological positions, engaging in scholarly refutation of both rationalist and Sufi theological claims. His scholarly career spans several decades and continues in the present, making him one of the last living links to the classical Saudi scholarly tradition of the 20th century. He lives and teaches in Riyadh.