Positions from the Life of the Mufti of Najd and His Achievements in Judiciary and Education

Question:
We ask his eminence to begin the discussion with some positions from the life of His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim. Some of the brothers have charged us with the responsibility of raising this question, so we ask him to start the talk with this scholar, through whom Allah has benefited the people, and from whose hands students have graduated who are now great scholars. We ask Allah to elevate his rank and to gather us with him in the Gardens of Pleasure. So please, may Allah reward you, grant you reward, and make your effort successful, by the permission of Allah.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Mentioning the biographies of scholars and their history is intended to follow their example and walk in their path, and then to make supplication for them as a result of the good and praiseworthy positions they presented for Islam and the Muslims. Among these is His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abdul Latif ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Hasan ibn Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, may Allah have mercy on them all, and may He reward them well for Islam and the Muslims.
There is no doubt that this man had well-known positions that are not hidden from anyone who lived in his time or came after him and saw the effects that remained after him.
This is because he assumed the trust after the death of his uncle, the scholar and mufti of Najd, Shaykh 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Latif (may Allah have mercy on him). The one who placed him in this position was King 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), on the advice of Shaykh 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Latif. When the Shaykh was on his deathbed, or in the last days of his life, he advised King 'Abd al-'Aziz to entrust the matter to this man after him. His uncle had discerned in him nobility, intelligence, and decisiveness, and he knew that he had a strong academic grasp of every discipline required of one in his position and standing. So he (may Allah have mercy on him) performed this noble task in the best possible manner: as a preacher on Friday, as an imam in the mihrab, as a teacher in the mosque, as a mufti for difficult problems, and as the head of the judges, to whom reference is made after Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in these difficult tasks that only rare men can perform. This was due to the support and facilitation that Allah granted him. . And when a person does not aspire to a position, and his concern is not the position itself, but rather he is tested with it and it is assigned to him, then Allah helps him with it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us of this.
There is no doubt that the Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him, faced great problems because the time changed from what it was before, and the people changed, and the world opened up to people in the last of the life of King Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, and the era of King Saud and King Faisal. So affairs changed from what they were before. If he had left them as they were, they would have been lost in the mazes of the future. But he, may Allah have mercy on him, due to the soundness of his mind, the strength of his thought, and the abundance of his knowledge, thought about facing these changes and preserving this great position of responsibilities for those who would come after him.
He took on tasks, each of which only exceptional men can perform, as the poet said: "People are a thousand, of whom one is like a thousand, if a matter concerns him." So he, may Allah have mercy on him, organized the judiciary, organized the courts, and established a system for them to regulate them and make them face the future with preparation and immunity. So he established the judicial system, opened the Sharia courts, and gave them a regulated system on which, praise be to Allah, the Muslims still proceed.
Likewise, for issuing fatwas, he established a system, opened a house for it, and provided employees and records, until it became regulated, praise be to Allah. It is still on this system, still on this regulated system that he, may Allah have mercy on him, established for it.
Teaching: the people were on the old system, studying in the mosques, studying in the mosques, an open study, each studying according to his ability, capacity, and preparation, and there was no system. So he established a system for education, which is manifested in opening the scientific institutes, the faculties of Sharia and the Arabic language. So he established the Scientific Institute in Riyadh, then opened branches for it in the regions of the Kingdom, then opened the Faculty of Sharia and the Faculty of Language for those who graduate from these institutes and continue their studies, until a person graduates from them qualified academically to bear the responsibilities entrusted to him. Then these institutes and faculties were called the General Presidency of Institutes and Faculties, then they were transformed into a university named Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University. This is what he did in the matter of education. Also, in the era of King Saud, may Allah have mercy on him, the Islamic University in Madinah was opened by his organization, arrangement, and preparation, and he appointed someone to oversee it in his place, who was His Eminence Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz, may Allah have mercy on him.
And the Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him, Shaykh Muhammad, bore the headship of the judiciary, bore the headship of issuing fatwas, bore the headship of the scientific institutes and faculties, and bore the headship of the Islamic University.
And the amazing thing is that he did not take for these headships, as far as we have heard and verified, he did not take salaries for them. Rather, he was content with what was allocated to him as his predecessors, what was allocated to him annually as his predecessors, which sufficed their need or was less than their need. And he was not on a functional rank according to the known system now, because he was working for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sincerely for Him, patient and counting it as a good deed. So Allah placed blessing and good for the Muslims in his works. So he strengthened and consolidated these institutions and made them prepared for the future, to live with the changes of time and the changes of people. So this is one of his positions, one of his great positions, and one of his noble works.
Then death overtook him while he was at the head of his work until the last moment of his life, and he was practicing these works and being patient with them, and he moved to the mercy of Allah after his eye was pleased with the success of these works and arrangements, and he left men after him to take charge of them. But as the poet said: "The Muslims have lost a great trust and a firm mountain." As the poet said: "By your life, is the calamity the loss of money? Or a sheep that dies or a camel? No, the calamity is the loss of a person, whose death causes many to die." But and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you and bless you.