Bandar Baleela - Page 9

Bandar Bin Abdoul Azeez Baleela (in Arabic: بندر بن عبد العزيز بليله), born in Mecca in 1975 (1395 of the Hegirian calendar), is an imam of the Masjid Al-Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca, the most sacred place for Muslims. He graduated from Umm Al-Qura University in Mecca as well as from the University of Medina. In 2001 he obtained a degree in Islamic jurisprudence from the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies at UmAl Qura University. In 2008, Sheikh Baleela graduated with his doctorate from the University of Medina. After having officiated the prayer in several mosques of Mecca, he was appointed imam of the great Mosque of Mecca1 in 2013. He led the prayer for the first time there on 15th Ramadan 1434 (July 23, 2013) during Tarâweeh (night prayer of Ramadan). His son, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Baleela, is also a renowned imam and reciter; in particular by the similarity of recitation with his father. During the month of Ramadan 1434, the management committee of the Two Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina, calls on 3 new imams4 to lead the Tarâwih prayer: two in Medina, and one in Mecca, Sheikh Bandar Baleela. He will thus officiate his first prayer in the Masdjid Al-Haram, in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful, on the night of the 15th Ramadan 1434 (July 23, 2013) 5. Subsequently, he will be officially appointed to the permanent position of imam at the Great Mosque of Mecca on 4 Dhul-Hijja 1434 (October 9, 2013), and will lead his first prayer (apart from the night prayer of Ramadan) the next day6, in full Hajj period.