RIYADH, 25 January — Chairman of the Shoura Council Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Jubair,76, died here yesterday after a heart attack. The funeral prayers were offered at the Imam Turki ibn Abdullah Mosque in the afternoon. Riyadh Governor Prince Salman attended the funeral prayers.
Earlier in the day, the Royal Court announced that Ibn Jubair died at the Military Hospital in Riyadh.
As a mark of his outstanding services in the legal field, Ibn Jubair was selected as the chairman of the 60-member Shoura Council by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd in 1993. His term was extended when the 120-member council was reshuffled in May last year.
A former justice minister, he was also awarded the King Abdul Aziz Medal of the Second Order.
Ibn Jubair was born in Al-Mujamma, 200 km northwest of Riyadh, in 1929. After completing his high school from Al-Tawhid School in Taif in 1949,
Ibn Jubair graduated in Islamic Law from the Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah in 1953.
He was appointed judge at the summary court in Makkah in 1954 and later recruited to the panel of judges at the Court of Grievances. In 1972 he became the head of the Higher Judicial Authority under the Ministry of Justice. He was appointed the president of the Court of Grievances in 1976. He became the acting minister of justice in 1991 and later the minister of justice.
He also served as the acting president of the Kingdom’s Supreme Judiciary Council.
Ibn Jubair participated in a number of seminars held in Riyadh, Paris and The Vatican. He also represented the Kingdom in the Council of Churches in Geneva and the European Council on Islamic Law in Strasbourg.
He attended several international conferences on human rights as well.
He was a member of the Senior Ulema Council and chairman of the constituent assembly of the Fiqh Academy Conference, an offshoot of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). He was also a member of the Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League.
Ibn Jubair was a well-known orator and prolific writer on topics related to the Islamic law.
Ibn Jubair, who has been suffering from health problems in recent weeks, attended the council session on Sunday for the last time.
The respected scholar had served as head of the Shoura since its launch in 1993.
The council, which began with 60 members, has since been expanded to 120 members. The assembly has a purely advisory role and decision-making rests with the government.
"Our duty is only to work out executive charters to implement legislation that had been revealed by the Almighty in the Holy Qur’an," Ibn Jubair said during a Shoura debate on Dec. 31.
"The council does not legislate because laws exist in Shariah," he added.
Commending his services, the former deputy chairman of the Shoura Council, Abdullah Omar Naseef, said Ibn Jubair led a life of service to the people.
Fahd Al-Harthy, a member of the Shoura Council, said his death is a great loss to the nation as his services were of utmost importance to the people and the nation.
