His Eminence the great scholar Sheikh Muhammad Bin Ibrahim Bin Abdil Lateef Bin Abdir Rahman Bin Hassan Bin Sheikh of Islam Muhammad Bin Abdil Wahhab the Imaam and great scholar of his era and his city and the chief judge of  the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

   He was born in the city of Riyadh on the seventeenth of Muharram one thousand three hundred and eleven ( 17 / 1 / 1311AH .) He was  born in  a house of knowledge  piety and religious leading . So that ; He grew up - as it is the tradition of His People and Parents - So affectoinate to the Knowledge and ambitious for the superiority. And His father at that is the Judge of Riyadh City.

   He was one of the great and famous scholars of the region of Najd, he  followed the path of his father, thus since his childhood when he was only seven years old he began to study the Holy Quran in the book of Sheikh Abdur Rahman Bin Mfirej, he completed its reading and perfected it and then proceeded to the memorization of the Holy Quran by heart, he was not even eleven years old when he completed Its memorization.

   Then he began to seek knowledge as he learned lections science from his father and his uncle the great scholar of Najd in his era Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdul-Latif and his first reading in monotheism and fundamentals of creed, -reading and memorization with comprehension – then he read the summaries of Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab and Sheikh Al-Islam Bin Taymiyah and Bin Al-Qayyim  such as Al-Waasitiyyah, Al Hamawiyyah, as well as summaries in syntax, law of inheritance such as Al Ajroumiyyah and Ar Rahabiyyah.

   He lost his view when he was fourteen, he kept patient and sought reward from Allah, and this did not affected his intention and determination to seek further knowledge, but on the contrary it increased his determination in seeking knowledge and he spent his whole life in acquiring it , and he started seeking knowledge from the scholars of Riyadh in addition with his uncle and his father, he started reading books of interpretation (exegesis) and Prophetic Traditions (Hadeeth) and Its principles with Sheikh Saad Ibn "Ateeq, and in syntax and Arabic sciences with Sheikh Hamad Bin Fares, and in extended books about law of inheritance with Sheikh Abdullah Bin Rashid Bin Gel"aud , and in all of these sciences he realized a good acquisition.

   His father died in 1329 A.H, and he acted like a father for his younger brothers in compassion and pity and made his brother Sheikh Abdul Latif his partner in coming and going and his assistant in the preparation of issues and lessons, each of them benefit from the other, and he remained unchanged in engaging himself in seeking knowledge, and spent all of his time in acquiring knowledge until he  achieved in a short time what the great one did not achieved in long-time, and became his uncle"s special students the great scholar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdul Latif.

   When his uncle"s fell ill and his illness aggravated he advised his majesty King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdur Rahmaan Aal Saud for his brother, the Sheikh, and mentioned about his knowledge, mind, vision and his good acquisition, and when Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdul -Latif died the Sheikh reached his maturity, and his mind was elevated and his knowledge was expanded and he became famous, so  he succeeded his uncle in religious and scientific leadership, and performed the same job his uncle was performing such as teaching, issuing legal verdict, the leadership of the grand mosque in Riaydh, delivering sermon and precedence in scientific sessions, thus many students gathered around him and began reading with him and benefit from his knowledge, and His Majesty King Abdul Aziz,- may Allah have mercy on him- saw in him sufficiency and appropriateness to be his legal adviser in justice and to express opinion on Islamic matters, and he was one of the great contributors to refute the doubt of the desert extremists, so he refuted their doubts and invalidated their arguments and explained to them the path of truth and righteousness.

   And he performed these religious and scientific functions as  best as possible and completed them, in particular the lessons, he engaged most of his time in teaching and dictating them to the students of different levels and grades, he was sitting in the mosque of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdul-Latif, who is in the district of Dakhana after the morning prayer for young students, and they studied with him principles of Arabic grammar (syntax) in Al- Ajroumiyyahy, and then after them the middle age, and after them the adults in Al Alfiyyah, and he delivered lessons to each of these three groups what fitted to them.

   And after the lessons in syntax was completed he started delivering lessons in Islamic Jurisprudence, the students were reciting the summary of Al- Mouqni" with him by heart, then he began to explain Al- Mouqni" and clarified its meaning, one of the student was repeating the lesson the Sheikh delivered after His explication, and the other students were listening, the Sheikh was interrupting the reader to explain what the reader was reading and explained the regulations and was giving more profits related to the lesson, and that for what he was for his great knowledge in Islamic Jurisprudence and the quality of recalling his knowledge and the abundance of material, and the lesson was not completed only after the Sheikh had fulfilled the desires of the students by clarifying and explaining all the difficult points in the lesson and also after clarifying all the meanings and giving a good illustration of the regulations and adding more profits related to the lesson, and after the completion of the lesson in Islamic Jurisprudence they studied the Prophetic traditions (Hadeeth), and so the Sheikh spent all of his time at the service of knowledge, and acquiring it and distributing it to others.

   And because of this great demand for knowledge and the devotion for its revision, and  the teaching and listening to these useful books and beneficial travels, you will come to know the secret of His expanded knowledge and His huge assimilation and the extent of His knowledge, and he remained in this way since his uncle died in 1339 AH until 1380 AH, and when he was appointed to assume major functions and his responsibilities was multiplied and his works was increased as this big determination in knowledge and the insistent desire to propagate and to teach had a big influence on his life, top scholars has excelled at his hands, and a countless number of students graduated with him, and those who we know from his great and brilliant students are:

1- Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Bin Baaz –may Allah have mercy on him- the former mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

2- Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad Bin Humaid the former chairman of the consultative council.

3- Sheikh Abdur Rahmaan Bin Qasim , writer of many books, and compiler of verdicts (Fatawa) of Sheikh ul Islam Bin Taiymiyah.
 
4- Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad Al Qar"aawi, the Islamic preacher from the south of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

5- Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Nasir Bin Raashid.

6- Sheikh Abdul Latif Bin Ibrhim Aal As-Sheikh.

7- Sheikh Abdul Malik Bin Ibrahim Aal As Sheikh.

8- Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Muhammad Aal As-Sheikh.

9- Sheikh Ibrahim Bin Muhammad Aal As-Sheikh.

10- Sheikh SUlaiman Bin Ubaid.

11- Sheikh Abdullah Bin Duhaimish.

12- Sheikh Abdullah Bin Sulaiman Al Mis"ari.

13- Sheikh Hamad Al Jaasir.

14- Sheikh Muhammad Bin Haleel.

15- Sheikh Abdullah Bin Yusuf Al Waili.

16- Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Bin Hasan Aal Ash Sheikh.

17- Sheikh Hamad Bin Muhammad Bin Faryaan.

18- Sheikh Abdur Rahmaan Bin Abdullah Bin Faryaan.

19- Sheikh Rashid Bin Swaleh Bin Khunain.

20- Sheikh Zaid Bin Fayad.

21- Sheikh Sa"ud Bin Rashoud Ra"iys.

22- Sheikh Swalih Bin Abdul Aziz Aal Ash Sheikh.

23- Sheikh Abdr Rahmaan Bin Faaris.

   And a lot more, thus he was the Sheikh of his era and the reference of the scholars and the students , they made long trips to acquire knowledge from him and to benefit from him.

His Books:
   What he has written does not reflect his true level of knowledge, but it is lower than that level, it is some booklets and some refutations, and this is not a measure of what he possessed of knowledge and neither the efforts he made in order to publish it, certainly he was one of the famous knowledgeable scholars .

His Works :
   He devoted the first part of his life in acquiring knowledge, and despite that he was engaged in teaching, preaching, and guiding and giving directives he was also the chief judge in Najd for their judicial and other legal affairs, and so he was until Allah The  Almighty blessed this country with numerous well-being and financial resources, the government started to develop the country in various departments and facilities and began to promote the country and its people and provide all means of reform to the citizens, thus Sheikh Ibrahim played a big role by participating in shouldering the heavy burdens and responsibilities of the country because of the trust the supreme bodies of the country placed on him, specially His Majesty the King, and those works included:
First : The sharia courts in Najd and the eastern region set up and established legal departments, Sheikh Ibrahim was its chairman and supervised its works, and after the death of His Eminence the Chief Justice in Hijaz Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hasan, the courts in the Kingdom was unified and Sheikh Ibrahim become the general chief justice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, thus he regulated the courts and appointed judges and supervised their works.
Second : When study with the scholars in Islamic and Arabic sciences as in the past diminished in mosques, the government replaced it by establishing religious institutions, and its functions was to graduate scholars in Islamic and Arabic sciences, thus two faculties was established for them which are the faculty of Sharia and Arabic language, and Sheikh Ibrahim was its general president and its supervisor and supervisor of its administrative and academic works.
Third : When the call for Islamic solidarity had an echo it drew the attention of the Islamic nation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia place of divine revelation and source of light to guidance, then the need to call for Muslim solidarity and interdependence emerged to establish the Muslim World League, and Sheikh Ibrahim  was the president of the constituent council and  the sheikh was the general reference of the league.
Fourth: Education in the past  was confined for boys only except in some private schools, so the rightly guided Sunni government wanted to establish schools for girls, and give them their share of science and knowledge, and because of the seriousness of this step, and the reigning fear, its establishment was assigned to sheikh Ibrahim - may Allah have mercy on Him- so he led its works in the best of ways, and the Saudi girls got their largest share of knowledge while maintaining their modesty and Islamic traditions.
Fifth: The Islamic call and calling Muslims to return to their authentic religion was the most proper concern of our Sunni government -may Allah help it-, so in this regard the government was making all possible efforts that would enlighten Muslims and non-Muslims about the Islamic religion, and among these efforts was the establishment of the Islamic University in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, so the government established it and reserved the majority of scholarships to non – Saudis students, and again Sheikh Ibrahim was the main supervisor of its establishment and was its general president.
Sixth : When the board for issuing legal verdict was established Sheikh Ibrahim was made one of its finest scholars,  so  the legal opinions (fatawa) was issued by this board and beside this the Sheikh was supervising the printing of books and publications, and its free distribution to propagate knowledge and facilitate its paths, and the Sheikh was the first Mufti in the country and the reference of those works.

His Death:
   The sheikh reached eighty years old and was still performing his activity, works and functions, then he was infected by a chronic disease, and traveled twice to London for treatment, and when he returned after the second time the disease aggravated and in the afternoon on Wednesday the twenty-fourth of Ramadan 1389 A.H he died,  (Janaza) prayer was said on Him after the Asr prayer at the grand Mosque of Riyadh and a big number of persons gathered for his funeral as the whole nation gathered to mourn the deceased, and among them his majesty King Faisal, and also princes, scholars, ministers, dignitaries, and he was buried in Al-Oud cemetery in Riyadh, and His Majesty King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud attended the condolence in the house of the deceased, he expressed his regret for loosing such a great scholar and the impact of this lost was apparent on the King and he prayed Allah to have mercy on the Sheikh, and praised Him, and talked about the great lost for the country by his death and as usual he consoled his family members and the audience of scholars who was present their, Allaah has protected Him for estimating the situation and his knowledge for great men.
   In reality the nation was shaken by his death and all its members were horrified by the loss and saw that they lost a big and dear personality one of the dearest member of the country, particularly scholars who considered him as a father, a Sheikh, a leader and a reference, the situation was really hard for them to admit  and they reverted to the great saying: To Allah alone we belong and to Him we shall return, they were repeating these words from the bottom of their hearts that beleived in Allah"s decree, and the people went on each other to console themselves  for their involvement in this great lost.
And their here is no doubt that by his death Saudi Arabia lost a senior figure in its education and its work and status and its place.
   Therefore poems and eulogy words were written about Him and also he was lamented and praised and his great achievements and works were enumerated, and some of the magazines, news papers designated  some of their numbers to talk on the occasion of his death.
   The Sheikh left four sons: His Excellency Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Sheikh Ibrahim, Ahmad and Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on Him, and reward him, and bless him.