Al-Sadiq Abd al-Rahman Ali al-Ghariani (Arabic: الصادق عبد الرحمن علي الغرياني, romanized: al-Ṣādiq ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ʻAlī al-Ghiryānī; also spelled Saadiq, Sadeq and Sadik) has been the Grand Mufti of Libya since 2012.
Academically he is a seated professor in the College of Sharia in the University of Tripoli since 1969 and distinguished contributor the Maliki school of thought with his numerous publications.
As Grand Mufti and head of the Dar al-Ifta, the office in Libya responsible for religious rulings, his fatwas are not law, but they nevertheless exert an important moral force in government policy and decision-making.
In 2016, following the crackdown on the Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, he continued his full support for the fight against the rebels that attempted a military take over of the sitting democratic government.
[13] As is natural in Muslim countries Sheikh Ghariani has been advising the Libyan public over the years since after the February 17th revolution calling for peace and unity in the country and warning the public about issues that affect their religious rights and freedoms including answering questions as a Mufti to give Iftas on complex religious questions[citation needed], all of these responses are meticulously documented the website Tanasuh[citation needed].
British media reported that he "faces possible war crimes charges for urging followers to overthrow Libyan government" and that he is currently residing in the United Kingdom, where he gained his doctorate in 1984.
[15] The Tanasuh TV channel was attacked on numerous occasions, with one incident involving armed men barging in and looting the recording equipment and sacking the broadcasting office in Libya.
On 22 July 2016, Cleric Sadek Al Ghariani along with Misrata militia leader Salah Badi and former Islamist-GNC-regime prime minister Omar al-Hassi were found to have facilitated the orchestration of a pro-Islamic based protest against the Presidential Council (Libya) in Tripoli over the presence of French special forces that were recently killed in the downing of their chopper over Benghazi.
[18] On 4 August 2016, Clerik Sadek Al Ghariani stated that the US airstrike in Sirte[19][20] was illegal in a press conference even though it was requested by the UN agreed upon Presidency Council (led by Chairman Faiez Seraj based in Tripoli as the sole legitimate government of Libya).
He has also evidently attacked the RADA special forces in Tripoli (responsible for dealing with rampant crime and Kidnappings ) for "Carrying out crimes of arrest and seizure against Islamist Benghazi Revolutionaries" Ghariani claimed, who have been evidently linked to the Islamic State and terrorist practices via video prisoner confessions that the RADA special forces released.
[37][38] In June 2017, following the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, a number of nations including Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Maldives, Mauritania, Senegal, Comoros, Chad, Somaliland, and Libya's Tobruk government, agreed to designate Sadiq Al Ghariani as having Links to Qatari backed Terrorism sponsorship[39][40][41] and terrorism related activities following Sadiq Al Ghariani's radical activities in Libya involving the spreading of radical propaganda and fatwas to the public inciting violence.