Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi (born in 1929) is the founder and one of the main owners of Alrajhi Bank. He is one of the notable Saudi businessmen. He built mosques in several provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has also allocated over half of his fortune, amounting to USD10 billion, in favor of charitable endowments. He received the King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam and the King Abdulaziz Medal. He distributed the other half of his fortune among his sons and wives, living off a personal allowance generated by his endowment.
Early life of Sulaiman Al Rajhi
Sulaiman Al Rajhi was born and grew up in a poor family in al-Bukayriyah Governorate, in Qassim Province. He relocated to Riyadh at a young age after his father and family’s livelihood worsened.
He started working in business in 1939, at ten years old. He grew fond of work and business, ultimately achieving his practical successes in those fields. He was determined to achieve excellence. Moreover, since a very young age, he was always keen on building upon the experiences of others and learning from them without imitating them.
Throughout his quest for suitable opportunities, Sulaiman Al Rajhi assumed several jobs, hoping to work at something that could generate income in his favor. Accordingly, he opened a small shop where he worked for a while. He eventually sold the shop, upon saving some money, to get married. At that time, he was only fifteen years old. He ended up working in the exchange field with his brother, Saleh. He worked in the field for eleven years, between 1945 and 1956. Once they saved enough, they established a partnership in the field of business and banking. The partnership began in 1957 and ended in 1970.
Expansion of Sulaiman Al Rajhi’s business
Sulaiman Al Rajhi’s relocation to Makkah al-Mukarramah and his work in exchange, where he provided his services in favor of pilgrims, greatly contributed to his business thriving. His fortune began growing, ultimately becoming one of the world’s pioneers in exchange. Since his engagement in exchange, he became renowned for applying the principles and teaching of Islamic Sharia to business transactions and within his personal life. This had a major contribution to the personal and business successes he achieved, where he finally became the chairman of the board of directors and a main shareholder of a major Islamic banking institution.
Sulaiman Al Rajhi began expanding his business in 1972, upon establishing Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi. The foundation’s establishment was ultimately followed by the opening of several branches in Jeddah Governorate and some other cities. His expansion in the field of banking was supplemented by another expansion in the field of real estate, where he achieved success in the field, ultimately developing a good reputation among customers and merchants in Saudi Arabia and abroad.
Sulaiman Al Rajhi and Islamic banking
Sulaiman Al Rajhi was always keen on innovating on fostering funds and ensuring that those funds are blessed. As such, he ought to create an Islamic banking system based on the teachings and principles of Islamic Sharia. He submitted a request before the officials of the Bank of England to receive a license for opening a consulting services office. However, although the request was initially rejected, the request was ultimately approved after Al Rajhi personally met the officials of the Bank of England, where he succeeded in convincing them. Once they approved the request, the office was inaugurated in 1981.
As a result of his interest in partnering and achieving integration within sectors to achieve advancement and development and ensure business continuity, he decided to invest in several sectors. He established several establishments in the country and abroad, where related sectors include finance, real estate, industry, agriculture, food, education, and technology.
Charitable work of Sulaiman Al Rajhi
Sulaiman Al Rajhi began his charitable work by helping the needy and extending help among those entitled, either personally or those representing him in assuming these tasks. He kept on doing charitable work until this field was eventually regulated, where charitable entities turned into foundations. Hence, the contributions made by Al Rajhi were allocated accordingly, where his role was limited to overseeing and monitoring such charitable works.
In line with the development of charitable work in Saudi Arabia and the expansion of Sulaiman Al Rajhi’s business, he established a foundation to carry out charitable and Dawah-related missions. After that, Al Rajhi established Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi Charitable Foundation in 2000, followed by the establishment of several institutions in the field of non-profit charitable work, including Sulaiman Al Rajhi University and Sulaiman Al Rajhi Endowment.
His charitable work includes building mosques, caring for needy families, developing housing for the poor, and establishing Al Rajhi Charitable Fund. Additionally, he plays a role in combating poverty and supporting both local and international charitable institutions through financial aid, rehabilitation, donations, and training.
Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi Charitable Foundation
Sulaiman Al Rajhi established a private foundation he named “Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi Charitable Foundation.” The foundation seeks to monitor and maintain the charitable endowment, ensuring the endowment is allocated in favor of the specified entities, including a charitable hospital, a private establishment offering Arabic and Islamic curricula in various languages, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University in al-Bukayriyah, which includes the colleges of medicine and nursing. Furthermore, Al Rajhi instructed the establishment of an institute for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers and another institute for teaching financial skills.
The foundation also works on establishing a college for economics and Al Rajhi Economic Center. The foundation’s work also seeks to build mosques, where mosques would feature sites dedicated to prayers, others for teaching the Noble Quran, and places for practicing seclusion. Al Rajhi has also attached utmost attention to the Noble Quran, where he supported holding sessions for memorizing the Quran, printing the Quran, and distributing copies thereof abroad, namely in the African continent.
Economic contributions of Sulaiman Al Rajhi
Sulaiman Al Rajhi was keen on contributing to the economy. As such, he founded several major investment projects that succeeded in achieving some sort of food self-sufficiency in the country, where these projects serve the sectors of industry and construction. He also contributed to developing Muslim communities by investing in several Muslim countries and working on fostering commercial relationships therewith.
Awards held by Sulaiman Al Rajhi
In recognition of the efforts of Sulaiman Al Rajhi, he was granted the Order of King Abdulaziz in 2000. In 2012, he received the King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam, due to allocating more than 50 percent of his fortune as an endowment in favor of charitable work, establishing a foundation for monitoring the endowment and following up on its affairs, and achieving its specified objectives, in addition to contributing to the establishment of a major Islamic banking institution that offered a model for Islamic banks seeking to comply with Islamic teachings.
Donated 60 billion rials now don’t have a penny.Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi (Arabic :سليمان بن عبد العزيز الراجحي, born 1929) is a Saudi Arabian corporate figure and billionaire. As of 2011, his wealth was estimated by Forbes to be $5.9 billion, making him the 169th richest person in the world.
Born into his poor family. The school where he used to study once organized a pleasure trip. It is informed that every student has to pay one riyal. But the financial situation of Al-Razi’s parents was so miserable that it was not possible for them to arrange a riyal for the child. As a result, as the travel time approached, he started crying, thinking about how to arrange that one real.
What else is needed in this short life?
When the test results were published at that time, it was seen that Solomon was the first in the class. As a reward for this success, a Palestinian teacher rewarded him with a real. In this way, getting the opportunity to fulfill the hobby of pleasure travel, Solomon became an eightfold joy.
After graduating, Al-Razi quickly found success in his career. As an entrepreneur, he started working in a room in Jeddah under the name ‘Bank’. In a short span of time, he set up a bank network called Al-Razi all over Saudi Arabia. It is now the largest Islamic bank in the world.
Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi is now looking for his Palestinian teacher. When he found the teacher he was retired, the financial situation was extremely miserable. Al-Razi brought his teacher and put him in a car. He said, ‘I am indebted to you.’ The teacher said, ‘How can a man be indebted to a poor man?’ ‘Do you want to give that one riyal back now?’ Then Razi brought his favorite teacher to a beautiful house, there was an expensive car. Said, ‘From today this house and car are yours. And we will bear all your expenses. ‘
The tearful teacher said, “It becomes too much for me.”
In 2010, Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi waqfed his wife and children with half of his huge fortune. The current value of the waqf assets is more than 60 billion riyals. From which donations are constantly being made for the people. Forbes Magazine has included him in the list of top 20 donors in the world.
He founded the world’s largest Islamic bank as well as the world’s largest poultry farm in the Middle East, called Al-Watania Poultry. There is not a city in Saudi Arabia where a mosque was not built with the Al-Razi family’s money. Going to Islamic medicine and charities with regular financial support. 1.5 million workers working in their own organizations are paid before the end of the month.
“We are indebted to our country, our society and our people for this success,” he said in an interview. So we have to do something for the country, for the people. ‘He was asked,’ You gave half of the property to your wife and children, you gave the other half. What did you keep for yourself? With a soft smile, Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi replied, ‘Nothing.’ He said, ‘I am now 80 years old. What else is needed in this short life? The waqf covers my living, travel and medical expenses. I try to do that as little as possible. ‘
You are a billionaire but now you don’t have a penny, how do you feel? Al-Razi smiled softly at the question and said, “I feel like a free bird. When the Creator calls, I can respond immediately, there will be no setback. What could be a bigger relief than this? ’Source: Siasat.com.
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