Al ash-Sheikh

The Al ash-Sheikh (Arabic: آل الشيخ, ʾĀl aš-Šaykh), also transliterated in a number of other ways, including Al ash-Shaykh, Al ash-Shaikh, Al al-Shaykh or Al-Shaykh is Saudi Arabia's leading religious family. They are the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Tamimi al-Najdi. In Saudi Arabia, the Al ash-Sheikh family is second in prestige only to the Al Saud royal family. The two families formed a power-sharing arrangement nearly 300 years ago. This agreement, which remains in place today, involves the Al Saud maintaining the Al ash-Sheikh's religious authority and the Al ash-Sheikh supporting the Al Saud's political authority. Although the Al ash-Sheikh family's dominance of the religious establishment has weakened in recent decades, its members still occupy most of the key religious positions in Saudi Arabia and are closely linked to the Al Saud family through extensive intermarriage. Due to the religious and moral authority of the Al ash-Sheikh, the agreement between the two families is crucial for maintaining the legitimacy of the Saudi royal family's rule over the country.