Sulaiman Al Rajhi

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.