The current imam and leader of Qur'anic recitation at Saudi Arabia's Masjid al-Haram, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais graduated from Riyadh University and is regarded as a face of authority on religious matters in the more conservative Sunni Islamic world. He was born in 1961; in 2006, he was recognized as the "Islamic Personality of the Year" after winning the Dubai International Holy Quran Award. He is perhaps best known for some of the controversial statements