Dr. Mishaal Al-Sulami has been appointed as vice president of the Saudi Shoura Council by royal decree.
King Salman issued a number of royal decrees, including the restructuring of the Council of Senior Scholars, the Shoura Council, and the Supreme Court, in the process appointing 20 people to the country’s highest religious body and around 150 new members to the consultative assembly.
Al-Sulami gained a bachelor’s degree in Islamic studies from King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) in Jeddah in 1996, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in comparative ideology from Exeter University in the UK, in 2000 and 2002, respectively.
He began his career in the education sector as an assistant teacher at KAU after obtaining his bachelor’s degree and on completion of his higher education returned to the university in 2002 as an assistant professor in its Islamic studies department.
Alongside his teaching post, Al-Sulami served for three years as the departmental secretary of council and in 2007 became an adviser to the office of the deputy for KAU branches’ affairs. The following year he was made an associate professor.
He has been a member of several other councils and committees including KAU’s restructuring of health sciences faculties committee and the university’s coordinating council with Jeddah’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Between 2002 and 2004, he was a member of the Islamic studies depart- ment’s planning committee respon- sible for higher education curriculums and was a coordinator of part-time courses in the same department.
Al-Sulami was also a member of the information communication committee for the establishment of universities and in 2005 was head of a constituency in the municipal elections of Jeddah governorate.
