KUALA LUMPUR: Religious adviser to the Sultan of Johor, Datuk Dr Nooh Gadot, has been awarded the National Tokoh Maal Hijrah for 2025.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia Haj and Umrah Minister Dr Tawfig Fawzan Muhammed al-Rabiah was conferred the International Tokoh Maal Hijrah 2025 award.
The awards were presented by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, during the national Maal Hijrah celebrations here yesterday.
Nooh, who was the 11th Johor mufti until 2008, was born in 1946 in Segamat, Johor.
He received his early education at Sekolah Melayu Kampung Pagoh, Segamat, before continuing his studies and graduating from Al-Azhar University, Egypt, in 1977.
In May 1996, he became the chief assistant director of the Shariah Law Administration Department (chief kadi), a post he held for two years.
Nooh was then appointed as deputy mufti of Johor on July 9, 1998.
The following year, Nooh was officially appointed as the mufti of Johor, a position he held until 2008.
Tawfig, 60, a graduate from King Saud University who also holds a master’s degree in computer science from Pittsburgh University, has been in the post since 2021.
A former Saudi health minister, Tawfig is known for his digital reforms to the haj system in Saudi Arabia.
At a media conference after the event in Kuala Lumpur, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar said that both candidates were chosen based on their contributions to Muslims locally and globally.
