100 Notable alumni of Al-Azhar University

Updated: May 03, 2026 EliteDegrees

Al-Azhar University is ranked #1,732 in the world and #6 in Egypt by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Al-Azhar University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Al-Azhar University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.

Mohamed Salamah

1. Mohamed Salamah

1899-1982 (aged 83)
qāriʾ
Shaykh Mohamed Salamah, born in 1899 in Musturud, Qalyubia, Egypt, and died in 1982, was a student at Al-Azhar University who memorized the Qur'an and became a Qur'anic reciter at a young age. He fought in the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 against the British. He moved to Palestine after the World War I, before returning to Egypt in the 1930s.
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As'ad al-Shuqayri

2. As'ad al-Shuqayri

1860-1940 (aged 80)
ulema politician
Sheikh As'ad Shukeiri was a Palestinian religious scholar, political leader, and mayor of Acre, and the Ottoman-appointed qadi from 1914 to 1918. Kamil al-Husayni was the Hanafi mufti at the time and considered to be pro-British. Shukeiri was pro-Ottoman, favoring that Palestine continue to be part of the Ottoman Empire, and in 1908 and 1912 he was elected to the...
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Osama Abdel Azim

3. Osama Abdel Azim

1948-2022 (aged 74)
university teacher ulema Islamic jurist
Osama Muhammad Abd al-Azim Hamza was an Egyptian Islamic scholar and former head of the Sharia Department and Professor of Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Islamic Studies for Boys in Al-Azhar University, Cairo.
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Panakkad Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal

4. Panakkad Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal

1936-2009 (aged 73)
politician
Sayed Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal was an Indian Islamic scholar, community leader, and politician from Kerala. He is sometimes regarded as "the most important Mappila leader" of modern Kerala.
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Taj El-Din Hilaly

5. Taj El-Din Hilaly

1941-2023 (aged 82)
mufti
Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly was an Egyptian Australian imam of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney and a Sunni Muslim leader in Australia. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils appointed him Mufti of Australia in 1988. He referred to himself as the Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, although this title was not unanimously endorsed, and was also described by some...
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Ahmed El-Zend

6. Ahmed El-Zend

1946-. (aged 80)
judge politician
Ahmed El-Zend is a Judge at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice and was appointed to be the Minister of Justice in Egypt on 20 May 2015. He was dismissed from the post on 13 March 2016.
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Amany Lubis

7. Amany Lubis

1963-. (aged 63)
civil servant docent university teacher ulema
Amany Burhanuddin Umar Lubis is an Indonesian Muslim, female scholar of Mandailing-Egyptian descent. As an Islamic scholar, Amany was appointed as chairperson of the Indonesian Ulema Council for Women, Youth and Families for the 2015–2020 period. On January 7, 2019, she was appointed as rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta by the minister of religion affairs of...
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Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore

8. Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore

1852-1916 (aged 64)
sultan
Said Ali bin Said Omar was the Sultan of Grande Comore. He was the first and last sultan tibe or paramount king of the whole island of Ngazidja.
Zuhairi Misrawi

9. Zuhairi Misrawi

1977-. (aged 49)
diplomat writer politician
Zuhairi Misrawi is an Indonesian writer. Misrawi first gained public notice as a young intellectual at Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and a traditionalist member of the Sunni Islam group in Indonesia. Misrawi completed his undergraduate education with the Creed-Philosophy Department, Faculty of Usul al-Din, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt (1995–2000). Returning from Cairo, Misrawi was an active participant in the Institute for...
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Ibrahim al-Banna

10. Ibrahim al-Banna

1965-. (aged 61)
jihadist
Ibrahim Muhammad Salih al-Banna, known as Ibrahim al-Banna (Arabic: إبراهيم البنا) (nom de guerre Abu Ayman al-Masri) is a citizen of Egypt who, security officials suspect, is a leader in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Security officials have repeatedly claimed to have killed him with missiles launched from unmanned aerial vehicles. It was claimed in October 2011 that...
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Syam'un

11. Syam'un

1894-1949 (aged 55)
Brigadier General Kyai Hajji Syam'un better known as Ki Syam'un was an Islamic scholar and fighter for Indonesian Independence. In 1916, Syam'un founded the Pesantren Al-Khairiyah, which in subsequent development became Al-Khairiyah Islamic College as an educational institution and organization. Syam'un received military education during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and was later appointed Battalion Commander (Daidancho)...
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Emad Effat

12. Emad Effat

1959-2011 (aged 52)
Sheikh Emad Effat was a senior Egyptian Sunni Islamic cleric at al-Azhar Mosque who was shot and killed during protest demonstrations on 16 December 2011. Effat had participated in the Arab Spring demonstrations in Egypt since the January uprising.
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Mar'i al-Karmi

13. Mar'i al-Karmi

1580-1624 (aged 44)
Islamic jurist historian ulema literary scholar poet
Marʻī ibn Yūsuf ibn Abī Bakr Aḥmad al-Karmī, often referred as Marʻī ibn Yūsuf al-Karmī, was a Muslim scholar and one of the most famous Hanbali scholars in the Arab world. He was born in Tulkarm, and died in Cairo. He authored several books and most of them are related to Islam.
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Muhammad Ma Jian

14. Muhammad Ma Jian

1906-1978 (aged 72)
translator linguist philosopher politician
Muhammad Ma Jian was a Hui-Chinese Islamic scholar and translator, known for translating the Qur'an into Chinese and stressing compatibility between Marxism and Islam.
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Muhammad al-Kharashi

15. Muhammad al-Kharashi

1601-1690 (aged 89)
imam theologian
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ali al-Kharashi was an Egyptian cleric, author and Islamic scholar who was reportedly the first Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.
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Ahmad Yakob

16. Ahmad Yakob

1950-. (aged 76)
ulema politician
Ahmad bin Yakob is a Malaysian politician and teacher who has served as Member of the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Pasir Pekan since April 1995. He served as the Menteri Besar of Kelantan from May 2013 to August 2023. He is a member, Deputy Spiritual Leader and State Commissioner of Kelantan of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a...
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Mustafa 'Abd al-Raziq

17. Mustafa 'Abd al-Raziq

1886-1947 (aged 61)
university teacher politician writer journalist philosopher
Shaykh Mustafa Abd ar-Raziq was an Egyptian Islamic philosopher.
Kareem Amer

18. Kareem Amer

1984-. (aged 42)
writer journalist blogger human rights defender women's rights activist
Kareem Nabil Suleiman Amer is an Egyptian Norwegian blogger and former law student. He was arrested by Egyptian authorities for posts on his blog that were considered to be anti-religious and insulting to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On 22 February 2007, in his native city Alexandria, Amer was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for insulting Islam and inciting sedition...
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Issa Al-Ghaith

19. Issa Al-Ghaith

1972-. (aged 54)
judge
Issa Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Ghaith is a judge, Islamic scholar, author, and activist. He is a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia and King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue. He received a doctor's degree in Sharia and Law College in Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.
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Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid

20. Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid

1872-1963 (aged 91)
politician writer journalist intellectual journal editor
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed or Aḥmad Luṭfī Sayyid Pasha was a prominent Egyptian nationalist, intellectual, anti-colonial activist and the first president of Cairo University. He was an influential person in the Egyptian nationalist movement and used his position in the media to strive and gain an independent Egypt from British rule. He was also one of the architects of modern Egyptian...
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Musa Bigiev

21. Musa Bigiev

1874-1949 (aged 75)
ulema philosopher translator
Musa Jarullah Bigiev was a Tatar Muslim scholar, theologian, philosopher, and publicist. He was one of the leaders of the Jadid movement, an Islamic modernist movement in the Russian Empire.
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Ahmed Subhy Mansour

22. Ahmed Subhy Mansour

1949-. (aged 77)
human rights defender writer journalist
Ahmed Subhy Mansour is an Egyptian American activist and Quranist scholar dealing with Islamic history, culture, theology, and politics. He founded a small Egyptian Quranist group that is neither Sunni nor Shia. In 1987, he was fired from Al-Azhar University after expressing his liberal views. One of his fellow Islamic scholars at Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Jamal Tahir, took up the...
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Ismail al-Faruqi

23. Ismail al-Faruqi

1921-1986 (aged 65)
university teacher philosopher
Ismaʿil Raji al-Faruqi was a Palestinian-American Muslim philosopher and scholar of religion. He contributed significantly to Islamic studies, ethics, and interfaith dialogue, and is best known for pioneering the Islamization of knowledge and articulating tawhid (monotheism) as a comprehensive worldview. He proposed a model of meta-religion based on shared ethical values and the universal concept of divine unity.
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Mustafa Cerić

24. Mustafa Cerić

1952-. (aged 74)
mufti politician
Mustafa ef. Cerić is a Bosnian cleric who served as the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993 to 2012, and is currently president of the World Bosniak Congress. In the 2014 general election, he ran for a seat in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Bosniak member, but was not elected.
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Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar

25. Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar

1940-2012 (aged 72)
writer
Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar was a Salafi scholar associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He authored several books about matters on Islamic creed.
Husein Kavazović

26. Husein Kavazović

1964-. (aged 62)
ulema imam mufti
Husein ef. Kavazović is a Bosnian cleric serving as Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina since November 2012.
Abdullah el-Tell

27. Abdullah el-Tell

1918-1973 (aged 55)
writer politician
Abdullah El Tell was a Jordanian military officer. He served as the commander of the 6th regiment of Jordan's Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and was one of the main Jordanian military leaders in the Battle for Jerusalem as well as the West Bank front of the war.
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Fazal-ur-Rehman

28. Fazal-ur-Rehman

1953-. (aged 73)
politician
Faazl-ur-Rehman is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and politician, who serves as the president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). He is also a member of the National Assembly since February 2024 and had previously served in that position between 1988 and 2018. He was also the Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2007. In the 1980s, he was part of the...
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Ibrahim al-Bājūrī

29. Ibrahim al-Bājūrī

1784-1860 (aged 76)
theologian philologist Islamic jurist
Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Šāfiʿī al-Bājūrī was an Egyptian-Ottoman scholar, theologian and a rector of the al-Azhar University. A follower of Imam Al-Shafiʽi, he authored over 20 works and commentaries in sacred law, tenets of faith, Islamic estate division, scholastic theology, logic and Arabic.
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Faris eş-Şidyak

30. Faris eş-Şidyak

1802-1887 (aged 85)
playwright journalist traveler writer translator
Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq was an Ottoman scholar, writer and journalist who grew up in what is now present-day Lebanon. A Maronite Christian by birth, he later lived in major cities of the Arabic-speaking world, where he had his career. He converted to Protestantism during the nearly two decades that he lived and worked in Cairo, present-day Egypt, from 1825 to...
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Suhaib Webb

31. Suhaib Webb

1972-. (aged 54)
imam
Suhaib Webb is an American imam. He previously served as the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.
Mustafa al-Maraghi

32. Mustafa al-Maraghi

1881-1944 (aged 63)
ulema
Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi OBE was an Egyptian reformer and rector of Al-Azhar from El Maragha, Sohag Governorate.
Umar Makram

33. Umar Makram

1750-1822 (aged 72)
politician
Umar Makram bin Husein al-Sayouti was an Egyptian political leader at the time of the 1798 French invasion and in the subsequent political disorders.
Gad al-Haq

34. Gad al-Haq

1917-1996 (aged 79)
imam
Gad al-Haq Ali Gad al-Haq also spelled Jadd al-Haqq was Grand Imam of Al-Azhar from 1982 to 1996.
Ali Abdel Raziq

35. Ali Abdel Raziq

1888-1966 (aged 78)
theologian jurist university teacher lawyer judge
Ali Abdel Raziq was an Egyptian scholar of Islam, judge and government minister. His writings, some controversial, debated the role of religion and Islamic history in 20th-century politics and government.
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Abdul Rasul Sayyaf

36. Abdul Rasul Sayyaf

1946-. (aged 80)
partisan mujahid politician
Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf is an Afghan politician and former military commander. He took part in the war against the Marxist–Leninist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) government in the 1980s, leading the Afghan mujahideen faction Ittehad-al-Islami (Islamic Union).
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Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam

37. Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam

1961-. (aged 65)
university teacher
Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam is an Egyptian theologian and cleric who served as the 19th Grand Mufti of Egypt through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah from 2013 to 2024. He was succeeded by Nazeer Ayyad on the 11th of August 2024, following a presidential decree.
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Zakariyya al-Ansari

38. Zakariyya al-Ansari

1420-1520 (aged 100)
linguist Islamic jurist qadi muhaddith teacher
Abū Yaḥyā b. Muḥammad b. Zakariyyā, Zayn al-Dīn al-Sunaykī also known as Zakariyyā al-Ansārī was an Egyptian Sunni polymath. He is considered the leading specialist in fiqh, usul al-fiqh, hadith, usul al-hadith, tafsir, ulum al-Qur'an (Qur'anic sciences), Qu'ranic recitation, grammar, linguistic, rhetoric, philology, history, literature, genealogy, kalam (Islamic theology), logic and Sufism. He also excelled in other sciences such as...
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Mahmud Shaltut

39. Mahmud Shaltut

1893-1963 (aged 70)
writer university teacher
Mahmud Shaltut was an Egyptian Islamic scholar who served as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar from 1958 until his death in 1963. A disciple of Muhammad Abduh, Shaltut is known for his attempts in Islamic reform.
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Ali al-Qaradaghi

40. Ali al-Qaradaghi

1949-. (aged 77)
university teacher politician
Sheikh Ali al-Qaradaghi is an influential a Kurdish Sunni scholar of Islam, an expert on Sharia and Fiqh combined with Islamic economics. He is a professor of Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies of the Qatar University in Doha and he has a Qatari citizenship.
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Mas Mansoer

41. Mas Mansoer

1896-1946 (aged 50)
ulema
Mas Mansoer was an Indonesian religious leader who served as the 4th chairman of Muhammadiyah from 1937 to 1942. He was declared a national hero by President Sukarno in 1964.
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Ivan Aguéli

42. Ivan Aguéli

1869-1917 (aged 48)
writer painter philosopher politician
Ivan Aguéli, also named Shaykh ʿAbd al-Hādī al-ʿAqīlī (Arabic: شيخ عبد الهادی عقیلی) upon his conversion to Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esotericism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world. He was one of the initiators of René Guénon...
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Essam el-Erian

43. Essam el-Erian

1954-2020 (aged 66)
physician human rights defender politician trade unionist
Essam al-Din Muhammad Hussein el-Erian was an Egyptian physician and politician. He was the vice chairman of the Freedom And Justice Party. Formerly he was a member of the Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was elected as a parliament member in the 2011–12 Egyptian parliamentary election. After the 2013 Egyptian coup, prosecutors ordered his arrest on 10 July...
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Dalil Boubakeur

44. Dalil Boubakeur

1940-. (aged 86)
cleric physician
Dalil Boubakeur is a physician, mufti, and former rector of the Great Mosque of Paris. He is also the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. He was born on 2 November 1940 in the Algerian city of Skikda, to Hamza Boubakeur and Zoubida Kiouane. He studied at Lycée Bugeaud in Algiers, before moving to France and studying...
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Abdullah al-Hamid

45. Abdullah al-Hamid

1950-2020 (aged 70)
human rights defender poet writer
Abdullah Hamid Ali al-Hamid or Abu Bilal was a Saudi poet, Arabic professor, human rights activist and a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). He was imprisoned several times for calling for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Saudi Arabia.
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Sayyid Muhammad bin ʿAli al-Sanusi

46. Sayyid Muhammad bin ʿAli al-Sanusi

1787-1859 (aged 72)
ulema
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi was an Algerian Muslim theologian and leader who founded the Sanusi order in 1837. His militant mystical movement proved very significant and helped Libya to win its freedom from Italy on 10 February 1947. Al-Sanusi's grandson Idrīs I ruled as king of Libya from 1951 to 1969.
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Hasan as-Senussi

47. Hasan as-Senussi

1928-1992 (aged 64)
politician
Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Senussi was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Libya from 1956 to 1969, when the Libyan coup d'état resulted in the monarchy being abolished.
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Taqiuddin al-Nabhani

48. Taqiuddin al-Nabhani

1909-1977 (aged 68)
qadi politician
Muhammad Taqi al-Din bin Ibrahim bin Mustafa bin Isma'il bin Yusuf al-Nabhani was a Palestinian Islamic scholar who founded the pan-Islamist and fundamentalist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.
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Zainab al-Ghazali

49. Zainab al-Ghazali

1917-2005 (aged 88)
dawah politician
Zaynab al-Ghazali was an Egyptian Muslim activist. She was the founder of the Muslim Women's Association (Jamaa'at al-Sayyidaat al-Muslimaat, also known as the Muslim Ladies' Society).
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Mustafa al-Siba'i

50. Mustafa al-Siba'i

1915-1966 (aged 51)
politician
Mustafa al-Siba'i was a Syrian politician and activist. He was dean of the Faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence and the School of Law at the University of Damascus. From 1945 to 1961 he was the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Al-Jabarti

51. Al-Jabarti

1754-1822 (aged 68)
historian theologian
Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan al-Jabarti was an Egyptian-Somali Islamic scholar and historian who spent most of his life in Cairo.
Larbi Tbessi

52. Larbi Tbessi

1895-1957 (aged 62)
revolutionary reformist
Larbi Tbessi, whose real name was Larbi Ferhati, born in 1891 in Cheria Tébessa Province, was a revolutionary and reformist Algerian, president of the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema. He disappeared on April 4, 1957, during the war of Algeria, following his arrest at his Algiers home by civilians disguised paratroopers, the French military are still denying arresting or detaining...
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Ahmad Amin

53. Ahmad Amin

1886-1954 (aged 68)
historian writer
Ahmad Amin, (1954-1886) was an Egyptian historian and writer. He wrote a series of books on the history of Islamic civilization (1928–1953), a famous autobiography (My Life, 1950), as well as an important dictionary of Egyptian folklore (1953).
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Tälğät Tacetdin

54. Tälğät Tacetdin

1948-. (aged 78)
mufti public figure
Talgat Safich Tadzetdinov, better known as Tadzhuddin is a Russian Shaykh al-Islām. He is Grand Mufti of Russia and Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Russia, from 1980 to the present. Tadzhuddin is a polarizing figure in Russia due to his public statements, which include for example suggesting that participants of a pride parade should be...
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Amina Wadud

55. Amina Wadud

1952-. (aged 74)
women's rights activist Islamicist university teacher
Amina Wadud is an American Muslim theologian. Wadud serves as visiting professor at 4 Consortium for Religious Studies and was also a visiting scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry. Wadud has written extensively on the role of women in Islam.
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Alwi Shihab

56. Alwi Shihab

1946-. (aged 80)
politician
Alwi Abdurrahman Shihab is an Indonesian politician and scholar of the interaction of Christian and Muslim communities who served as Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare in 2004 to 2005 and Indonesian Foreign Minister from 1999 to 2001.
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Syed Mujtaba Ali

57. Syed Mujtaba Ali

1904-1974 (aged 70)
journalist writer
Syed Mujtaba Ali was a Bengali writer, journalist, travel enthusiast, academic, scholar and linguist. He lived in Bangladesh, India, Germany, Afghanistan and Egypt.
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Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat

58. Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat

1931-2015 (aged 84)
ulema writer politician
Nik Abdul Aziz bin Nik Mat was a Malaysian politician and Muslim cleric. He was the Menteri Besar of Kelantan from 1990 to 2013 and the Mursyidul Am or Spiritual Leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1991 until his death in 2015. Overall, his career as an elected politician lasted for some 48 years following his election to...
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Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh

59. Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh

1948-. (aged 78)
politician
Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh is the chairman of the Majlis ash-Shura (Consultative Assembly) of Saudi Arabia since February 2009. He was the minister of Justice from February 1992 to February 2009.
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Ekrima Sa'id Sabri

60. Ekrima Sa'id Sabri

1939-. (aged 87)
mufti
Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri is a religious leader and former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine from October 1994 to July 2006. He was appointed by Yasser Arafat.
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Abdel-Halim Mahmoud

61. Abdel-Halim Mahmoud

1910-1978 (aged 68)
imam writer
Abdel-Halim Mahmoud was an Egyptian Islamic scholar who served as the 40th Grand Imam of al-Azhar from 1973 until his death in 1978.
Rifa'a at-Tahtawi

62. Rifa'a at-Tahtawi

1801-1873 (aged 72)
scholar archaeologist philosopher economist translator
Rifa'a Rafi' at-Tahtawi was an Egyptian writer, teacher, translator, Egyptologist, and intellectual of the Nahda (the Arab renaissance).
Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy

63. Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy

1899-1968 (aged 69)
actor
Abdel Salam Al Nabulsy was a Lebanese actor of Palestinian origin.
Mahmoud Khalil Al-Hussary

64. Mahmoud Khalil Al-Hussary

1917-1980 (aged 63)
qāriʾ
Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil al-Hussary also known as Al-Hussary, was an Egyptian qāriʾ (reciter) widely acclaimed for his accurate recitation of the Qur'an. Al-Hussary committed the entire Qur'an to memory by age 8 and started reciting at public gatherings by age 12. In 1944, Al-Hussary won Egypt Radio's Qu'ran Recitation competition which had around 200 participants, including veterans like Muhammad Rifat....
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Hakim

65. Hakim

1962-. (aged 64)
singer actor
Abdel Hakim Abdel Samad Kamel, known by the mononym Hakim (Arabic: حكيم), is an Egyptian shaabi singer.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

66. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

1937-. (aged 89)
politician
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician, statesman and diplomat who served as the 3rd president of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. He previously served as the Minister of Transport from 1977 to 1978, and as the Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations from 1976 to 1977. Gayoom is the longest-serving president in Maldivian history.
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Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan

67. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan

1966-. (aged 60)
university teacher
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad is a Jordanian prince and a professor of philosophy. He is the son of Prince Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and his first wife, Princess Firyal. He is a grandson of King Talal of Jordan and thus a first cousin of King Abdullah II and sixteenth in the line of succession to the Jordanian throne. He...
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Louis Massignon

68. Louis Massignon

1883-1962 (aged 79)
Islamicist
Louis Massignon was a French Catholic scholar of Islam and a pioneer of Catholic-Muslim mutual understanding. He was an influential figure in the twentieth century with regard to the Catholic Church's relationship with Islam and played a role in Islam being accepted as an Abrahamic faith among Catholics.
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Ali Gomaa

69. Ali Gomaa

1952-. (aged 74)
mufti writer
Ali Gomaa is an Egyptian Islamic scholar, jurist, and public figure who has taken a number of controversial political stances. He specializes in Islamic Legal Theory. He follows the Shafi`i school of Islamic jurisprudence and the Ash'ari school of tenets of faith. Gomaa is a Sufi.
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Imran Nazar Hosein

70. Imran Nazar Hosein

1942-. (aged 84)
writer philosopher school teacher ulema
Imran Nazar Hosein is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian Islamic preacher, author, and philosopher who specialises in Islamic eschatology, world politics, economics, and modern socio-economic/political issues. He is the author of Jerusalem in the Qur'an and other books.
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Muhammad Quraish Shihab

71. Muhammad Quraish Shihab

1944-. (aged 82)
ulema mufassir
Muhammad Quraish Shihab is an Indonesian Muslim scholar in the sciences of the Qur'an, an author, an Academic Scholar, and former Minister of Religious Affairs in the Seventh Development Cabinet (1998). He is the older brother of the former Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Alwi Shihab.
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Muhammad Zainul Majdi

72. Muhammad Zainul Majdi

1972-. (aged 54)
politician
Muhammad Zainul Majdi is an Indonesian Islamic politician who served as Governor of West Nusa Tenggara between 2008 and 2018. He is also known as Tuan Guru Bajang. He was sworn in by Minister of Home Affairs Mardiyanto on 17 September 2008.
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Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu

73. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu

1943-. (aged 83)
historian diplomat university teacher politician
Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu is a Turkish chemistry and science history professor, academician, diplomat and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2004 to 2014. He is also an author and editor of academic journals and advocate of intercultural dialogue.
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Suleiman al-Halabi

74. Suleiman al-Halabi

1777-1800 (aged 23)
Suleiman al-Halabi was a Syrian theology student best known for assassinating Jean-Baptiste Kléber, then serving as the commander of the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, in 1800. Born in the village of Kukan, Ottoman Syria into a family of Kurdish descent, he was sent by his father to study Islamic theology at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 1797...
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Timothy Winter

75. Timothy Winter

1960-. (aged 66)
Islamicist
Timothy John Winter, also known as Abdal Hakim Murad (Arabic: عبد الحكيم مراد), is an English Islamic scholar and theologian who is a proponent of Islamic neo-traditionalism. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and Anglo-Muslim relations, and he has translated several Islamic texts.
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Sibghatullah Mojaddedi

76. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi

1925-2019 (aged 94)
university teacher politician
Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was an Afghan politician, who served as Acting President after the fall of Mohammad Najibullah's government in April 1992. He was the first leader to call for armed resistance against the Soviet-backed regime in 1979 and founded the Afghan National Liberation Front (Jeebh-e Nejat-e Melli) at the time; later becoming a respected figure among the various Afghan mujahideen....
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Omar Abdel-Rahman

77. Omar Abdel-Rahman

1938-2017 (aged 79)
politician theologian
Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, (ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a blind Egyptian Islamist and Jihadist militant who served a life sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner near Butner, North Carolina, United States. Formerly a resident of New York City, Abdel-Rahman and nine others were...
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ʿAbd al-Hamid Kishk

78. ʿAbd al-Hamid Kishk

ulema
Abdal-Hamid Kishk was an Egyptian preacher, scholar of Islam, activist, and author. He was a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Cairo and was known for his humour, popular sermons, religious books and for his outspoken stance against injustice and oppression in the world.
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Saad Zaghloul

79. Saad Zaghloul

1859-1927 (aged 68)
lawyer journal editor minister consultant politician
Saad Zaghloul Pasha was an Egyptian revolutionary and statesman. He was the leader of Egypt's nationalist Wafd Party.
Ahmad al-Tayyeb

80. Ahmad al-Tayyeb

1946-. (aged 80)
imam theologian philosopher university teacher writer
Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb is an Egyptian Islamic scholar and the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar, al-Azhar al-Sharif and former president of al-Azhar University. He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Mohamed Sayed Tantawy in 2010. He is from Kurna, Luxor Governorate in Upper Egypt, and he belongs to a Sunni Muslim family.
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Amien Rais

81. Amien Rais

1944-. (aged 82)
politician
Muhammad Amien Rais is an Indonesian politician and conspiracy theorist. He was one of the leaders of the reform movement that forced the resignation of President Suharto in 1998. Amien Rais was the leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia, from 1995 to 2000. He was the Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from...
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Abdullah al-Qasemi

82. Abdullah al-Qasemi

1907-1996 (aged 89)
writer philosopher
Abdullah al-Qasemi was a Saudi Arabian 20th-century writer and intellectual. He was one of the most controversial intellectuals in the Arab world because of his radical change from defending Salafism to defending atheism and rejecting organized religion. He questioned the existence of God and criticized religions, which resulted in the allegations of him becoming an atheist, therefore his books were...
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Ahmed ‘Urabi

83. Ahmed ‘Urabi

1841-1911 (aged 70)
military personnel politician
Ahmed Urabi, also known as Ahmed Ourabi or Orabi Pasha, was an Egyptian military officer. He was the first political and military leader in Egypt to rise from the fellahin (peasantry). Urabi participated in an 1879 mutiny that developed into the ʻUrabi revolt against the administration of Khedive Tewfik, which was under the influence of an Anglo-French consortium. He was...
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Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti

84. Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti

1929-2013 (aged 84)
theologian philosopher writer
Muhammad Said Ramadan Al-Bouti was a renowned Syrian Sunni Muslim scholar and author. He was served as professor and vice dean at the Damascus University, also serving as the imam of the Umayyad Mosque.
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Muḥammad Mutawallī al-Shaʻrāwī

85. Muḥammad Mutawallī al-Shaʻrāwī

1911-1998 (aged 87)
theologian ulema writer
Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi was an Islamic scholar, former Egyptian minister of Endowments. He has been called one of Egypt's most popular and successful Islamic preachers, and "one of the most prominent symbols of popular Egyptian culture" in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
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Burhanuddin Rabbani

86. Burhanuddin Rabbani

1940-2011 (aged 71)
university teacher pedagogue politician
Burhanuddin Rabbani was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as the sixth president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 1996 to 2001).
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Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

87. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

1882-1935 (aged 53)
mujahid imam teacher resistance fighter
ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn Abd al-Qāder ibn Mustafā ibn Yūsuf ibn Muhammad al-Qassām was a Syrian Muslim preacher and a leader in the local struggles against British and French Mandatory rule in the Levant and an opponent of Zionism in the 1920s and 1930s.
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Muhammad Abduh

88. Muhammad Abduh

1849-1905 (aged 56)
lawyer writer philosopher jurist journal editor
Muḥammad ʿAbduh was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Abdul Somad Batubara

89. Abdul Somad Batubara

1977-. (aged 49)
television producer da'i university teacher ulema
Abdul Somad Batubara is an Indonesian Islamic preacher, scholar and motivator from Asahan, North Sumatra. He served as a lecturer at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II State Islamic University (UIN Suska) in Riau.
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Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi

90. Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi

1909-1934 (aged 25)
poet
Aboul-Qacem Echebbi was a Tunisian poet. He is probably best known for writing the final two verses of the current national anthem of Tunisia, "Ḥumāt al-Ḥimā", which was originally written by the Egyptian poet Mustafa Sadik el-Rafii.
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Fuad Masum

91. Fuad Masum

1938-. (aged 88)
lawyer philosopher politician
Muhammad Fuad Masum Hurami is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the president of Iraq from 24 July 2014 to 2 October 2018. He was elected as president following the 2014 parliamentary election. Masum is the second non-Arab president of Iraq, succeeding Jalal Talabani, also Kurdish, and was a confidant of Talabani.
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Aliko Dangote

92. Aliko Dangote

1957-. (aged 69)
business magnate businessperson entrepreneur philanthropist chief executive officer
Aliko Mohammad Dangote GCON is a Nigerian businessman known for his key roles in Dangote Group and Dangote Refinery. In 2011, he was appointed as member of the economic management team by President Goodluck Jonathan. Globally, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, he is the 91st richest person and the wealthiest Black individual, with a net worth of nearly...
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Ahmad Yasin

93. Ahmad Yasin

1937-2004 (aged 67)
teacher cleric politician preacher activist
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and de facto leader of Hamas since its inception from December 1987 until his assassination in March 2004.
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Abdurrahman Wahid

94. Abdurrahman Wahid

1940-2009 (aged 69)
journalist politician
Abdurrahman Wahid, more colloquially known as Gus Dur ( Indonesian: [ˌɡʊs ˈdʊr] ), was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indonesia, from his election in 1999 until he was removed from office in 2001. A long time leader within the Nahdlatul Ulama organization, he was the founder of the National Awakening Party...
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Mohammed Amin al-Husseini

95. Mohammed Amin al-Husseini

1895-1974 (aged 79)
mufti politician
Mohammed Amin al-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine. He was the scion of the al-Husayni family of Jerusalemite Arab nobles, who trace their origins to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
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Taha Hussein

96. Taha Hussein

1889-1973 (aged 84)
university teacher literary critic novelist linguist literary historian
Taha Hussein was among the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Arab world. His sobriquet was "The Dean of Arabic Literature" (Arabic: عميد الأدب العربي). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twenty-one times.
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Hawwari Bumadian

97. Hawwari Bumadian

1932-1978 (aged 46)
military personnel politician
Houari Boumédiène was an Algerian military officer, revolutionary and politician who was the second head of state of independent Algeria from 1965 until his death in 1978. He served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976 and thereafter as president of Algeria until his death.
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Yusuf al-Qaradawi

98. Yusuf al-Qaradawi

1926-2022 (aged 96)
muhaddith Islamic theologian ulema writer poet
Yusuf al-Qaradawi was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. His influences included Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, Sayyid Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi, Abul A'la Maududi and Naeem Siddiqui. He was best known for his programme الشريعة والحياة, al-Sharīʿa wa al-Ḥayāh ("Sharia and Life"), broadcast on...
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Tariq Ramadan

99. Tariq Ramadan

1962-. (aged 64)
Islamicist theologian
Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher and writer. He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford. He is a senior research fellow at Doshisha University in Japan and a visiting professor at the Université Mundiapolis in Morocco. He was a visiting professor at...
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Soheib Bencheikh

100. Soheib Bencheikh

1961-. (aged 65)
politician
Soheib Bencheikh is an Islamic religious leader and author and would-be French politician.