100 Notable alumni of Cairo University

Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA was a German author and scholar of Islamic history widely recognised for his contributions to the fields of Islamic and Iranian studies. He was appreciated in Iran for his "knowledgeable and fair" treatment of the Shia perspective. In the obituary of the Institute of Ismaili Studies (London) where Madelung worked his last years, it reads: "With...

Bassem Kamal Mohamed Ouda, commonly known as Bassem Ouda, is an Egyptian politician who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). He served as Egypt's Minister of Supply and Interior Trade between January and July 2013, when he resigned due to the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état. He was later arrested, tried and sentenced...

Hani Fawzi Mulki is a Jordanian politician who held several ministerial and diplomatic positions, and he was Chief Commissioner of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority before his designation as the 41st Prime Minister of Jordan by King Abdullah II and approval by the House of Representatives on 29 May 2016.

Sandra Nashaat is an Egyptian film director.

Omar Abdul Hamid Karami was the 39th prime minister of Lebanon for two non-consecutive terms. He was Prime Minister for the first time from 24 December 1990, when Selim al-Hoss gave up power, until May 1992, when he resigned due to economic instability. He was again Prime Minister from October 2004 to April 2005 as the 44th Prime Minister.

Abdel Rahman Badawi was an Egyptian existentialist philosopher, professor of philosophy and poet. He has been called the "foremost master of Arab existentialism." He published more than 150 works, mostly rendering of Arabic philosophical manuscripts.

Essam Heggy is an American and French space scientist of Egyptian descent.

Hamdeen Sabahi is an Egyptian politician and journalist. He is a former presidential candidate and currently the leader of the Egyptian Popular Current and a co-leader of the National Salvation Front.

Nabil Elaraby was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the 7th Secretary General of the Arab League from 1 July 2011 to 3 July 2016. Elaraby also had roles in the United Nations, holding positions at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and serving as a Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Abd el-Razzak el-Sanhuri or ‘Abd al-Razzāq el-Sanhūrī was an Egyptian jurist, law professor, judge and politician. He is best remembered as the primary author of the revised Egyptian Civil Code of 1948. El-Sanhuri's multi-volume masterwork, Al-Wasit fi sharh al-qanun al-madani al-jadid, a comprehensive commentary on the Egyptian Civil Code of 1948 and on civil law more generally, published during 1952-1970,...

Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah is a Qatari politician who was minister of foreign affairs from June 2013 to January 2016. He had been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs between January 2016 and 12 November 2024.

Belal Fadl is an Egyptian screenplay writer, journalist and a column writer. He was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, but has Alexandrian roots. Fadl graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Mass Communication with excellent grades and honours. He began his career as a journalist at the magazine Rose al-Yūsuf then became a co-founder and secretary at Al-Dustour, before eventually...

Osama El-Baz was an Egyptian diplomat and a senior advisor to former President Hosni Mubarak.

Zaki Naguib Mahmoud was an Egyptian intellectual and thinker, and is considered a pioneer in modern Arabic philosophical thought. He was described by Abbas Mahmoud al-Akkad as "the philosopher of authors and author of philosophers". Mahmoud adhered to logical positivism and adopted science interpretation with social motivations to reconcile the Arab tradition with modernism. Mahmoud defines the "Arab tradition" as...

Ibrahim Roshdy Mahlab is an Egyptian engineer and politician who served as the 52nd prime minister of Egypt from 1 March 2014 until 19 September 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Housing.

Mourid Barghouti was a Palestinian poet and writer.

Mehmet Görmez is the former President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı from November 2010 to 31 July 2017, commonly known as Diyanet) and as such legally the highest level Islamic scholar in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari is a Qatari diplomat and politician. Dr. Al-Kuwari serves as State Minister with rank of Deputy Prime Minister. He is currently President of Qatar National Library and was formerly the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage of Qatar (2008-2016). He was previously the Ambassador of Qatar to France, the United States, United Nations Educational, Scientific and...

Osman Ahmed Osman ‎ (April 6, 1917 – May 1, 1999) was an Egyptian engineer, contractor, entrepreneur, and politician. Known commonly as el-mo'alim ("the boss") and Abu El-Ismailia (father of the city Ismailia), for building the majority of Egypt, (founded the Arab Contractors (the largest Arab contracting firm in the whole of the Middle East and the world, between the...

Rashid Karami was a Lebanese statesman. He is considered one of the most important political figures in Lebanon for more than 30 years, including during much of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), and served as prime minister eight times, according to the Guinness Book of World Records this would make him the most elected democratic prime minister in history. He...

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady is an Egyptian physician, former student activist and politician. In 2011–2012, he ran for president of Egypt as an independent. He was formerly a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Ahmed Nazif is an Egyptian politician who served as the 48th prime minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Nazif was acting president of Egypt from 5 March to 15 April 2010, when President...

Nicholas John Spykman was a Dutch-American political scientist who was Professor of International Relations at Yale University from 1928 until his death in 1943. He was one of the founders of the classical realist school in American foreign policy, transmitting Eastern European political thought to the United States.

Mofeed or Mufid Fawzy was an Egyptian television presenter, interviewer and journalist. He produced and presented on Egyptian "Talk of the Town" (Arabic: حديث المدينة Hadeeth Al Madena) for nearly 26 years.

Hesham Mohamed Qandil is an Egyptian engineer and civil servant who served as the 51st prime minister of Egypt from 2012 to 2013. Qandil was appointed as prime minister by President Mohamed Morsi on 24 July 2012 and sworn in on 2 August 2012. Qandil previously served as Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation from 2011 to 2012.

Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally, also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril (28 May 1952 – 5 April 2020), was a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half months during the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan Civil War, chairing the executive board of the National Transitional Council (NTC) from 5 March...

Amr Mostafa Mohamed Alsayed Abulmagd, better known as Amr Mostafa (عمرو مصطفى), is an Egyptian singer and composer. He has composed several hit songs for artists like Amr Diab, Mohamed Hamaki, etc. He worked with western arrangers in one of his album and is known for introducing new type of music in Egypt.

Muhammad ʿImāra was an Islamic thinker, an author and editor, as well as a member of al-Azhar's Academy of Islamic research in Cairo.

Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al-Said is the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers in the Sultanate of Oman. He has served in this post since 23 June 1972.

Zaghloul Ragheb Mohammed Al Naggar, better known as Zaghloul El-Naggar, was an Egyptian geologist, Islamic scholar and author. The main theme of El-Naggar's books was science in Quran; his philosophy of science is blended with religion. He left his academic career to become the Chairman of Committee of Scientific Notions in the Qur'an, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt.

Ali Mahdi Muhammad was a Somali entrepreneur and politician. He served as President of Somalia from 26 January 1991 to 27 August 2000. The Cairo Agreement in December 1997 designated Ali Mahdi as president once again, a position he held until being succeeded by Abdiqasim Salad in the year 2000.

Helena Ritz Fathia Nkrumah, born Fathia Halim Rizk (Arabic: فتحية حليم رزق), was an Egyptian, and the First Lady of the newly independent Ghana as the wife of Kwame Nkrumah, its first president.

Randa El Behery is an Egyptian model and actress.

Alaa Al Aswany is an Egyptian writer, novelist, dentist and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya. He is based in Paris and New York, where he lives and teaches creative writing.

Mohamed Ali is an Egyptian building contractor living in exile in Spain who worked for 15 years with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Sisi's colleagues building villas and a palace. In September 2019, Ali circulated videos accusing Sisi of corruption. The online circulation of videos snowballed, with others including Wael Ghonim joining in the anti-Sisi criticism. Ali called for...

Mostafa el-Nahas Pasha or Mostafa Nahas was an Egyptian politician who served as the Prime Minister for five terms, the most out of any politician during Egypt's parliamentary era. He was the leader of the Wafd Party after the death of its founder Saad Zaghloul.

Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala was Defense Minister of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to Anwar Sadat when the president was assassinated.

Tarek Galal Shawki is the former minister of education in Egypt. He was the Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at the American University in Cairo (AUC). This academic assignment started on 1 September 2012 following a four-year tenure as the Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in Arab States [2008-2012] located in Cairo, Egypt. Prior...

Yusuf Idris, also spelled Yusof Idris was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels.

Mohamed Farrag is an Egyptian actor.

Abdel Bari Atwan is a Palestinian-born British journalist and the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm, an Arab world digital news and opinion website. Previously he was the editor-in-chief of the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi from the founding of the paper in 1989 until July 2013.

Youssef Ziedan is an Egyptian writer and scholar who specializes in Arabic and Islamic studies. He is a public lecturer, columnist, and prolific author of more than 50 books. He is also director of the Manuscript Center and Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Aisha Abd al-Rahman was an Egyptian author, editor and professor of literature who published under the pen name Bint al-Shāṭiʾ [Daughter of the Nil] (بِنْت ٱلشّاطِئ).

Wahid Hamed was an Egyptian screenwriter.

Nasr Hamed Abuzid was an Egyptian Quranic thinker, author, academic and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his project of a humanistic Quranic hermeneutics, which "challenged mainstream views" on the Quran, sparking "controversy and debate." While not denying that the Quran was of divine origin, Abuzid argued that it was a "cultural product" that...

Mais Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan Selim, better known as Mais Hamdan (Arabic: ميس حمدان), is a Jordanian actress, singer and TV presenter. Her sisters are Mai Selim and Dana Hamdan.

Ahmed Zaki Yamani was a Saudi Arabian politician who served as Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources under four Saudi monarchs from 1962 to 1986, and a minister in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 25 years.

Hazem Salah Abu Ismail is an Egyptian lawyer, Islamic preacher and politician who ran in the 2012 Egyptian presidential election and founded the Flag Party.

El Deif Ahmed, was an Egyptian actor. He was part of the variety comedy trio Tholathy Adwa'a El Masrah alongside George Sidhom and Samir Ghanem.

Amr Muhammad Moussa is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 to 1 July 2011. Previously he served in the government of Egypt as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 2001. On 8 September 2013, he was elected president of the committee of...

Walid Mohi Edine al Muallem was a Syrian diplomat and Ba'ath Party member who served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2020 and as deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2020.

Amr Mohamed Helmi Khaled is an Egyptian Muslim activist and television preacher. The New York Times Magazine, in reference to Khaled's popularity in English-speaking countries, described him in 2006 issue as "the world's most famous and influential Muslim television preacher." In 2007, Amr Khaled was chosen as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine. His message...

Ibrahim Eissa is an Egyptian journalist and TV personality best known for co-founding the popular Egyptian weekly Al-Dustour. He is currently editor-in-chief of Al Tahrir, which he co-founded in July 2011.

Anis Mansour, also transliterated as Anīs Manṣūr was an Egyptian writer.

Mustafa Kamil Pasha was an Egyptian lawyer, journalist, and nationalist activist.

Amr Saad is an Egyptian actor.

Rached Ghannouchi, also spelled Rachid al-Ghannouchi or Rached el-Ghannouchi, is a Tunisian politician, the co-founder of the Ennahdha Party and serving as its intellectual leader. He was born Rashad Khriji (راشد الخريجي).

Hani Ramzi is an Egyptian actor and one of the most famous comedians in Egypt.

Hassan Fathy was a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt, especially by working to reestablish the use of adobe and traditional mud construction as opposed to western building designs, material configurations, and lay-outs. Fathy was recognized with the Aga Khan Chairman's Award for Architecture in 1980.

Mohamed Saleh Mohamed Selim was an Egyptian football executive, former football player and an actor. He was the 13th president of Al Ahly SC.

Pope Shenouda III was the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. His papacy lasted 40 years, 4 months, and 4 days, from 14 November 1971 until his death in 2012.

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani, also known informally by his initials HBJ, is a Qatari politician. He was the Prime Minister of Qatar from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and foreign minister from 11 January 1992 to 26 June 2013.

Adly Mahmoud Mansour is an Egyptian judge and politician who served as the president (or chief justice) of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. He also served as interim president of Egypt from 4 July 2013 to 8 June 2014 following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état by the military which deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Several secular and religious figures, such...

Saeed Saleh, also credited as Sa'eed Saleh Ibrahim, was an Egyptian comedian actor.

Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei is an Egyptian lawyer and diplomat who served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009, then as vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July to 14 August 2013.

Jehan Sadat was an Egyptian human rights activist and the First Lady of Egypt, as the wife of Anwar Sadat, from 1970 until her husband's assassination in 1981. As Egypt's first lady, she greatly influenced the reform of the country's civil rights legislation. Advance laws, referred to as the "Jehan Laws", have given women in Egypt a range of new...

Mostafa Shaban is an Egyptian actor.

Mostafa Kamal Madbouly is an Egyptian politician who has served as the 54th prime minister of Egypt since 2018. He was appointed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to succeed Sherif Ismail following his government's resignation in the wake of el-Sisi's re-election. Madbouly also served in Sherif Ismail's cabinet as minister of housing, and had also briefly served as acting prime...

Sameera Moussa or Samira Musa Ali was an Egyptian atomic scientist and physicist, she is the first female Egyptian nuclear physicist. Moussa held a doctorate in atomic radiation.

Mohammed Badie is the eighth Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the concerns of women in the Global South pertaining to sexuality, patriarchy, class, and colonialism.

Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi is an Emirati politician, author, historian, and the current and 11th ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates since January 1972. He is best known for his historical publications, support for education, and preservation of cultural landmarks. He restored the Al Hisn Fort...

Mona Ali Mohamed Zaki is an Egyptian actress.

Mustafa Kamal Mahmoud Hussein was an Egyptian doctor, philosopher, and author. Mustafa was born in Shibin el-Kom, Monufia province. He was trained as a doctor, but later chose a career as a journalist and author, traveling and writing on many subjects. He wrote 89 books on science, philosophy, religion, politics, and society as well as plays, tales, and travelogues.

Dina bint Abdul-Hamid was a Hashemite princess and Queen of Jordan from 1955 until 1957 as the first wife of King Hussein. She was the mother to Hussein's oldest child, Princess Alia bint Hussein. She and the king were married from 1955 to 1957, and in 1970 she married a high-ranking official in the PLO. She was a graduate of...

Abla Kamel Mohamed Afifi, is an Egyptian actress and comedian.

Poussi, Poussy or Boussy real name Sarvenaz Moustafa Qadri (Arabic: صارفيناز مصطفى قدري; born 26 November 1953) is a Cairo-born Egyptian actress.

Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-Ayyat was an Egyptian politician, engineer, and professor who served as the 5th president of Egypt from 2012 to 2013, when General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi removed him from office in a coup d'état after protests in June. Affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, Morsi led the Freedom and Justice Party from 2011 to 2012.

Adel Mohammed Emam, is an Egyptian film, television, and stage actor, known for his extensive career with over 150 artistic works, including films, plays, and television series spanning comedy, social, and political genres. He is regarded as one of the leading figures of the second generation of comedy artists in Egypt and the Arab world. He is primarily a comedian,...

Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Egyptian narrative art that applies to all mankind".

Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb was an Egyptian political theorist and revolutionary who was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth secretary-general of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali was the acting minister of foreign affairs of Egypt between 1977 and 1979. He oversaw the United Nations over a period coinciding with several world crises, including the breakup of Yugoslavia...

Hassan Ahmed Abd al-Rahman Muhammed al-Banna, known as Hassan al-Banna (Arabic: حسن البنا), was an Egyptian schoolteacher and Imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential global Islamist movements, and for his death at the hands of the Egyptian government.

Mohamed Ashraf Abu El Wafa Marwan, known as Ashraf Marwan, was an Egyptian official who was alleged to have spied for the Israeli Mossad, though former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak later denied the claim. Other accounts contend that he served as a double agent for Egypt, providing misleading information to Israel.

Mohamed Aboutrika is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a forward. He was voted first place in the African Footballer of the Year award in 2008, and was one of five nominees for the 2006 award, and one of the ten nominated for the 2013 award. He is widely regarded as one of the...

Sir Magdy Habib Yacoub is an Egyptian-British retired professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Imperial College London, best known for his early work in repairing heart valves with surgeon Donald Ross, adapting the Ross procedure, where the diseased aortic valve is replaced with the person's own pulmonary valve, devising the arterial switch operation (ASO) in transposition of the great arteries, and...

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of...

Yasser Arafat, also popularly known by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, President of Palestine from 1989 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist and a socialist, Arafat was a founding member of the...

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 assassination attempt by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed...

Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as his country's greatest male film star. He began his career in Egypt in the early 1950s. He is best known for his appearances in American, British, French, and Italian productions, and has been described as "the first Egyptian and Arab to conquer Hollywood". His career encompassed over 100 films spanning 50...

Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022. He is best known for being one of the main orchestrators of the September 11 attacks.

Omar Mahmoud Suleiman was an Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant vice presidency by President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011. On 11 February 2011, Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and ceased being vice president; governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces...

Mahmoud al-Zahar is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Al-Zahar served as foreign affairs minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 (also known as the First Haniyeh Government) that was sworn in on 29 March 2006 and lasted until 17 March 2007.

Zahi Abass Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, a position he held twice. He has worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert and the Upper Nile Valley.

Wael Ghonim is an Internet activist and computer engineer with an interest in social entrepreneurship.

Tamim Al-Barghouti is a Palestinian-Egyptian poet, columnist and political scientist. Nicknamed the "poet of Jerusalem" (شاعر القدس), he is one of the most widely read poets in the Arab World. He received his PhD degree in political science from Boston University in 2004. He grew up in a family interested in Arabic literature. His father was the Palestinian poet Mourid...

Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who has served as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. Previously, she also served as a member of the House of Councillors from 1992 to 1993, a member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2016, Minister of the Environment under Junichiro Koizumi from 2003 to 2006, and Minister of Defense under Shinzo...

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.

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.