NCRI – Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, the grand mufti of Sunni Muslims and leader of Egypt’s Al Azhar University, the oldest and most prestigious center of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, died Wednesday after a heart attack during a trip to Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, sent her condolences over the tragic loss of Dr. Tantawi to Muslims everywhere, especially Sunnis, as well as his family and the President and People of Egypt. She offered her prayer’s for the late leader’s soul.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect emphasized that although the Islamic and Arab world lost a great religious scholar and a distinguished spiritual leader, still the values and practices he left behind will never be forgotten. Sheikh Tantawi displayed unparalleled courage by rejecting reactionary outlooks hiding under the name of Islam. Specifically, he resisted against the deceitful exploitation of Islam by the ruling clerics in Iran and bravely rejected them. His historic support for the Muslim Iranian women and men, members of the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in Camp Ashraf (home to 3,400 PMOI members in Iraq), and his insistence on respecting their rights, served as an example.
Mohammad Sayed Tantawi was born on October 28, 1928 in Selim ash-Sharqiyah located in Egypt’s Sohag province. He finished his early education and memorization of the Koran in Alexandria and completed his post-graduate studies by earning a doctorate in Hadith (the sayings of Prophet Muhammad) and Tafsir, exegesis of the Koran.
Dr. Tantawi spent 4 years teaching principles of religion in Libya. He also became the head of religious studies in the Egyptian city of Asyut, and later chaired the Tafsir branch of the postgraduate studies for 4 years at Saudi Arabia’s Islamic University in the city of Madinah.
Dr. Tantawi was considered to be one of most preeminent and respected scholars of Al Azhar. He was appointed as Egypt’s mufti on October 28, 1986.
In 1996, sheikh Tantawi became the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, a position he held for the next 14 years until his death.
On September 28, 2008, Dr. Mohammad Sayed Tantawi issued a religious decree about the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq declaring that “protected persons” must not be abused under any circumstances. The residents of Ashraf in Iraq are considered to be protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
