Muhammad Sayyid al-Tantawi

1928 -

Shaykh of al-Azhar.

Born in Suhaj in Upper Egypt, Muhammad Sayyid al-Tantawi earned a Ph.D. in Qurʾanic Exegesis and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) from al-Azhar University in 1966. In 1976 he became a professor; ten years later he became dean of the Islamic and Arabic Studies faculty and was appointed the grand mufti, Egypt's highest religious juristic authority. In 1996 he was appointed shaykh of al-Azhar, making him the forty-third shaykh of al-Azhar. Muslims seek his advice on new controversial matters.

As a mufti, Tantawi issued opinions representing the views of the government. His fatawa (legal opinions) have mostly been at odds with those of alAzhar. But once he became shaykh of al-Azhar, he began oscillating between the opinions he issued as mufti and pronouncements more faithful to alAzhar. He is under constant pressure from religious scholars to follow al-Azhar's conservative line of thinking. Many civil and human-rights organizations welcomed the appointment of this liberal shaykh to the top religious post in Egypt, but his fatwa prohibiting the boycott of U.S. goods brought about major protests by Christians as well as Muslims. The powerful and conservative Front for the Scholars of al-Azhar, founded in 1946, had been critical of Tantawi since he became mufti, challenging him on his giving permission to deal with banks based on interest, his prohibition of suicide attacks committed by HAMAS in Palestine, his meeting the chief rabbi of Israel, and his reduction of secondary education to three years. He was able to get the government to dissolve the Front in 1998, and he fired many outspoken scholars from alAzhar.

On the touchy issue of female circumcision, Tantawi, as the mufti, argued against its validity. However, as shaykh of al-Azhar he gave in to the Azharite establishment. Later, when the Ministry of Health banned the practice, Tantawi changed his view again. Also, as a mufti, Tantawi viewed the hijab (head cover) as a woman's choice, but as shaykh, he upheld the Azhar view that it was mandatory. But on the issue of organ transplants, he held to his original position, and promised to donate his own organs after his death. On the political level, when Tantawi became shaykh, his political views became more obvious. For instance, he asked Muslims to launch jihad (holy war) against Israel to prevent the Judaization of Jerusalem, and to defuse religious sectarian tensions in Egypt, he met with Pope Shenouda III and other Christian personalities. These changes of opinion seem to be the result of both political expediency and an attempt to serve the interests of the Egyptian government.

— AHMAD S. MOUSSALLI