Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, passed away on Wednesday, March 10, of a heart attack.
Sheikh Tantawi breathed his last during a visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the annual King Faisal awards ceremony, reported Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA).
The Egyptian TV said Sheikh Tantawi, 81, suffered severe pain while boarding a plane early Wednesday morning and fell on the stairs.
He was rushed to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors proclaimed him dead of a sudden heart attack.
The Egyptian TV said the body was likely to be flown back to Cairo later on Wednesday.
However, the Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV channel quoted Amr, Sheikh Tantawi's eldest son, as saying that family wanted him to be buried in Saudi Arabia.
In 1996, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appointed Tantawi, then the Grand Mufti, as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.
Established in 359 AH (971 CE), Al-Azhar mosque drew scholars from across the Muslim world and grew into a university, predating similar developments at Oxford University in London by more than a century.
Al-Azhar, which means the "most flourishing and resplendent," was named after Fatima Al-Zahraa, daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The first courses at Al-Azhar were given in 975 CE and the first college was built 13 years later.
Al-Azhar first admitted women students in 1961, albeit in separate classes.
Also in 1961, subjects in engineering and medicine were added to classes on Shari`ah, the Noble Qur’an and the intricacies of Arabic language.
Controversial Opinions
During his tenure as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the late Tantawi issued several controversial opinions and was accused by many as toeing the government's line.
In 2004 he angered many Muslims by supporting the French government's decision to outlaw the hijab in state schools and institutions.
At the time Sheikh Tantawi issued a fatwa allowing girls to take off their headscarves while attending school, on the ground of the lesser of two evils principle.
The same year he approved a draft law allowing women to abort a pregnancy that is the result of rape, creating controversy especially that Egyptian Mufti Gomaa opposed the bill.
In 2009, Tantawi issued an order banning face-veils in schools where both the students and teachers are females, insisting that the niqab was a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam.
He also applied the same rules in university dormitories where the residents and the supervisors are all females.
The late Tantawi also supported a decision by the Egyptian government to build a steer barrier on the border with the besieged Gaza Strip on the ground of stopping arms smuggling.
His position was contrary to that of many renowned scholars including Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS).
Despite all the controversies, Sheikh Tantawi, who had his PHD in Hadith and Tafseer, remained a prominent scholar.
Towards the end of 2009, he was named one of the top 10 most influential Muslims in the world in a study by Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan and Georgetown University.
Sheikh Tantawi breathed his last during a visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the annual King Faisal awards ceremony, reported Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA).
The Egyptian TV said Sheikh Tantawi, 81, suffered severe pain while boarding a plane early Wednesday morning and fell on the stairs.
He was rushed to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors proclaimed him dead of a sudden heart attack.
The Egyptian TV said the body was likely to be flown back to Cairo later on Wednesday.
However, the Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV channel quoted Amr, Sheikh Tantawi's eldest son, as saying that family wanted him to be buried in Saudi Arabia.
In 1996, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appointed Tantawi, then the Grand Mufti, as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.
Established in 359 AH (971 CE), Al-Azhar mosque drew scholars from across the Muslim world and grew into a university, predating similar developments at Oxford University in London by more than a century.
Al-Azhar, which means the "most flourishing and resplendent," was named after Fatima Al-Zahraa, daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The first courses at Al-Azhar were given in 975 CE and the first college was built 13 years later.
Al-Azhar first admitted women students in 1961, albeit in separate classes.
Also in 1961, subjects in engineering and medicine were added to classes on Shari`ah, the Noble Qur’an and the intricacies of Arabic language.
Controversial Opinions
During his tenure as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the late Tantawi issued several controversial opinions and was accused by many as toeing the government's line.
In 2004 he angered many Muslims by supporting the French government's decision to outlaw the hijab in state schools and institutions.
At the time Sheikh Tantawi issued a fatwa allowing girls to take off their headscarves while attending school, on the ground of the lesser of two evils principle.
The same year he approved a draft law allowing women to abort a pregnancy that is the result of rape, creating controversy especially that Egyptian Mufti Gomaa opposed the bill.
In 2009, Tantawi issued an order banning face-veils in schools where both the students and teachers are females, insisting that the niqab was a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam.
He also applied the same rules in university dormitories where the residents and the supervisors are all females.
The late Tantawi also supported a decision by the Egyptian government to build a steer barrier on the border with the besieged Gaza Strip on the ground of stopping arms smuggling.
His position was contrary to that of many renowned scholars including Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS).
Despite all the controversies, Sheikh Tantawi, who had his PHD in Hadith and Tafseer, remained a prominent scholar.
Towards the end of 2009, he was named one of the top 10 most influential Muslims in the world in a study by Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan and Georgetown University.
