Gad al-Haq Ali Gad al-Haq also spelled Jadd al-Haqq ( ar, جاد الحق علي جاد الحق) (5 April 1917 – 15 March 1996) was Grand Imam of Al-Azhar from 1982 to 1996. Tim Winterbr>OBITUARY: Sheikh Gad al-Haq Ali Gad al-Haq
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The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 18 March 1996. Accessed 13 January 2013.

Life

Born in Batra, Dakahlia Governorate and educated at a village school in the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...

, he gained his scholar degree from

al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

. Finding a job as a clerk in the Mufti's office, he was promoted to the post of amin al-fatwa. In 1954 he became a judge. Nasser appointed him to the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in 1960. In 1978

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

appointed him as

Grand Mufti of Egypt Egypt's Dar al-Ifta ( ar, دار الإفتاء المصرية ) is an Egyptian Islamic advisory, justiciary and governmental body established as a centre for Islam and Islamic legal research in Egypt in 1313 AH / 1895 CE. It offers Muslims ...

. In 1982 he became Minister of Religious Affairs, and then Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. A conservative voice, he pleased the Egyptian government with his strong opposition to the fundamentalist

Wahhabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

doctrine. However, the government was less pleased by his criticism of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

(for which he collaborated with the Vatican delegation) at the 1994 UN Population Conference in

. He refused to accept the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

, since they did not acknowledge the

Palestinian right of return The Palestinian right of return is the political position or principle that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees (c. 30,000 to 50,000 people still alive )"According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – the main body ...

. He also issued a fatwa against

Farag Foda Farag Foda or Fouda ( ar, فرج فودة ; 20 August 1945 – 8 June 1992) was a prominent Egyptian professor, writer, columnist, and human rights activist. He was assassinated on 8 June 1992 by members of the Islamist group El Gama'a El Isl ...

, who was subsequently assassinated. He died in

Awards and honors

Gad al-Haq was awarded the

King Faisal International Prize The King Faisal Prize ( ar, جائزة الملك فيصل, formerly King Faisal International Prize), is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". T ...

in 1995 for his efforts for brotherly ties between Muslim communities throughout the world, and his relentless efforts to improve the spiritual, intellectual and material conditions of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries.

Works

* ''Hadha Bayan li'l'Nas''

References

1917 births 1996 deaths Al-Azhar University alumni Grand Imams of al-Azhar Grand Muftis of Egypt People from Dakahlia Governorate Endowments Ministers of Egypt {{islam-bio-stub