Sheikh Emad Effat (15 August 1959 – 16 December 2011) was a senior

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic cleric at

al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...

Mosque who was shot and killed during protest demonstrations on 16 December 2011.The revolution's sheikh, killed at 52
Rana Khazbak . almasryalyoum.com . 16 December 2011 Effat had participated in the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

demonstrations in Egypt since the January uprising.

Background

Effat was born in

Giza Governorate Giza ( ') is one of the Subdivisions of Egypt#Governorates, governorates of Egypt. It is in the center of the country, situated mostly on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Cairo. Its capital is the city of Giza. It includes a stretch of ...

in Egypt to Ahmed Effat, a calligrapher. He was one of four children. Effat graduated from

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Language from the Faculty of Arts at

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University () is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was founded in July 1950, the third ...

in 1991 with a BA with honors. In the late 1990s, he also obtained a Bachelor of

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

(Islamic Law) and a Diploma in Islamic Jurisprudence from the Faculty of Sharia and Law at

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

. He is survived by his wife, Nashwa Abdel Tawwab, a journalist at ''

Al-Ahram Weekly ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. History and profile ''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-langu ...

'' newspaper. The Al-Azhar Sheikh was the director of

fatwas A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist (''faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

, religious edicts, at Dar Al-Iftaa since 2003. He also worked as a Sharia researcher at the House of Authentication of Religious Studies and a researcher at MSX International Programming Company. According to his widow, he had been participating in popular demonstrations since Egypt’s January uprising.

“During sit-ins at
Tahrir Square Tahrir Square (, ; ), also known as Martyr Square, is a public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations. The 2011 Egyptian revolution and the resignation of President of Egypt, ...
, he would go to work in the morning and spend the night in the square. He wasn’t able to join the Cabinet sit-in, but when he saw he violence he couldn’t just stand and watch people dying, so he went down to the protest.”

Death

According to Yasmine El Rashidi of the

New York Review of Books New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, quoting "a close associate of

Ali Gomaa Ali Gomaa (, Egyptian Arabic: ; born 3 March 1952) is an Egyptian Islamic scholar, jurist, and public figure who has taken a number of controversial political stances. He specializes in Islamic Legal Theory. He follows the Shafi`i school of Isl ...

, the Mufti of

Al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...

, “He was definitely targeted. Although the bullets weren’t fired by a soldier, the army is clearly complicit, letting it happen.” According to this theory, the government was trying to use the death of a popular Sheikh to stir anger towards the protest movement.Egypt: The Mayhem
Yasmine El Rashidi However at a funeral march 17 December thousands of mourners chanted “Down with military rule.” In an obituary,

Al-masry Al-youm ''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Arabic as is its website, ''almasryalyoum.com''. An English version of the webs ...

stated that he had been killed "by military police with a gunshot to his heart."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Effat, Emad 1959 births Ain Shams University alumni Al-Azhar University alumni Egyptian imams Egyptian Sunni Muslims 21st-century imams Egyptian revolution 2011 deaths Deaths by firearm in Egypt