Ahmed el-Tayeb

Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb () (born 6 January 1946) is an Egyptian Islamic scholar and the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar and former president of al-Azhar University. He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Mohamed Sayed Tantawy in 2010. He is from Kurna, Luxor Governorate in Upper Egypt, and he belongs to a Sunni Muslim family.
Education.
Al-Tayeb studied Doctrine and Philosophy at Al-Azhar University, where he graduated in 1969, after that he had a Master's degree and Ph.D. in Islamic philosophy in 1971 and 1977 respectively. Later on, he went to study at the University of Paris for six months, from December 1977 to 1978. Afterwards, he held academic posts at Al-Azhar University, then administrative roles in Qena and Aswan, and he even worked at the International Islamic University, Islamabad in Pakistan in 1999–2000.
Between 2002 and 2003, al-Tayeb served as Grand Mufti of Egypt. Al-Tayeb is a hereditary Sufi shaykh from Upper Egypt and has expressed support for a global Sufi league. He has been president of Al-Azhar University from 2003 until 2010.
As Grand Imam of al-Azhar, al-Tayeb intervened to reverse a decision by al-Azhar disciplinary board to expel a female student for "hugging" a male student at Al-Azhar university.
Political Party (Past).
Prior to his appointment as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and president of al-Azhar University, he was a member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party's Policies Committee. He initially refused to resign from his position in the National Democratic Party (NDP) by saying that there was no conflict between his role at Al-Azhar and membership in the party.
In April 2010, he resigned from his post in the party.
Views.
Muslim Brotherhood.
In an article published shortly after his appointment as president of Al-Azhar University, he was described as "a regime loyalist and member of Mr Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party [who] takes a firm stance against the Muslim Brotherhood".
Tayeb was quoted as saying that Al-Azhar University would "never be an open field for the Brotherhood".
The same article reported that the Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badie, had congratulated Tayeb on his appointment. At the same time, the Brotherhood senior member, Sheikh Sayed Askar, also an Azharite, accused the government of "promoting one of its own at the expense of people better suited to the post".
Criticism intensified after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Some Muslim Brotherhood members accused him of being "a remnant of the ousted Mubarak regime and National Democratic Party".
In 2011, following the Egyptian revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood held a rally at the Al-Azhar mosque to oppose what it described as the Judaization of Jerusalem. He said at the rally that "the al-Aqsa Mosque is currently under an offensive by the Jews" and "we shall not allow the Zionists to Judaize al-Quds [Jerusalem]". He also alleged that Jews around the world were trying to prevent Islamic and Egyptian unity. The rally was criticized by the "New York Daily News" as anti-Semitic.
He backed the military coup against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
9/11 attacks and the US.
In a 2002 interview with the Egyptian Islamic website Lailat al-Qadr.com http://www.lailatalqadr.com/stories/p5150701.shtml, July 15, 2002</ref> excerpted in English by the Israeli website memri, Al-Tayyeb asked why it was that the Western media states that the perpetrator of the September 11 attacks "cannot be determined with certainty, yet it was claimed from the first moment that Osama bin Laden was responsible!" and accused the U.S. of using "these events as a pretext and an excuse to destroy the Islamic world and to accuse Islam of being a religion of terror and extremism. It destroyed Afghanistan and is now occupying the land of Palestine, killing the people and massacring the children, because of these false charges." He claimed that "a group of Israelis [was] deported from America because they had filmed the [9/11] event - that is, they knew it was going to happen", while carefully noting "I am not saying that the event was perpetrated by the Jews ..." 
Apostasy.
In 2016 al-Tayeb, said that leaving Islam (apostasy) is punishable by death. In his view, crimes, assault and treason are forms of apostasy and must be punished. Apostates must rejoin Islam or be killed.
Opposition to sectarianism.
He has strongly rebuked the Salafi anti-Alawite preaching, which has increased since the Syrian government, cracked down on the Sunni Islamist rebels in the Syrian Civil War.
Jews.
In an interview which aired on Egypt's Channel 1 on 25 October 2013 (as translated by MEMRI), al-Tayeb stated, "Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims."
He also argued that "the Quran said it and history has proven it: 'You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists'". He also claimed that Jews consider non-Jews to be "extremely inferior" and that Jews "practice a terrible hierarchy, and they are not ashamed to admit it, because it is written in the Torah – with regard to killing, enslavement, and so on".
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
He has strongly condemned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and stated that it is acting "under the guise of this holy religion and have given themselves the name 'Islamic State' in an attempt to export their false Islam" and (citing the Quran).
"The punishment for those who wage war against God and his Prophet and who strive to sow corruption on earth is death, crucifixion, the severing of hands and feet on opposite sides or banishment from the land. This is the disgrace for them in this world and in the hereafter they will receive grievous torment".
He has been criticized for not expressly stating that Islamic State was heretical. The Ash'ari school of Islamic theology - to which El-Tayeb belongs - does not allow calling a person who follows the shahada an apostate.
Al-Tayeb has strongly come out against the practice of takfirism, declaring a Muslim an apostate, which is used by Islamic State to "judge and accuse anyone who doesn't toe their line with apostasy and outside the realm of the faith" and declares "jihad on peaceful Muslims" by using "flawed interpretations of some Qur'anic texts, the prophet's Sunna, and the Imams' views, believing incorrectly that they are leaders of Muslim armies fighting infidel peoples in unbelieving lands".
Wahhabism and Salafism.
In late 2016, at a conference of over a hundred Sunni scholars in Chechnya, al-Tayeb defined orthodox Sunnism as "the Ash'arites and Maturidites (adherents of the theological systems of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and Imam Abul Hasan al-Ash'ari) ... followers of any of the four schools of thought (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki or Hanbali) and ... also the followers of the Sufism of Imam Junaid al-Baghdadi in doctrines, manners and [spiritual] purification." Having said that, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb excluded the “Salafis” from the term of Ahluls Sunna (Sunnis) stating that Salafis – also known as Wahhabis – are not from among the Sunnis. The conference was believed to have been designed to take an "uncompromising stand against the growing Takfiri terrorism that is playing havoc across the world."
Shia Islam.
In 2016, he reissued the fatwa on Shia Muslims, calling Shia the fifth school of Islam and seeing no problem with conversions from Sunni to Shia Islam.
Christians.
In February 2017, he commented on the issue of building a church for 500 Christian Copts in Kom Al Lofi, Minya Governorate, by saying: "their numbers do not allow for the construction of a church.", then he added, "We are a Muslim state and if there was a pre-existing church we would not object to prayers taking place, but why call for having a church now when we need to unite, not cause the occurrence of strife and this is strife caused by the media!"
On 7 November 2017, he met Pope Francis in the Vatican, to discuss spreading the culture of peace and coexistence and renouncing extremism and Islamophobia. In February 2019, they met again in Abu Dhabi during the Pope's visit to the United Arab Emirates, where he also signed the "Document on Human Fraternity". On 15 November 2019, they met again in the Vatican, to achieve the goals of the signed document.
Women.
While admitting that "in a few matters concerning inheritance. A very few matters", there is inequality between men and women in Islam, Al-Tayyeb stated that "that the Muslim woman is more indulged than the man. It must be remembered that Islam liberated the woman 14 centuries ago, giving her rights that Western women received only in the 19th century."
He also mentioned that Islam forbids Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims, because the latter do not believe in the Prophet Muhammad and his religion, meanwhile Muslim men would allow their non-Muslim women to practice their religion freely.
In May 2021, he wrote on Twitter: "A woman is permitted to assume senior positions such as in the judiciary or the issuing of fatwas and is also allowed to travel without a guardian", then he added, "there is “no such as thing" as 'Bait Al-Ta’a' (House of Obedience) in Islam, and that guardians have "no right" to prevent women from marrying without adequate reasons."