Mahmoud Shaltout

Mahmoud Shaltout or Mahmud Shaltut (1893–1963) (Arabic: محمود شلتوت) was an Egyptian Islamic jurist and scholar. He was a reformer of al-Azhar, a center of Islamic learning in Cairo. He was the highest religious authority in Egypt during the 1960s. He was received his elementary religious education in Alexandria, Egypt. He then spent many years at al-Azhar University in Cairo. There he rose to become rector of the university. Shaltut was a very active writer on the sharia and on tafsir (explaining texts). Some consider him to be the best example of the intellectual and scholarly project of Imam Muhammad Abduh.

He was born in a farming village in Lower Egypt. Shaltut distinguished himself as a student at the religious institute of Alexandria and later at al-Azhar. He became an instructor of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) at al-Azhar in 1927. The following year, the reform-minded Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi was appointed shaykh al-Azhar (rector). Shaltut was one of his best supporters. When al-Maraghi was forced out of office the following year, Shaltut continued pressing for reforms.

Shaltut himself took many progressive stands. He wanted translating of the Quran. He was in favor of re-establishing relations with Shia Muslims. He suggested sending Azhari students to Europe for graduate studies. He wanted to admit women. He also wanted to add scientific and technical studies to al-Azhar. Yet he survived as a reformer within al-Azhar. This was unlike such former Azhari modernists as Taha Hussein, Ali Abd al-Raziq, and Mustafa Abd al-Raziq, who ended up on the outside. Out of favor with King Faruq, Shaltut helped deliver Azhari support to Nasser against the Muslim Brothers.^[1]