Ahmed el-Tayeb
| Ahmed el-Tayeb أحمد الطيب |
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Ahmed el-Tayeb in May 2015
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| Grand Imam of Al-Azhar | |
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Assumed office 10 March 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb 6 January 1946 Qena, Egypt |
| Alma mater | Paris-Sorbonne University |
| Religion | Sunni Islam; (Ash'ari); Sufi |
Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb (Arabic: أحمد محمد أحمد الطيب) is 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 Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy in 2010. He is considered to be one of the most moderate Sunni clerics in Egypt. He holds a Ph. D in Islamic philosophy from the Paris-Sorbonne University and has been president of Al-Azhar University since 2003. Between 2002 and 2003, el-Tayeb served as Grand Mufti of Egypt. El-Tayeb is a hereditary Sufi shaykh from Upper Egypt and has expressed support for a global Sufi league.
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.
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 of 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".
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