Ali Abdel Raziq

Ali Abdel Raziq (Arabic: ﻋﻠﻲ ﻋﺒﺪ ﺍﻟﺮﺍﺯﻕ‎‎) (1888-1966) was an Egyptian scholar of Islam, religious judge and government minister. His writings, some then controversial, debated the role of religion and Islamic history in 20th-century politics and government.

While the implication of his arguments still remain a point of debate, his 1925 book Islam and the Foundations of Governance argued against a role for religion in politics or the political prescriptive value of religious texts.

He argued that Islamic texts were and should remain neutral in political debate and civil institution building. He attended Oxford University, and he was a scholar and jurist at Al-Azhar, Cairo.

Raziq was born in 1888 to a well-off family. His father, Hassan Abdel Raziq, was a large farm-owner and was, in 1907, among the founders of the Umma Party. His brother, Mustafa Abdul Raziq, a well known philosopher, studied at Al-Azhar University under the famous reformer Muhammad Abduh.

Raziq later received his 'alim degree at Al-Azhar in 1911. In 1912, he traveled to Oxford University to study economics and political science, but he returned to Cairo at the outbreak of the First World War.

Back at Al-Azhar in 1915, he also became qadi (religious judge) at Mansoura. Ali became famous for his book Islam and the Foundations of Governance (Al-Islam Wa Usul Al-Hukm), published in 1925, and Consensus and Islamic Law (Al-Ijma´ Fi Ash-Shari´ah Al-Islamiyyah), in 1947.

Following the popular debate around his 1925 book, Al-Azhar stripped him of his office, but he got it back in the 1940s. Ali, his father and his brother remained close to the Liberal Constitutional Party. He eventually became a government minister and lost his position as scholar and jurist at Al-Azhar.

He twice served as Minister of Endowments, one of the three highest positions in religious administration, beside the Rector of Al-Azhar and the Grand Mufti. Raziq died in 1966.

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