Background and career
Ali Gomaa (Arabic: علي جمعة, Egyptian Arabic: [ˈʕæli ˈɡomʕæ]; 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 Islamic jurisprudence and the Ash'ari school of tenets of faith. Gomaa is a Sufi.
He served as the eighteenth Grand Mufti of Egypt (2003–2013) through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah succeeding Ahmed el-Tayeb. He has, in the past, been considered a respected Islamic jurist, according to a 2008 U.S. News & World Report report and The National, and "a highly promoted champion of moderate Islam," according to The New Yorker. However, in recent years Western academic observers have described him as a supporter of authoritarian forms of government.
He was succeeded as Grand Mufti by Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam in February 2013.
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