Muhammad Abduh

Muḥammad ʿAbduh (also spelled Mohammed Abduh; ; 1849 – 11 July 1905) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He began teaching advanced students esoteric Islamic texts at Al-Azhar University while he was still studying there. From 1877, with the status of ''ʿālim'', he taught logic, theology, ethics, and politics. He was also made a professor of history at ''Dar al-ʿUlūm'' the following year, and of Arabic language and literature at ''Madrasat al-Alsun.'' ʿAbduh was a champion of the press and wrote prolifically in ''Al-Manār'' and ''Al-Ahram''. He was made editor of ''Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' in 1880. He also authored ''Risālat at-Tawḥīd'' (; "The Theology of Unity") and a commentary on the Quran. He briefly published the pan-Islamist anti-colonial newspaper ''al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqā'' alongside his teacher and mentor Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Afghānī.

ʿAbduh joined Freemasonry and subscribed to various Masonic lodges alongside his mentor al-Afghānī and his other pupils, but eventually left the secret society in his later years. He was appointed as a judge in the Courts of First Instance of the Native Tribunals in 1888, a consultative member of the Court of Appeal in 1899, and he was appointed Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah in 1899. Provided by Wikipedia