Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi

aljazeera.netبأزمة قلبية أثناء زيارة للرياض:
وفاة شيخ الأزهر سيد طنطاوي 24/3/1431

AP, Egypt's top Muslim cleric dies of heart attack, 10 Mar 2010 "Top Egyptian cleric Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, whose moderate views angered conservative Muslims, died of a heart attack Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the state-owned news agency reported. He was 81."

Al Jazeera, Al-Azhar head dies in Saudi Arabia, 10 Mar 2010

Useful commentary/obituary: The Arabist, Sheikh Tantawi, 1928-2010 "Tantawi leaves a mixed legacy behind him: overall, the immediate verdict may be that he was too liberal for conservatives, too conservative for liberals, too compliant with the regime for those who want al-Azhar to be independent, and too independent for those in the regime who needed Azharite support to enact policy changes on issues as varied as Palestine, banking and TV game shows. The overall image is of a man besieged on all sides, but adept at fighting bureaucratic battles in the bloated, clerical civil service that al-Azhar has become."

Expect plenty more coverage in the next 24 hours.

Mohammed Tantawi

AP, Veil's spread fans Egypt's fear of hard-line Islam, 6 Dec 09 "The debate has grown more heated since Mohammad Tantawi, the top cleric at prestigious Al-Azhar University, banned the niqab in classrooms and dorms on the grounds that it "has nothing to do with Islam," and that it was unnecessary since the college is gender-segregated. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry and religious authorities forbade nurses and preachers to wear the niqab."

Tantawi

AFP/Arab News, Tantawi orders Al-Azhar girl to remove face veil, 5 Oct 09 widely reported online, hence inclusion here. "Egypt’s leading scholar ordered a student to remove her face veil while was he was visiting an academy linked to the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Monday."