Abdelhamid Kishk

Early life and education

He was born on 10 March 1933 (13 Dhu al-Qa'da 1351 AH) in Shubrakhit, in Beheira Governorate, and memorised the Quran as a child. Suffering from poor eyesight from an early age, he had lost his sight completely by his early teens. He studied at the religious institute in Alexandria and then at Al-Azhar's Faculty of Usul al-Din, graduating first in his class.

Imam of Ayn al-Hayat

Instead of an academic career, he turned to preaching. After serving at other Cairo mosques, he became imam and preacher of the Ayn al-Hayat mosque in the early 1960s and remained there for about twenty years. His eloquence, biting humour and open criticism of the authorities drew enormous crowds: by the early 1980s, reportedly up to 100,000 people attended his Friday sermons. Cassettes of his sermons, which circulated massively from the 1970s, carried his voice throughout the Arab world.

Prison and ban

He was first imprisoned in 1965 under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and was arrested again in September 1981 in the sweeping crackdown ordered by Anwar Sadat; he was still in prison when Sadat was assassinated. Released in 1982, he was barred from preaching and devoted himself to writing.

Works, death and legacy

He left more than two thousand recorded sermons and over a hundred books, including a ten-volume Quran commentary, Fi Rihab al-Tafsir, and an autobiography, Qissat Ayyami (The Story of My Days, 1986). He died in Cairo on Friday 6 December 1996 (25 Rajab 1417 AH), during prayer while in prostration, according to those close to him. His sermons remain among the most widely circulated Arabic religious recordings.