Abla Al Kahlawy

Early life and education

Born on 15 December 1948 in Zamalek, Cairo, she was the daughter of the religious singer Mohamed al-Kahlawi. She graduated from Al-Azhar's Faculty of Islamic Studies in 1969, then earned a master's in comparative jurisprudence (1974), with a thesis on shura (consultation) as a principle of Islamic governance, and a doctorate in the same field (1978).

Academic career and preaching

In 1979 she became head of the Sharia department at the women's College of Education in Mecca, and from 1987 to 1989 she gave daily lessons for women at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Back in Egypt she taught comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar's Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for Women, which she went on to lead as dean, and also headed Al-Azhar's women's college in Port Said. For years she gave a weekly lesson at the mosque founded by her father in the al-Basatin district of Cairo.

Her simple, warm style made her popular on television, on Iqraa, Al-Resalah and other channels, and she was included from 2009 in The 500 Most Influential Muslims. She wrote about a dozen books, notably on women's issues in hajj and umrah, on khul' (wife-initiated divorce) and on parenthood.

Charity work and death

Her charity Al-Baqiyat al-Salihat runs care homes for orphans, children with cancer, Alzheimer's patients and the elderly, as well as mobile clinics in several governorates. She died in Cairo on 24 January 2021, aged 72, from complications of COVID-19.