Amr Khaled

Education

He graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Commerce in 1988, where he chaired the student union, and worked as an accountant for seven years before opening his own firm. He later obtained a diploma in Islamic studies and, in 2010, a PhD from the University of Wales, Lampeter, with a thesis on Islam and coexistence with the West.

Preaching

He began preaching in mosques in the early 1990s while keeping his day job, then gave talks at Cairo's social clubs that drew a young, well-off audience. Pressured by the authorities to leave Egypt in late 2002, he moved to Beirut and then, in 2005, to the United Kingdom.

Television turned him into a household name across the Arab world: Life Makers (2004–2005), which urged young people to launch practical development projects, was followed by Ramadan series such as On the Path of the Beloved (2005), In Thy Name We Live (2006) and Stories of the Quran (2008), and later Omar, Maker of Civilisation (2012). He has also run awareness campaigns, notably against drug use. The author of some twenty-five books, he also published a novel, Rafi Barakat (2014).

Recognition and public life

The New York Times Magazine described him in 2006 as the world's most famous Muslim television preacher; he appeared on the Time 100 list in 2007 and in 2008 among the leading public intellectuals chosen by Foreign Policy and Prospect readers. Because he did not follow a classical religious education, he has also drawn criticism from some traditional scholars.

After the 2011 revolution he founded the Egypt Party (Hizb Misr) in 2012, resigning from it in 2013.