Sheikh Dr Abbas Shuman

Secretary-General of the Senior Scholars Authority – Al-Azhar Al-Sharif

Dr Abbas Shuman is a prominent Islamic scholar and a professor of Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University. Born on September 5, 1961, in the village of Shutura in Sohag Governorate, Egypt, he served as the Deputy of Al-Azhar from 2013 to 2018. In December 2023, he was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Senior Scholars Authority at Al-Azhar. Dr Shuman has authored numerous jurisprudential works and contributed to the development of Al-Azhar's educational curricula. He is also well-known for his support of renewing religious discourse and confronting extremism.

Dean of the Graduate Studies and Scientific Research College at Mohammed bin Zayed University for Humanities

Dean of the College of Graduate Studies and Research at Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities and a prominent scholar of Islamic philosophy. He served as a lecturer at the Lebanese University of Beirut - Faculty of Arts - Department of Philosophy - Branch I since 1977. He has also served as an assistant at the same university from 1977 to 1979. He advanced through the academic ranks, becoming a Professor in the Department of Philosophy in 1989.

He has authored and translated numerous publications, most notably "The Nation, Community, and Authority: Studies in Arab-Islamic Political Thought", "Concepts of Groups in Islam", and "Contemporary Islam Perspectives on the Present and the Future", among many others.

He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) in the Islamic Studies category 2017.

Abdullah Al-Naggar is a Professor at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University. He is a member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, the Islamic Research Academy, and the Supreme Council of Al-Azhar. Over the course of his career, he has held several prominent positions, including serving as the first Dean of the Graduate School at Al-Azhar and Supervisor of the Sharia and Law Department at the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for Women.

He was a member of the "Committee of Fifty" tasked with drafting Egypt’s constitution, and he currently serves on the High Committee for Legislative Reform at the Ministry of Justice. Dr. Al-Naggar teaches in postgraduate programmes at Al-Azhar and various Egyptian universities. In recognition of his contributions to Islamic and legal thought, he has been awarded the First-Class Order of Sciences and Arts.

Secretary General - World Council of Muslim Communities