Sheikh Ali Gomaa is the former Grand Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He is one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the world. Despite retiring from the post of Grand Mufti of Egypt in 2013, Gomaa has remained active on many fronts and his counsel is more in demand than ever before.

After graduating from the faculty of commerce, Sheikh Ali enrolled in al-Azhar University. During his first year in al-Azhar, he memorized many of the foundational texts that other students who had gone through the Azhar high school system had already encountered. These included works in jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Quranic recitation, and hadith methodology. After completing a second bachelor’s degree from al-Azhar in 1979, Sheikh Ali enrolled in a master’s degree program in shariah and law at the same university. He obtained his master’s degree in 1985 followed by a Ph.D. from the same department in 1988.