Egypt: Liberals mourn the death of Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid after receiving the IBN RUSHD Prize
Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, a prominent Egyptian scholar once accused of apostasy for his contemporary interpretation of Islam, has died on July 5, 2010. He was 66. Officials at the Cairo hospital where Abu Zeid had been receiving treatment for the past two weeks said he died Monday from a brain infection.
Calling him her hero, Mona ElTahawy reposted an article she wrote about him and his strife in 1996:
An Egyptian court on Monday threw its weight behind Islamists by upholding a ruling that a happily married university professor must divorce his wife because he was found to have renounced Islam.
A human rights group, saying it feared for the life of Arabic professor Nasr Abu Zeid, urged President Hosni Mubarak to overturn the “unjust” decision by Cairo’s Court of Cassation.
The court rejected Abu Zeid’s appeal against a ruling ordering his separation from fellow academic Ibtihal Younis.
Abu Zeid and Younis moved to the Netherlands earlier this year to take up teaching posts. The Court of Cassation is the last stop for appeals in Egypt and court sources say if the couple ever return to Cairo they will have to separate.
Abu Zeid has argued he is still a Moslem and has accused mainstream Islamic clerics of quoting the Koran out of context and of making even simple factual errors. Younis has criticised the fundamentalists for treating her like a child by interfering in her private affairs.
Moftah quoted correspondent Hend Adel and wondered:
Voice of Egypt lamented Dr. Abu Zeid's sudden death:
لم أجد كلام أفضل من ما قاله مينا زكري علي تويتر:
مات من رفض السلطة المطلقة للنصوص ورفض تغييب العقل…. مات من آثر انتهاج التفكير في زمن التكفير… مات من فرقوا بينه وبين زوجته بسبب أفكاره،.. مات من طفشوه الكلاب من البلد… مات نصر حامد أبو زيد
Desert Cat wrote a post titled An enlightened page is torn:
Gaberism wrote:
Dr. Sherif Hafez wrote for Middle East Youth saying: