Nasr (Hamid) Abu-Zayd

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010) was a liberal Egyptian Qur'anic scholar and linguist. He passed away on July 5, 2010, in Cairo, Egypt, at the age of 66.

In 1995, Abu Zayd was forced to flee Egypt because of his view that the Qur'an should be understood not only as a religious text but also as a literary and historical work. His interpretation sparked widespread controversy and ultimately led to his exile.

In 2004, he was appointed to the Ibn Rushd Chair of Humanism and Islam at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. He was also affiliated with Leiden University and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.