On Sunday, Ahmed Al-Mahlawi, a prominent Islamic leader and preacher, passed away at the age of 98. He was the imam of the Al-Qaid Ibrahim Mosque in Alexandria and mentored several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi, a former leader in Hamas, and leaders of the Islamic Group who were involved in the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Born on July 1, 1925, Al-Mahlawi graduated from the Sharia Department of Al-Azhar University's Faculty of Sharia in 1957 and worked as an imam and preacher in the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf. He later moved to Alexandria where he served as the imam of the Al-Qaid Ibrahim Mosque in Raml Station.
During Sadat's presidency, Al-Mahlawi was imprisoned, and Sadat mentioned him in a famous speech on September 5, 1981. Al-Mahlawi accused Sadat of neglecting Egypt's rights and praised Khomeini and the Iranian people for humiliating America during the hostage crisis. He also charged Sadat with promising that Sinai would be demilitarized and that it was effectively occupied territory. In response, Sadat dismissed Al-Mahlawi's claims as lies and criminality, asserting, "I swear by God I will not forgive him by law."
After his release from prison, Al-Mahlawi was banned from preaching for extended periods. On February 4, 2011, following the unrest in January, he delivered a sermon at Al-Qaid Ibrahim Mosque for the first time in a long while and continued to rally demonstrators until the ousting of President Mubarak on February 11, 2011. Al-Mahlawi used the Al-Qaid Ibrahim Mosque as a stronghold for Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the Islamic Group, surrounding it to pressure the ruling military council after the January unrest, and later employed it after the June 2013 revolution to besiege protesters opposing the Brotherhood's rule.
