Sufi Abu Taleb

Sufi Abu Taleb (27 January 1925 – 21 February 2008) was an Egyptian legal scholar and politician, born at Tamiya in Faiyum Governorate. He graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Law in 1946 and took his doctorate at the University of Paris in 1957 with a thesis that won the university prize; he taught the history of law and Roman law at Cairo University and served as its president from 1975 to 1978. ^{1 2}

Elected to the People's Assembly in 1976, he became its Speaker (1978–1983) and chairman of its committee for the codification of Islamic Sharia rulings. After President Anwar Sadat's assassination on 6 October 1981 he assumed the duties of acting head of state under the constitution for eight days, 6–14 October 1981, stepping aside for Hosni Mubarak. ^{1 2}

His books compare Roman law and Islamic law, and his name is linked to legislative battles over the application of Islamic Sharia and its retention in Article Two of the constitution. He died in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 21 February 2008 while attending a world gathering of the al-Azhar alumni association. 'Sufi' is his given name, not a Sufi affiliation. ^{2 1}

Abu Taleb belonged to a family of the Tamiya district in Faiyum. After secondary school he joined the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, taking his bachelor's degree in 1946 and a diploma in public law in 1947; a scholarship sent him to France in 1948, where at the University of Paris he took diplomas in the history of law and Roman law (1949) and in private law (1950), and his doctorate in 1957, its thesis winning the university award; in 1959 he added a diploma in the laws of the Mediterranean from the Sapienza University of Rome. ^{1 2}

He rose through the Cairo law faculty to a professorship and the headship of the history of law department, served as legal advisor to Assiut University (1965–1967) and to Cairo University (1967–1973), as the university's vice-president (1973–1975) and then as its president (1975–1978). He helped introduce legal studies in the Faculty of Islamic Law at al-Azhar and helped introduce legislation and Islamic law studies at the universities of Kuwait and Sanaa, was a member of al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy, and founded Fayoum University. ^{1 2}

In 1976 he was elected to the People's Assembly for Tamiya, Faiyum, chairing its education committee, and in November 1978 he became Speaker of the Assembly and chairman of its committee for the codification of Sharia rulings. ^{1 2}

When President Sadat was assassinated on 6 October 1981, the constitution made the Speaker acting head of state; Abu Taleb held the duties for eight days, until 14 October 1981, and then stepped aside for Vice-President Hosni Mubarak, remaining Speaker until 1983. ^{1 2}

He died in Kuala Lumpur on 21 February 2008, at the age of 83, while attending the third world gathering of the al-Azhar alumni association. ^{2 1}

His books on Roman law and the history of legal systems include 'Appliance of Roman Law in Egypt' (1955), a comparative study of Islamic law and Roman law (1956), 'Autonomy of Will in Roman Law' (1963), a resume of Roman law (1964), 'History of Legal Procedures and Social Systems' (1972) and 'Appliance of the Islamic Law in Arabic Countries' (1974); in French he published on the seller's risk in Roman and Islamic law (Paris, 1952) and on the legal status of women in Arab countries (1972), and the Arabic article names a book on usul al-fiqh among his best-known works. ^{1 2}

His honours include the Grand Collar of the Order of the Nile (1983), Sudan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Two Niles (1982), the first class of the Order of the Republic, the French Legion of Honour (knight, 1977) and the State Appreciation Award (1990). ^{1 2}

This section presents positions reported by the sources; it is not the museum's verdict on any of them.

His public position was defined by the Sharia question in Egyptian legislation: he chaired the People's Assembly committee codifying Sharia rulings, headed the economic-legislation committee of al-Azhar's Saleh Kamel Center for Islamic Economics in 2002, and was known, as the Arabic article puts it, for fighting a series of legislative and legal battles over the application of Islamic Sharia and its continued inclusion in Article Two of the constitution. ²

His presidency, by contrast, was purely transitional: the English article notes that he was not considered a serious candidate for the presidency and stepped aside after just eight days in favour of Mubarak, so his acting presidency remains a brief constitutional link in the transfer of power after Sadat's assassination. ¹

The sources used here name no school for him: the articles give no religion or school, only professional posts in Islamic-law institutions — academic roles, not attestations of a personal school — and Wikidata's religion statement gives Islam generically, a single structured-data value naming no school. His given name 'Sufi' is a personal name he was born with, not evidence of affiliation to Sufism. The museum therefore records no school. ^{1 2 3}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.