“O reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], And enter among My [righteous] servants” Al-Fajr, 27-40.

With hearts full of sorrow, consolation and tears, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy received the news of the passing of Prof. Muhammad Al-Mahrasawi, President of Al-Azhar International Academy for Training Imams and Preachers and former President of Al-Azhar University, on Thursday afternoon, the 27th of the month of Ramadan in 1446, corresponding to 27 March 2025, in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt.

The International Islamic Fiqh Academy, its members, experts, and affiliates would like to express its condolences to the family of the dearly departed and his lovers, especially Al-Azhar University and its Grand Imam, asking Allah to amplify their reward, enhance their consolation, forgive the loss of people of knowledge, pardon him, and inspire them with patience, consolation, and satisfaction with the judgment of the Merciful. We ask Allah to increase their reward, grant them good mourning, forgive them, pardon them, and grant them patience, consolation, and satisfaction with the decree of the Merciful.”

“Who, when disaster strikes them, say, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.” Al-Baqarah: 156

May Allah have mercy on you, Oh honorable brother and sincere friend. You were a virtuous, humble, good-natured, and pure-hearted scholar, and you were indeed, as the Grand Imam described you, a model of the dignity and majesty of scholars, and an example of devotion to your religion, your country, and your university. We at the Fiqh Academy testify that you were also an example of humility, generosity, loyalty, dedication, creativity, and innovation, as well as an example of the dignity of the eloquent, the wisdom of the eloquent, and the purity of the humorous. The words of your sincere congratulations to me at the beginning of this holy month are still present in my mind and preserved in my memory, and I prayed then that Allah would accept our good deeds in this holy month!

Your gentle remark to me at our last meeting in Manama still rings in my ears, when you gently reproached me for my unintentional delay in answering your question about my condition…What hastened you, O God, to take our brother’s soul so early while he was still rejoicing the circles of knowledge, literature, language, wisdom, righteousness, love, brotherhood and loyalty!

Our dear brother departed from this life so early after leaving a good impression and a good memory in the hearts of all those who knew him or met him. We ask Allah, the Almighty, to have mercy on him, to make him a tongue of truth for others, and to place him in a seat of truth in the presence of a Majestic King with those whom He has bestowed upon them from among the prophets, the righteous, the martyrs, and the virtuous.

Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano

Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy