What is Mahmoud Shaltout?
'''Mahmoud Shaltout''' or '''Mahmud Shaltut''' (1893–1963) ({{lang-ar|محمود شلتوت}}) was an [[Egypt]]ian [[Fiqh|Islamic jurist]] and [[scholar]]. He was a [[Mujaddid|reformer]] of [[al-Azhar University|al-Azhar]], a center of Islamic learning in [[Cairo]]. He was the highest [[Theocracy|religious authority]] in Egypt during the 1960s. He was received his elementary religious [[education]] in [[Alexandria]], [[Egypt]]. He then spent many years at [[al-Azhar University]] in [[Cairo]]. There he rose to become rector of the university. Shaltut was a very active [[writer]] on the [[sharia]] and on [[tafsir]] (explaining [[wikt:text|text]]s). Some consider him to be the best [[example]] of the [[intellectual]] and [[scholar]]ly project of [[Imam]] [[Muhammad Abduh]]. He was born in a [[farming]] [[village]] in [[Lower Egypt]]. Shaltut [[wikt:distinguished|distinguished]] himself as a [[student]] at the religious institute of Alexandria and later at al-Azhar. He became an [[Teacher|instructor]] of Islamic [[jurisprudence]] (fiqh) at al-Azhar in 1927. The following year, the [[reform]]-minded [[Mustafa al-Maraghi|Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi]] was [[wikt:appoint|appoint]]ed shaykh al-Azhar (rector). Shaltut was one of his best [[wikt:supporter|supporter]]s. When al-Maraghi was forced out of office the following year, Shaltut continued pressing for reforms. Shaltut himself took many [[Progressivism|progressive]] stands. He wanted [[translation|translating]] of the [[Quran]]. He was in [[wikt:favor|favor]] of re-[[wikt:establish|establish]]ing relations with [[Shia Islam|Shia Muslims]]. He suggested sending Azhari [[student]]s to [[Europe]] for [[Graduate school|graduate studies]]. He wanted to admit women. He also wanted to add [[scientific]] and [[Institute of technology|technical studies]] to al-Azhar. Yet he survived as a reformer within al-Azhar. This was unlike such former Azhari [[wikt:modern|modern]]ists as [[Taha Hussein]], [[Ali Abd al-Raziq]], and [[Mustafa Abd al-Raziq]], who ended up on the outside. Out of f