Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (Egypt, 1943) is one of the reformers most important contemporary Islam worldwide. He studied at Cairo University where he did a doctorate in Islamic studies and Arabic.
Due to their interpretation of the Koran, studied from a historical context, and in particular his criticism of the Islamic discourse, in 1995 an Egyptian court found him guilty of apostasy. For the same reason, is forced to divorce his wife as a Muslim woman can not be married to a non-Muslim. Although Islamic law, which punishes with death to apostates, is not applied in Egypt, Abu Zayd decided to exile in the Netherlands.
He currently lives with his spouse in the Netherlands and holds the Ibn-Rushd Chair of Humanities and Islam at the University of Utrecht. Advisory Board Member of Arab House in Spain.