A mufti is a scholarly rank a Muslim jurist reaches through study and certification. It enables them to look into Islamic positive law and draw relevant rulings for a current situation. Throughout history, the ruling class would choose from among this distinguished class of scholars a Grand Mufti to oversee an official body that helps disseminate fatwas in an organized and mass manner. The office of Grand Mufti in Egypt was established in November of 1895 by order of Khedive Ismail. Prior to this, there were four Chief Muftis, one for each of the four Sunni schools of Islamic law – Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Hanbali- and they were called shuyukh al-madhahib. Since Egypt was under Ottoman rule, the Hanafi School of law dominated and the Hanafi Chief Mufti was the most significant of the four. The importance of the Hanafi School remained even after the establishment of the office of the Grand Mufti. For one to serve as Grand Mufti, they had to master the Hanafi legal code and issue fatwas exclusively based on it. As time moved on, however, a concerted effort was made to open ifta’ to not only the four Sunni schools of law, but also the two Shiite schools of Islamic law (the Ja‘fari and ‘Ibadi schools) the Zaydi and Dhahiri schools, and the entire eighty plus schools of all of the Mujtahid Imams found throughout Islamic legal history. The office of the Grand Mufti of Egypt remains one of the most inclusive and prestigious bodies of Islamic law today.

List of Grand Muftis of Egypt: