Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was born in 1943 in Egypt. He received his PhD from Cairo University in Arabic sciences and the study of Islam. In 1995, he became a lecturer at the same university, but not everyone agreed with him. Dr Abu Zayd had his own views on the Quran. He believed that you could examine and explain any historical text. Many disagreed with that. Dr Abu Zayd was declared an apostate. This meant that by law he had to divorce his wife Dr Ibtihal Yunis. The reason was that a Muslim woman was not allowed to be married to an apostate.

After extremists threatened him with death, Dr Abu Zayd and his wife left Egypt in 1995. As Dr Abu Zayd had already taught in the Netherlands, he was able to apply for political asylum. Prof Dr Abu Zayd went on to teach as a visiting professor at Leiden University. He published many books and articles maintaining his views as a convinced and committed Muslim. Prof Abu Zayd became the defender of the separation of church, faith and state within Islam. He declared his opposition to the view that the laws of Islam were above the laws of the land. And he was in favour of treating men and women equally.

In 2000, Prof Dr Abu Zayd was offered the Special Cleveringa Chair at Leiden University. At the University of Humanist Studies in Utrecht, he was given a chair in 2002. In 2005, Prof. Dr. Abu Zayd would be awarded the lbn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought. At the end of his life, Prof. Dr. Abu Zayd returned to Egypt, where he died in Cairo in 2010.

Prof. Dr. Abu Zayd wrote the following books:

● Mijn leven met de islam, Haarlem (Uitg. Gottmer) 2002
● Vernieuwing in het islamitisch denken, Amsterdam (Uitg. Bulaaq) 1996/2003
● Rethinking the Qur'an: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutics, Utrecht (Humanistics University Press) 2004