Ahmed Farid

Biography

Ahmed Farid is a member of the Salafi movement in Egypt and one of its prominent names in the region. He was born in the city of Minya in Upper Egypt in 1952. He holds a medical degree from Alexandria University. At the university, he met Ibrahim Al Zafarani, who later became a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Farid and Zafarani founded Al Jamaa Al Islamia, a Sunni extremist group. Nevertheless, when the Muslim Brotherhood began to return to its activities after years of ban under Gamal Abdul Nasser’s rule, Farid refused an offer to join the group.

After his graduation, Sheikh Ahmed Farid applied to join the military service but he was registered as a reserve soldier. The cleric refused to shave his beard and was sentenced to prison several times, before he was expelled from the army.

Soon after his release from the military prison, Farid joined the growing Salafi movement. Under Hosni Mubarek’s rule, he was jailed for the first time in 1987 following the assassination attempt against former Interior Minister Hassan Abu Basha, but he was released after only 38 days.

In 2002, he was accused of Takfir (excommunication) and jailed for six months. Following the eruption of the uprising in 2011, Farid joined a new Salafi organisation called the Salafist Call (Al Dawaa Al Salafia). The group seeks to expand the Salafi way of thought in Egypt through charity and religious preaching.

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

December 2020: In a publication on his Facebook page, Sheikh Farid called Muslims to avoid celebrating the new year’s eve.

August 2020: In a rare attack on the Al Azhar institution, the highest Sunni authority in Egypt, Sheik Farid said that Sheikh Al Azhar Ahmed Tayib is the enemy of Islam and that his religious beliefs are corrupt. Farid accused Sheikh al Azhar of being friends with liberal and secular forces in Egypt.

November 2016: Sheikh Ahmed Farid stated in a TV interview that Shia are not Muslims because they have a different religion. He also added that Shia believe that the Quran is not authentic.

March 2012: In a recorded lecture on the war in Syria, Sheikh Ahmed Farid said that the followers of the Nusayri/Alawite sect are unbelievers.