Subtitle: Arabic: محمد سليم العوَّا Born: December 22, 1942 Mohamed Selim al-Awa is an Egyptian Islamist thinker and expected presidential candidate. Al-Awa is known for his moderate Islamic democratic beliefs. On June 14, 2011 al-Awa announced his candidacy for Egypt's next presidential election. Al-Awa is the former Secretary General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars in London and the Egyptian Association for Culture and Dialogue. Al-Awa is considered to be one of the few Islamic thinkers that worked to explain what ‘Islamism' means in the modern world. Al-Awa is also considered to be one of Egypt's premier lawyers specializing in Egypt constitutional law, which is based on Sharia, or Islamic Law. After finishing law school, al-Awa completed two degrees in usul al-fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. He then was appointed to the office of the prosecutor and later enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Alexandria. In 1965 Al-Awa was arrested on charges of being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and the arrest cost him his job and resulted in his expulsion from the university. From this point on he stopped any kind of association with any group or political party. Al-Awa wrote Azmat Al-Mu'assasa Al-Diniya (The Crises of the Religious Establishment), in which he explained the reform of Islamic thoughts and institutions. In 1998 he was awarded and named as the Arab Thinker of the Year.
