Editing Nasr Abu Zayd (section)

== Early life ==
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was born in Quhafa, a small village some 120&nbsp;km from Cairo, near [[Tanta]], [[Egypt]] on July 10, 1943. Abu Zayd went through a traditional religious school system<ref name=FRINHAZ2004:171>[[#FRINHAZ2004|Kermani, "From revelation to interpretation", 2004]]: p.171</ref> and was a [[Qāriʾ]] who could recite the Qur'an with the proper rules of recitation, and a [[Hafiz (Quran)|Hafiz]] one who has memorized the Quran completely from a young age.<ref name=FRINHAZ2004:169-70>[[#FRINHAZ2004|Kermani, "From revelation to interpretation", 2004]]: p.169-70</ref>

At the age of 12, Abu Zayd was imprisoned for allegedly sympathising with the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]. He was also influenced by the writings of Muslim Brotherhood revolutionary Islamist [[Sayyid Qutb]], who was executed by the Egyptian state in 1966, but moved away from the ideas of the Brethren and Qutb as he grew older.<ref name=FRINHAZ2004:169-70/> After receiving technical training he worked for the National Communications Organization in Cairo. At the same time, he started studying at [[Cairo University]], where he obtained his [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] degree in [[Arabist|Arabic Studies]] (1972), and later his [[Master of Arts|MA]] (1977) and [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] degrees (1981) in [[Islamic Studies]], with works concerning the interpretation of the [[Qur'an]].