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Abd al-Qadir Awda

Died
1373 AH
Born in
-

Abd al-Qadir Awda (1325–1373 AH / 1907–1954 CE; another report gives 1374 AH) was an Egyptian judge, legal scholar, and leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, best known for his comparative legal treatise al-Tashri al-Jina'i al-Islami Muqaranan bil-Qanun al-Wad'i ("Islamic Criminal Legislation Compared to Man-Made Law").

Legal Career and Activism

Awda served in the Egyptian judiciary as a judge and practiced as a lawyer, developing a mastery of both modern statutory law and classical Islamic jurisprudence. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and became a prominent member of its Guidance Bureau (Maktab al-Irshad). Through his writings, such as al-Islam wa-Awda'una al-Qanuniyya ("Islam and Our Legal Conditions"), he critiqued the wholesale adoption of foreign positive legislation and advocated for the implementation of Islamic law across social and state institutions. In his two-volume treatise al-Tashri al-Jina'i al-Islami, he systematically contrasted classical Islamic criminal jurisprudence with modern statutory codes.

Trial and Execution

When Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the establishment of the revolutionary "People's Court" (Mahkamat al-Sha'b), Awda published a direct critique of the tribunal, pointing out procedural outrages such as its presiding officer, Jamal Salim, demanding that defendants recite Quranic verses in reverse. Following the 1954 Manshiyya assassination attempt against Nasser in Alexandria, Awda was arrested and accused of involvement in the plot. He was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in Cairo on 7 December 1954 (also reported as 8 December 1954 / 12 Rabi' al-Thani 1374 AH) alongside five other Brotherhood figures.

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List of Works

  • al-Tashri al-Jinai al-Islami Muqaranan bil-Qanun al-Wadi

    This two-volume comparative legal treatise systematically contrasts classical Islamic criminal jurisprudence with modern statutory law, focusing particularly on Egyptian criminal law.

  • al-Islam wa Awdauna al-Siyasiyya

    This treatise examines Islamic political theory and constitutional governance, presenting the core principles of the Islamic system of rule and its framework of consultation (shura).

  • al-Mal wal-Hukm fi al-Islam

    This treatise examines Islamic jurisprudence, political theory, and economics, focusing on the principles that govern property ownership, public finance, and political authority.

  • al-Islam bayna jahl abnaihi wa ajz ulama'ihi

    This single-volume treatise addresses the political and legal marginalization of Islamic law, examining the roles played by Muslim society, ruling elites, and religious scholars in that decline.

  • al-Islam wa Awdauna al-Qanuniyya

    This legal and political treatise examines the state of modern legislation in the Islamic world, offering a critique of man-made positive law and arguing for the necessity of governing by Islamic law (Sharia).