Professor Nasr (Hamid) Abu Zayd was born in Tanta, Egypt on October 7 1943 and currently works and resides in The Netherlands. In 1981, he obtained his doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Highest Honours from Cairo University, where he worked until 1995. he specialises in Humanistic Hermeneutics .

He suffered major religious persecution for his views on the Qur'an as a religious, mythical literary work. He was was declared an apostate by a high court, ordered to divorce his wife, and, in effect, forced out of his homeland. Since 1995 Abu Zayd and his wife have lived in exile in The Netherlands, holding now a chair at the University of Leiden and previously with the University for Humanistics, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

He holds modern views on religion, modernity and on his religion. He serves as a focal point for those concerned with the human and civil rights excesses of Islamic fundamentalism in 2000.