Hassan Mamoun

[1] Mamoun was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1894 to a father who was a leading member of the 'ulema ("religious scholars") and the imam of the Fath Mosque in the Abdin Palace.

That same year, a group of army officers deposed the monarchy of King Farouk and began a process of ending British colonial influence in Egypt.

[2] Mamoun was appointed Grand Mufti of Egypt on 28 February 1955 by the Egyptian government, succeeding Ahmed Ibrahim Mughith.

[3] In July 1964 President Gamal Abdel Nasser appointed Mamoun Grand Imam of al-Azhar.

As Grand Imam, in August, Mamoun declared in a fatwa that contraception was not in contradiction to Islamic law, provided the mechanism was legitimate and the conditions necessitated it.

Mamoun (second from left in the forefront) with Egyptian government officials in the al-Azhar Mosque before Friday prayers in the last week of Ramadan , January 1966. President Gamal Abdel Nasser is standing to Mamoun's left and future president Anwar Sadat to his right