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Muhammad Sa'id al-Ashmawi: what Wikipedia removed

Muhammad Sa’id al-Ashmawi was an Egyptian Supreme Court justice and prominent secularist critic of political Islam. Through 2010 the opening said he lived under guard “due to death threats from Egyptian militants,” and described his debates with Islamists like Khomeini and Qutb over the meaning of sharia. Today’s opening drops both the threats and the debate, calling him only “one of the most influential liberal Islamic thinkers today,” though the word survives five times in the body. A reader today does not learn that Ashmawi faced death threats from Egyptian militants for opposing political Islam.

The word “islamist” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 5. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word2010201520206 October 20232025
islamist22000
militant11000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The opening identification line, updated to reflect his death and current status.
  • The statement that Ashmawi lived under guard due to death threats from Egyptian militants, dropped from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2010 (revision 371182677):

Muhammad Sa’id al-‘Ashmawi (1932- ) is a retired Egyptian Supreme Court justice and former head of the Court of State Security and a specialist in comparative and Islamic law at Cairo University . He has been described as “one of the most influential liberal Islamic thinkers today,” who “has had to rely on round-the-clock police protection due to death threats from Egyptian militants.” Born in 1932, Ashmawi graduated from Cairo University’s law school in 1954 and became assistant district attorney and then district attorney in Alexandria . He was appointed a judge in 1961 and rose to become chief justice of the High Court, the High Criminal Court and the High Court for State Security. He is …

2025 (revision 1288833764):

Egyptian Supreme Court justice (1932–2013) Muhammad Sa’id al-‘Ashmawi ( Arabic : محمد سعيد العشماوى , IPA: [mæˈħæmmæd sæˈʕiːd el.ʕæʃˈmæːwi] ; 1932 – 7 November 2013) was an Egyptian Supreme Court justice and former head of the Court of State Security. He was a specialist in comparative and Islamic law at Cairo University , described as “one of the most influential liberal Islamic thinkers today.”

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