Ahmad Abu Laban - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1948 his family emigrated to Egypt, and he grew up there. In 1969 he graduated as a mechanical engineer. In 1974 he married his cousin Iman; the couple had seven children. He studied Islamic theology with scholars in different Muslim countries. He was employed in the Persian Gulf oil industry from 1970 to 1982, and in a contracting company in Nigeria from 1982 to 1984. He contributed to Islamic projects in education in different states of Nigeria.

He emigrated to Denmark in 1984 and lived there for the rest of his life. He publicly denounced terrorism and the use of violence to further the Islamic cause. Moreover, he was known to fight for social justice and help alleviate social ills, by preaching that Danish Muslims had a responsibility to better the society in which they were a part. On January 19, 2007 the Islamic Society in Denmark announced that Abu Laban had cancer, and that it probably was lung cancer. Abu Laban died on February 1, 2007, aged 60. The love and devotion many Danish Muslims had for Abu Laban come to display at his funeral, where thousands of Muslims poured into the streets of Copenhagen to engage in his Islamic funeral ceremony.

At the time of his death, Ahmad Abu Laban worked as a religious advisor with Islamic Society in Denmark. According to the Society's website, he was a member of the "Co-ordination council of Imams" in Europe.