RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 10 (UPI) -- Sheik Mohammed Tantawi, a top Egyptian religious leader, died Wednesday of a heart attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, authorities said.
Tantawi, 82, suffered the attack at the King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh while waiting for a flight to Cairo, MENA, the Middle East News Agency, in Egypt, reported.
Tantawi died while being transported to a military hospital in Riyadh, said Mahmoud Awf, Egypt's ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Tantawi was grand sheik of al-Azhar University and grand imam of al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.
Born in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Suhag, Tantawi held a doctorate in the interpretation of the Koran and was named grand mufti of Egypt in 1986 and grand sheik of al-Azhar in 1996.