Background
Osman was born on March 17, 1928, in Minya, Egypt.
Osman was born on March 17, 1928, in Minya, Egypt.
Cairo University; Princeton University.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1940s and worked on its weekly journal. Osman was awarded an undergraduate degree in 1948 from Cairo University where he majored in history in 1948. He broke with Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood during the 1950s and wrote the 1960 book Islamic Thought and Change, which presented a more progressive view of the religion, earned a law degree in 1960 from Alexandria University in 1960 and returned to Cairo University where he received a master"s degree in Islamic-Byzantine relations in 1962.
He was granted a doctorate in Near Eastern studies in 1976 from Princeton University, where he wrote a dissertation on the subject of Islamic land ownership and taxation and later taught history at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Saudi Arabia.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1987, where he was chosen as a scholar in residence at the Islamic Center of Southern California. Osman died at age 82 on September 11, 2010, at his home in Montrose, California due to congestive heart failure.