Ammon News - Cairo/Riyadh - The head of al-Azhar, Egypt's leading religious authority and one of its largest universities, has died following a heart attack in Saudi Arabia, media reports said Wednesday. Egypt's state TV reported that Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi died during a visit to Riyadh.

Tantawi, who was 82, was appointed Grand Mufti of Egypt in 1986. He held this position for almost ten years, until he was appointed Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Mosque and University in 1996, DPA reported.

Al-Azhar, a millennium-old university and mosque complex, is widely regarded as one of the main seats of Islamic learning and the most prominent Sunni institutions in the world.

Egypt's Al Sharq Al Awsat reported that Sheikh Tantawi died in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during a trip to participate in the awards distribution ceremony of the King Faisal International Awards.

Egyptian and Saudi Arabian sources reported that Sheikh Tantawi's body will be buried in Al Madinah Al Munawarah in Saudi Arabia in a funeral on Thursday.