Morsi was born in 1951 in the Delta province of Sharqiya. He studied engineering at Cairo University before he went to the University of South California to pursue a PhD. According to his resume posted on a Muslim Brotherhood's website, Mursi worked as assistant professor at California State University Northridge in the early 1980s.
He returned to Egypt in the mid-1980s to teach at Zagazig University's Faculty of Engineering.
In 2006, Mursi was detained for seven months on grounds of participating in a protest denouncing Mubarak's interference with the judiciary. On the early morning of 28 January 2011, Morsi was arrested along with several Muslim Brotherhood leaders as part of Mubarak's last desperate measure to preempt the sweeping protests that were set to kick off on that day.
During his parliamentary tenure from 2000 to 2005, Mursi initiated several motions to expose government corruption. He also called for several political reforms including the abolition of the notorious political parties law, the empowerment of municipal councils, the lifting of the state of emergency and all restrictions on the press and student political activities. Morsi was also an outspoken critic of the Egypt-Israel gas deal.
He also had filed an information request alleging that there are pro-American forces within the government seek to weaken Al-Azhar and religious education.
Hours after the result, Mr Mursi resigned from his positions within the Muslim Brotherhood including his role as chairman of its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) as he had pledged to do in the event of his victory.
Morsi keen to renew long-severed Iran ties
Reuters reported an interview of Egypt's President-elect Mohammed Morsi with the Iran's Fars news agency in which Mursi said he wants to restore long-severed ties with Tehran to create a strategic "balance" in the region.
Diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iran were severed more than 30 years ago, but both countries have signalled a shift in policy since former president Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year in a popular uprising.
"We must restore normal relations with Iran based on shared interests, and expand areas of political coordination and economic cooperation because this will create a balance of pressure in the region," Mursi was quoted as saying.
In contrast to comments he made in a televised address after his victory was announced on Sunday, Fars news quoted Morsi as saying Egypt's Camp David peace accord with Israel "will be reviewed", without elaborating.
The 1979 peace treaty, unpopular with the majority of Egyptians, was staunchly upheld by Mubarak, who also suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which Morsi belongs. According to the Pew Research Center poll of April 2011, only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, compared with 54 percent who would like to see it scrapped.
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