Al-Azhar refers to a famous university and its associated mosque in Cairo, Egypt. The prestigious university is an important intellectual and religious center for the Arab Muslim world, and it is one of the world's oldest universities.

The mosque of Al-Azhar was built from 969 to 972 CE (358–361 AH), when the Shi'a Fatimids conquered Egypt and founded Cairo. Three years after the building of the mosque, it began to take on an academic nature, featuring seminars and readings on Islamic law. The university was officially founded in 998 CE. An explicitly Islamic establishment, most of its focus was on Qur'anic study and Islamic law and jurisprudence. Other areas of study were Arabic grammar, logic, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic astronomy. Although the university originally began in ...