Al-Azhar

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 line with the Isma'ili Shi'a thinking of the Fātimids, it was changed to a Sunnī establishment in the 12th century, when the Fatimids were overthrown. Sultan Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid Dynasty, changed Al-Azhar's studies to accord with Shafi'i Sunnī Islam.

During the Mamluk period (1250–1517 CE), Al-Azhar became a shelter for many Muslim expatriate scholars from Andalusia and Central Asia. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the university thrived through its development and advancement of scientific progress. It was also a strong center for the study of mathematics, geography, and history. The university remained well-known throughout Ottoman rule and became Egypt's principal religious institution.

This flourishing scholarship was temporarily halted during the Egyptian revolution against the French occupation in 1798. Al-Azhar was at the center of the revolution's beginnings, serving as a meeting place and a political community for opponents of the occupation. But when the revolution broke out, the Grand Imam and the ulema of Al-Azhar closed the mosque and university due to their inability to carry out academic programs under those conditions. Studies were resumed 3 years later, when the French evacuated Egypt.

In 1961, the university was restructured by the Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser. New secular departments were added, including medicine and engineering. A female faculty was also added for the first time, although women speakers had visited in recent years before that.

Today, Al-Azhar is considered by many to be the most prestigious school of Sunnī Islamic law, and it is one of the most well-respected universities of the Arab world. It offers training for secular professions and houses scholars of secular fields, particularly the sciences. However, it remains a primarily Islamic institution where only Muslims may study. Among its stated objectives is the propagation of Islamic religion and culture, as well as the Arabic language. For these purposes, Al-Azhar publishes a monthly magazine dealing with Islamic literature, law, history, and current news. Additionally, it is the home of a printing press for Qur'an printing. The mosque and university are headed by a Grand Imam with the title Shaykh Al-Azhar, and a committee of ulema serve there to judge questions of Islamic law and religion. The university library is also well-known, considered second only to the Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya (“Egyptian House of [Page 27]Books”) library in Egypt. Al-Azhar's prestige has attracted scholars of many Arab countries and contributed to Egypt's place as an important center in the Middle East.

...