Al-Azhar University (
Arabic ?????? ???????;
Al-?Azhar al-Šarif, "the Noble Azhar"), is an
Egyptian institution of higher learning. It is connected to Al-Azhar
mosque in Old
Cairo. Al-Azhar (in Arabic the most flourished and shining) was so called either because it was surrounded by great glittering places,
[citation needed] or as a hopeful disposition, or after the name of Sayeda Fatima Al-Zahra', daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. The mosque was built in two years from 969 AD, the year in which its foundation was laid. The
Madrasah connected with it was founded in 988 AD. Studies began in Al-Azhar in Ramadan by October 975 AD, when Chief Justice Abul Hasan Ali ibn Al-No'man started teaching the book "Al-Ikhtisar", on the Shiite
jurisprudence.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Al-Azhar was founded by the Fatimids, but Saladin, after ousting the Fatimids, consecrated it to Sunni learning in the 12th century" [1][2]. It is one of the oldest operating universities in the world.
Al-Azhar University was initially founded as a Jami'ah ("university" in Arabic) which issued academic degrees,[3] and had individual faculties[4] for a madrasah and theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy.[3]
Among the university's stated objectives is the propagation of Islamic religion and culture and the Arabic language (the language of the Qur'an.) To that end, it maintains a committee of ulemas (Islamic scholars) to judge on individual Islamic questions, a printing establishment for printing the Qur'an, and training (government-appointed) preachers in spreading da'wa.
