Al Azhar University
Al Azhar University
- Mu’izz li-Din Allah of the Fatimid dynasty commissioned the construction of the Musjid in their new capital of Egypt during the year 970. His objective was to create an educational institution at the Musjid to teach Shi’ite theology from whence it could be disseminated around the country.
- When Egypt fell to the Mamlukes, they took over the Musjid and expanded the learning area of the Musjid to accommodate more classes. They also extended the library.The Al-Azhar University was therefore a natural expansion of the great musjid of Al-Azhar. It rose to prominence and became the second most important university in the Muslim world after al-Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morocco.
- The Ottoman period also witnessed many developments and improvements.
- Today,it is one of the largest Islamic seminaries in the world with as many as 90,000 students studying there at a time. It continues, as it has been doing for the last thousand years, to produce scholars who hail from many countries around the world.
