Al-Azhar University

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Image:Al Azhar, Egypt.jpg Al-Azhar University (Arabic: الأزهر الشريف; al-Azhar al-Shareef, "the Noble Azhar"), is a premier Egyptian institution of higher learning, world-renowned for its position as a center of Islamic scholarship and education. It is connected to Al-Azhar mosque in Old Cairo, named to honor Fatima Az-Zahraa the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid Dynasty claimed descent. The mosque was built in two years from 969 CE, the year in which its foundation was laid. The school of theology (madrassa) connected with it was founded in 988 CE as an Ismaili Shia school, but it later became a Sunni school, an orientation it retains to this day. It is one of the oldest operating universities in the world.

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Reputation

Al-Azhar is considered by most Sunni Muslims to be the most prestigious school of Islamic learning, and its scholars are seen as some of the most reputable scholars in the Muslim world. Among its stated objectives is the propagation of Islamic 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 trains preachers in spreading da'wa.

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Politics

Al-Azhar is run by a Supreme Council forming general policy, headed by a Grand Imam, known as "Sheikh Al-Azhar." Unlike most universities, it does not admit students who are not practicing Muslims, thus it combines the institutions of a Western theological seminary with faculties, established in 1961, of medicine and engineering.

In 1961, Al-Azhar was reorganized by the Nasser Government and several secular faculties were added to the university, such as medicine, engineering, agriculture, as well as an Islamic women's faculty.

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Literature

Al-Azhar library, which was consolidated in 1897, is considered second in range, variety and importance only to the Egyptian National Library and Archives in Cairo. It comprises 99,062 books consisting of 595,668 volumes of the most precious Islamic manuscripts and rare books, some as old as the 8th century AD. The library is a center of attraction to researchers, students and other Islamic universities. It contributes to human knowledge about the Islamic heritage by making photocopies of some of the manuscripts available for the benefit of researchers from Egypt and other countries. The library does not collect non-Islamic literature.

Since 1929, Al-Azhar has published a magazine (now monthly) whose stated purpose is to promulgate religious rules, subjects related to Islamic literature, and basic jurisprudence (shariah), including sections on history, biographies, translated texts and news concerning the Muslim world. In 1960, Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah became the first woman to speak at the university.

In 2005, the Al Azhar online document archive was launched (see link below). This is a joint venture between the university and the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum IT Education Project (ITEP) in Dubai. The archive will eventually give access to all 42,000 manuscripts (c. 7 million pages) in Al Azhar library. As of writing, there are around 1.5 million pages available to view.

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Response to negative press

Muhammad Sayid Tantawy, the current Imam of Al-Azhar, has declared that the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks and suicide bombers are "heretics" who are not following the true path of Islam. In a recent conference in Indonesia, he asked all "true believers" to deny speakers of extremist and heretical forms of Islam places to speak in the mosque, thus preventing the spread of violent ideologies. However, Abd Al-Sabour Shahin, a prominent professor at the University, denies that Muslims were even involved in the attacks, claiming a "dirty Zionist hand" was behind them. [1]

Ali Gomaa', the Egyptian Mufti associated with Al Azhar, has declared that insurgents who kidnap and kill civilans in Iraq are the ones which Islam has authorized to thwart and eradicate since they wreak havoc on Earth.

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See also

Fatwas:

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External links

fa:دانشگاه الازهر ur:جامعہ الازهر de:Al-Azhar-Universität es:Universidad de al-Azhar fr:Mosquée Al-Azhar he:אל אזהר hu:Al-Azhar Egyetem ka:ალ-აზარის უნივერსიტეტი nl:Al-Azhar Universiteit

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