Shadia Mahmoud

Al-Azhar University

The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as the most prestigious university for Islamic learning. Today, al-Azhar remains a profoundly influential institution in Egyptian society that is highly revered in the Sunni Muslim world and a symbol of Islamic Egypt. Al-Azhar University, Arabic Jāmiʿat al-Azhar, the chief centre of Islamic and Arabic learning in the world, centred on the mosque of that name in the medieval quarter of Cairo, Egypt. It was founded by the Shiʿi (specifically, the Ismāʿīlī sect) Fatimids in 970 CE and was formally organized by 988. Its name may allude to Fāṭimah, the Prophet's daughter, known as "al-Zahrāʾ" ("the Luminous"), from whom the Fatimid dynasty derives its name. The education format at Al-Azhar remained relatively informal for much of its early history: initially, there were no entrance requirements, no formal curriculum, and no degrees. The basic program of studies was—and still is—Islamic law, theology, and the Arabic language.