Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in
CairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
and
Islamic learningIn a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.
It is associated with
Al-Azhar MosqueAl-Azhar Mosque is a mosque in Islamic Cairo in Egypt. Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh of the Fatimid Caliphate commissioned its construction for the newly established capital city in 970. Its name is usually thought to allude to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, a revered figure in Islam...
in
Islamic CairoIslamic Cairo is a part of central Cairo noted for its historically important mosques and other Islamic monuments. It is overlooked by the Cairo Citadel....
. The university's mission includes the propagation of
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic religion and culture. To this end, its Islamic scholars (
ulama-In Islam:* Ulema, also transliterated "ulama", a community of legal scholars of Islam and its laws . See:**Nahdlatul Ulama **Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama **Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal**Jamiat ul-Ulama -Other:...
s) render edicts (
fatwaA fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
s) on disputes submitted to them from all over the Sunni Islamic world regarding proper conduct for
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
individuals societies. Al-Azhar also trains Egyptian government appointed preachers in proselytization (
da'wa).
Its
libraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
is considered second in importance in Egypt only to the
Egyptian National Library and ArchivesThe Egyptian National Library and Archives in Cairo is the largest library in Egypt. The second largest are the libraries of Al-Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina ....
. In May 2005, Al-Azhar in partnership with a Dubai information technology enterprise,
ITEP launched the H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Project to Preserve Al Azhar Scripts and Publish Them Online (the "Al-Azhar Online Project") with the mission of eventually providing online access to the library's entire rare manuscripts collection (comprising about seven million pages).
History
Al-Azhar University concerns itself with the religious syllabus, which pays special attention to the Quranic sciences and traditions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, on the one hand, while on the other hand the university teaches all the modern fields of science. In 1961, according to Al-Azhar university's legislatory law No. 103, new colleges of applied sciences, such as the faculties of Medicine and Engineering, were introduced to Al-Azhar university. These newly introduced faculties are not duplicates of their counterparts in other universities because they combine the empirical sciences with the religious sciences. Alongside the Egyptian students who are studying at Al-Azhar university, there are also many other students from various Islamic and European countries. These foreign Muslim students have exactly the same rights as the Egyptian students.
The madrasa was founded by the
FatimidThe Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
dynasty of Egypt, descended from
FatimahFatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
, daughter of
MuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. Fatimah was called
Az-Zahra (the brilliant), and the university was named in her honor.
Studies began at Al-Azhar in the month of
RamadanRamadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
, 975 AD. According to Syed Farid Alatas, the
Jami'ahMadrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
had
facultiesA faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
in
Islamic lawSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
and
jurisprudenceFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
,
Arabic grammarArabic grammar is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with the grammar of other Semitic languages....
,
Islamic astronomyIslamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa, and...
,
Islamic philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
, and
logicLogic played an important role in Islamic philosophy .Islamic Logic or mantiq is similar science to what is called Traditional Logic in Western Sciences.- External links :*Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: , Routledge, 1998...
. In the 12th century, following the overthrow of the Ismaili Shia
FatimidThe Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
dynasty, Sultan
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
(the founder of the staunchly Sunni
Ayyubid DynastyThe Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they...
) converted Al-Azhar to a Shafi'ite Sunni center of learning. Abd-el-latif delivered
lecturethumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
s on
Islamic medicineIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
at Al-Azhar, while the jewish philosopher
MaimonidesMoses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin.
In 1961, Al-Azhar was established as a university under the government of Egypt's second President
Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
when a wide range of secular faculties were added for the first time, such as
businessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
,
economicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
,
scienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
,
pharmacyPharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
,
medicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
,
engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and
agricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. Before that date, the
Encyclopaedia of IslamThe Encyclopaedia of Islam is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies. It embraces articles on distinguished Muslims of every age and land, on tribes and dynasties, on the crafts and sciences, on political and religious institutions, on the geography, ethnography, flora and...
classifies the Al-Azhar variously as madrasa, center of higher learning and, since the 19th century, religious university, but not as a university in the full sense, referring to the modern transition process as "from madrasa to university". An Islamic women's faculty was also added in the same year, six years after
Zaib-un-Nissa HamidullahZaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah was a pioneer of Pakistani literature and journalism in English, and also a pioneer of feminism in Pakistan, West Pakistan till 1971. She was Pakistan's first female columnist , editor, publisher and political commentator...
had been the first woman to speak at the university..
Magazine publishing
Since 1929, Al-Azhar has published a magazine (now monthly), the stated mission of which is to publicise religious rules, subjects related to Islamic literature, and basic jurisprudence
(FiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
), including sections on history, biographies, translated texts, and news concerning the Muslim world.
Political views
Sheikh Tantawy noted that among the priorities of Muslims are "to master all knowledge of the world and the hereafter, not least the technology of modern weapons to strengthen and defend the community and faith". He added that "mastery over modern weaponry is important to prepare for any eventuality or prejudices of the others, although Islam is a religion of peace.".
Sheikh Tantawy also reasserted that his is the best faith to follow (a tenet common to proponents of many religions) and that Muslims have the duty of active
da'waDa‘wah or Dawah usually denotes the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite"...
. He has made declarations about Muslims interacting with non-Muslims who are not a threat to Muslims. There are non-Muslims living apart from Muslims and who are not enemies of Islam ("Muslims are allowed to undertake exchanges of interests with these non-Muslims so long as these ties do not tarnish the image of the faith"), and there are "the non-Muslims who live in the same country as the Muslims in cooperation and on friendly terms, and are not enemies of the faith" ("in this case, their rights and responsibilities are the same as the Muslims so long as they do not become enemies of Islam"). However, Shi'a
fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(according to a fatwa by Al-Azhar, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam) is accepted as a fifth school of Islamic thought.
On freedom of speech
In October 2007,
Muhammad Sayyid TantawyMuhammad Sayyid Tantawy was an influential Islamic scholar in Egypt. From 1986 to 1996, he was the grand Mufti of Egypt...
, then the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, drew allegations of stifling freedom of speech when he asked the Egyptian government to toughen its rules and punishments against journalists. During a Friday sermon in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and a number of ministers, Tantawy is alleged to have stated that journalism which contributes to the spread of false rumours rather than true news deserves to be boycotted, and that it is tantamount to sinning for readers to purchase such newspapers. Tantawy, a supporter of former Egyptian President
Hosni MubarakMuhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
, also called for a punishment of eighty lashes to "those who spread rumors" in an indictment of speculation by journalists over Mubarak's ill health and possible death. This is not the first time that he has criticized the Egyptian press regarding its news coverage nor is it the first time he in return has been accused by the press of opposing freedom of speech. During a religious celebration in the same month, Tantawy released comments alluding to "the arrogant and the pretenders who accuse others with the ugliest vice and unsubstantiated charges". In response, Egypt's press union issued a statement suggesting that Tantawy appeared to be involved in inciting and escalating a campaign against journalists and freedom of the press.
Notable persons associated with the university
Al-Azhar University has had a huge impact on the religious, cultural and political arena in Egypt, the Arab World, and the wider Muslim world
19th – early 20th centuries
- Muhammad Abduh
Muhammad Abduh was an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism...
and Sayd Jamal edin Afghani, founder of Islamic ModernismAziz Abbassi’s English translation found in the following pages wasmade from the French Introduction à la critique de la raison Arabe,translated from Arabic to French by Ahmed Mahfoud and Marc Geoffroy,...
- Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Sheikh Muhammad Izz ad-Din al-Qassam was a Tijani Sufi who led militant activities against British, French, and Zionist organizations in the Levant in the 1920's and 1930's.-Early life:...
, founder and leader of Black Hand
- Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine. From as early as 1920, in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state he actively opposed Zionism, and was implicated as a leader of a violent riot...
, MuftiA mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
of Jerusalem
- Cheikh Chouaïb Doukkali, Former Moroccan minister of Justice, President of the Moroccan Appellate Court and a pioneer within the Moroccan independence movement
- Ahmed Orabi, Egyptian nationalist and army general who led the Urabi Revolt
The Urabi Revolt or Orabi Revolt , also known as the Orabi Revolution, was an uprising in Egypt in 1879-82 against the Khedive and European influence in the country...
against Khedive TewfikHH Muhammed Tewfik Pasha ' was Khedive of Egypt and Sudan between 1879 and 1892, and the sixth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty.-Early life:...
1910s–1950s
- Hassan al-Banna
Sheikh Hasan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna known as Hasan al-Banna was a schoolteacher and imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential 20th century Muslim revivalist organizations.-Early life:Banna was born in 1906 in Mahmoudiyah, Egypt...
, founder of the Muslim BrotherhoodThe Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
(he graduated from Darul 'Uloom which is an affiliate of Cairo University)
- Mehmed Handžić
Mehmed Handžić was one of authors of Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims' and chairman of the Committee of National Salvation...
, a leader of BosnianBosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
revivalists, one of authors of Resolution of Sarajevo MuslimsThe Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims or Muslim Resolution of 1941 was one of the resolutions of Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina declared by 108 notable Muslim citizens of Sarajevo during the Second World War in Sarajevo on October 12, 1941...
and chairman of the Committee of National Salvation
- Omar Abdel Rahman, leader of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is an Egyptian Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments...
, which has been designated a terrorist group by the governments of the United States and Egypt; currently serving a life term for the 1993 World Trade Center bombingThe 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
- Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani was the founder of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir.He died aged 68 in 1977.- Philosophy and Theology :Nabhani in his books 'Thought' and 'System of Islam' placed...
, the leader and founder of The Islamic Political Party, Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Party of Liberation)
- Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
- Saad Zaghlul
Saad Zaghloul was an Egyptian revolutionary, and statesman. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt from January 26, 1924 to November 24, 1924.-Education, activism and exile:...
, leader of 1919 revolution in Egypt
- Taha Hussein, Influential Egyptian writer and intellectual
- Muhammad Ma Jian
Muhammad Ma Jian was a Chinese Islamic scholar and translator.Born in Shadian village, Gejiu, Yunnan, Ma Jian went to Shanghai to pursue his studies in 1928. In 1931, he left China for Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt as a member of the first group of government-sponsored Chinese students to...
, translator of the Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
into the Chinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
- Ahmad Meshari Al-Adwani
Ahmad Meshari Al-Adwani was a poet and teacher who wrote the lyrics of the national anthem of Kuwait, Al-Nasheed Al-Watani. In 1938, he graduated from the "al-Mubarakiyah" Secondary School, Kuwait. In 1939 he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, and was admitted into the College of Arabic Language Studies...
, Kuwaiti poet and writer of Kuwait's national anthem Al-Nasheed Al-WataniAl-Nasheed Al-Watani . The Kuwaiti national anthem is by poet Ahmad Meshari Al-Adwani, Ibrahim Al-Soula composed the music and Ahmad Ali arranged the composition. It was first broadcast on 25 February, 1978....
1950–present
- Mohammed Burhanuddin
Doctor Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin is the 52nd Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras. The Dawoodi Bohras are a sub group within the Mustaali, Ismaili Shia branch of Islam.- Biography :Burhanuddin was born in Surat, Gujarat, India...
, Dai of Dawoodi Bohra done rediscovery of Al-Azhar University's past History and was Awarded Ph.d from Al-Azhar University.
- Shire Jama Ahmed
Shire Jama Ahmed was a Somali linguist who is credited with having devised a unique Latin script for transcribing the Somali language. Shire Jama's winning Somali Orthoraphy was chosen from eighteen competing new orthographies in 1972 by the Language Committee and the ruling party...
, SomaliSomalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
linguist who devised a Latin script for the Somali languageThe Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
.
- Mahmud Shaltut
Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut was a prominent Egyptian Sunni religious scholar and Islamic theologian best known for his work in Islamic reform...
, Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, issued in 1959 a FatwaA fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
, declaring that Al-Azhar recognizes Shi'ism as a valid branch of Islam
- Abdel-Halim Mahmoud
Sheikh Abdel-Halim Mahmoud served as Grand Imam of Al Azhar from 1973 until his death in 1978...
, Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, introduced the study of SufismSufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
as a science through his prolific writings and lectures on the matter
- Ahmed Subhy Mansour
Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour , born March 1, 1949, in Abu Harair, Kafr Saqr, Sharqia, Egypt is an Egyptian-born noted Islamic scholar and cleric, with expertise in Islamic history, culture, theology, and politics...
, Islamic scholar, cleric, and founder of the Quranists, who was exiled from Egypt, and lives in the United States as a political refugee
- Taha Jabir Alalwani
place this image male.svg|right]] Taha Jabir Al-Alwani , Ph.D. , is the President of Cordoba University. He also holds the Imam Al-Shafi'i Chair in the Islamic Legal Theory at The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences at Corboda University...
, President of Cordoba UniversityCordoba University is an Islamic university located in Ashburn, Virginia. The university is made up of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences and Cordoba School of Professional Studies...
(Ashburn, VA, USA), former Chairman of the FiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
Council of North America, and the President of the International Institute of Islamic ThoughtThe International Institute of Islamic Thought is a privately held non-profit organization.The Institution is concerned with issues of Islamic thought...
in Herndon, Virginia (USA)The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
- Gus Dur, Former President of Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
- Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy
Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy was an influential Islamic scholar in Egypt. From 1986 to 1996, he was the grand Mufti of Egypt...
, former Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (March 17, 1996 to March 10, 2010)
- Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy
Muhammad Metwally El-Shaarawy was an Egyptian Muslim jurist. -Early life:El-Shaarawy was born in Dakadous village, Mit Ghamr, Ad Daqahliyah, Egypt on April 15, 1911. He is a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He got married while he was in elementary school. He has three sons and two...
is an Egyptian Muslim jurist and made many publications under his name
- Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was President of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as Minister of Transport, he was nominated as President by the Majlis of the Maldives and succeeded Ibrahim Nasir on November 11, 1978. He eventually became the longest-ruling head of government in Asia...
, Former President of The Republic of Maldives
- Abdulla Saeed
Ustaz Justice Abdulla Saeed, from the island of Meedhoo, is the former chief justice of the Maldives.-Family History:Born in Meedhoo , the Maldives, on 25 September 1964, Saeed is a descendant of the Dhiyamigili dynasty of the Maldives...
, Former Chief Justice, and Justice Supreme Court of The Republic of Maldives ).
- Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi, Justice Supreme Court of The Republic of Maldives.
Faculties
- Faculty of Theology
- Facul−ty of Sharia & Law
- Faculty of Arabic Language
- Faculty of Islamic & Arabic Studies
- Faculty of Islamic Call
- Faculty of medicine
- Faculty of Dentistry
- Faculty of pharmacy
- Faculty of engineering
- Faculty of languages & Translations
- Faculty of sciences
- Faculty of Business Studies
- Faculty of Agriculture
- Faculty of Education
- Faculty of Islamic & Arabic Studies for girls
- Faculty of Humanities for girls
- Faculty of Medicine for girls
- Faculty of Dentistry for girls
- Faculty of Pharmacy for girls
- Faculty of Engineering for girls
See also
Outside Egypt
- Al-Azhar University – Gaza
- Al-Azhar University – Doha
- Markazu Saqafathi Sunniya
Jamia Markazu Ssaqafathi Ssunniyya is a Shafi'i Sunni Islamic school in Kerala, India under Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musalyar, the supremo of the A. P. Sunnis. Operating since 1978, the foundation stone of it was laid by the Islamic scholar of Makkah sayed Muhammad-ibn Alavi-al-Maliki...
External links