Facts About Al Azhar Mosque

The Al-Azhar mosque is the most important in Egypt all, and one of the historical strongholds for the dissemination and teaching of Islam is also one of the most famous archaeological mosques in Egypt and the Islamic world, and part of the Al-Azhar foundation dates back to the beginning of the era of the Fatimid state in Egypt, after Jawhar Al-saqli completed the conquest of Egypt in 969 ad, and began to establish Cairo he also prepared at that time to be an educational institute for teaching and spreading the Shiite doctrine, so he began to build it in Jamadi The first was 359 Ah / 970 ad, and its construction was completed and the first Friday was held in Ramadan in 361 Ah / 972 ad, and it was known as the Cairo mosque, and although the hand of repair and restoration rolled over it over the ages, it changed many of its Fatimid features, but it is the oldest Fatimid monument standing in Egypt. Historians have differed on the origin of the name of this mosque, and the Fatimids likely named it Al-Azhar after Fatima Al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.

The mosque is considered the second oldest continuously existing university in the world after the University of the villagers. Although Amr ibn al-Aas mosque in Fustat preceded him in the teaching job, where seminars were held voluntarily and donated, Al-Azhar mosque is the first in Egypt to play the role of regular schools and institutes, as its lessons were given by commission from the state and hired by scientists and teachers. The first lesson was given in Safar in 365 Ah/975 ad by Ali ibn al-Numan, a judge in Shia jurisprudence, and in 378 Ah/988 ad, I decided on salaries for the jurists of the mosque and prepared a house for them to live next to it, and their number was thirty-five men.

After the fall of the Fatimid state, the star of Al-Azhar was destroyed by Saladin, who aimed to fight the Shiite doctrine and support the Sunni doctrine, so the sermon was canceled and remained suspended for a hundred years until it was restored under the reign of the Mamluk sultan Baybars Al-bandagdari. During the reign of the Mamluk State, Al-Azhar returned to perform its scientific mission and vital role, so he appointed jurists to teach the Sunni doctrine and the prophetic Hadiths and took care of its renovation, expansion, and maintenance, so after the Golden Age of Al-Azhar, and rulers and notables in the following eras showed remarkable interest in its restoration and maintenance, and many stops were stopped on it.

During the reign of King Fuad I, Law No. 46 of 1930 was issued to Al-Azhar, according to which the faculties of fundamentals of religion, Sharia, language, and Arabic were established later in 1933, and Al-Azhar officially became an independent university in 1961. To this day, Al-Azhar remains a beacon for the spread of the centrality of Islam, an institution that has a deep influence on Egyptian society and a symbol of Islamic Egypt.

Naming,

The city of Cairo was founded by Jawhar Al-saqli, a Fatimid commander of Greek origin from the island of Sicily, and named it Mansuriya, mansuriya was prepared to be the seat of the Fatimid Caliphate located in Tunisia, the mosque was used for the first time in 972, and was initially called the mansuriya mosque, and naming the mosque after the city in which it was located was a common practice at that time, and with the entry of Caliph Al-Mu'izz historical Arabic sources.

The mosque acquired its current name, Al-Azhar, sometime between caliph Al-Mu'izz, and the end of the reign of the second Fatimid caliph in Egypt dear God, Al-Azhar means Bright, which is the masculine form of the word Zahra, and Zahra is the nickname of Mrs. Fatima bint of the Prophet Muhammad, the wife of Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Al-Mu'izz and the imams of the Fatimid State claimed to be their ancestor; it is the only theory circulating about why Al-Azhar is called by this name, however, this theory has not been confirmed in any Arab source, and it was Western sources later.

Others offer an alternative theory that the name of the mosque was derived from the names given by the Fatimid caliphs to their palaces near the mosque, they called their palaces the Zahra palaces after the royal gardens that were chosen by the Almighty, and after he finished the palaces; he changed the name of the mosque from the Cairo mosque to Al-Azhar. As for the derivation of the word collector from the root of the Arabic word university, it means "gathering", and the word is used to express mosques that gather a lot of people.

History
In the era of the Fatimid State (Foundation)

During the reign of the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz of the religion of Allah, the fourth Ismaili Imam, the Fatimid armies invaded Egypt under the command of Jawhar Al-saqli, who succeeded in wresting it from the ikhshidid dynasty, and by order of the Caliph, Jawhar supervised the construction of the Royal center of the "Fatimid Caliphate" and its army. he built Al-Azhar as a base for spreading the Ismaili Shia doctrine, which is located near the Sunni city of Fustat. Cairo has become the center of the Ismaili Shia sect, and the seat of the Fatimid state rule. Therefore, Jawhar ordered the construction of a large mosque for the new city, and work on its construction began in 970, and it was completed in 972, so the first Friday prayer was held there on June 22, 972 during the month of Ramadan.

Al-Azhar quickly became a center of education, official statements graduated from it and court sessions were held, the esoteric teachings of the Ismaili doctrine - which had been secret teachings for a long time- became available to the general public in Al-Azhar, Al-Mu'izz appointed judge al-Numan ibn Muhammad Al-Qadi, in charge of teaching the Ismaili doctrine, some classes were taught in the Caliph's Palace, as well as in Al-Azhar, with separate courses for women, and during Eid al-Fitr in 973, the mosque and they made a Friday sermon during the month of Ramadan in Al-Azhar.

Ya'qub Ibn Kilis, a jurist and the first official vizier of the Fatimids made Al-Azhar a major Center for teaching Islamic law in 988, and the following year, he hired 45 scholars to give lessons, turning Al-Azhar into a leading university in the Islamic world.

The mosque was expanded during the reign of Caliph al-Aziz (975-996). According to Al-Mufaddal, al-Aziz ordered the restoration of parts of the mosque that had cracked, and the next ruling Fatimid caliph, Amr Allah, completed the restoration of the mosque and provided a new wooden door in 1010. However, the ruler's reign saw the construction of his mosque, which was named after him, and the construction of the ruler's mosque considered Al-Azhar lost its status as the first congregational prayer mosque in Cairo. In May 1009, the mosque of the ruler Amr Allah became the only place for the Caliph's sermons and Friday sermons. After the reign of the ruler, al-Azhar regained its place during the reign of Al-Mustansir, additions and renovations were carried out on the mosque, and many renovations were added during the reign of the Fatimid caliphs who came after him.

A huge library belonging to Al-Azhar mosque was established and endowed by the Fatimid caliph in 1005 with thousands of manuscripts that gave eloquent value to the library, and this was part of the Fatimids ' attempt with various efforts to spread the practice of the Ismaili Doctrine among the people, but their efforts were unsuccessful, many of these manuscripts were dispersed in the chaos that followed the fall of the "Fatimid state", and Al-Azhar later became a large Sunni institution.

In the era of the Ayyubid state

Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, who overthrew the Fatimids in 1171, was hostile to the principles of Shiite teachings promoted in Al-Azhar during the Fatimid Caliphate, so he neglected the mosque during the rule of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt, and Sadr Al-Din ibn darbas banned prayer in it, a judge appointed by Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, the reason for this decree may be due to Shafi'i jurisprudence, which considers two sermons inadmissible in one country, and may be due to distrust of the mosque as a Shiite institution, and the mosque became the mosque where congregational prayer and Friday sermon are held in Cairo.

In addition to stripping Al-Azhar of its status as the mosque for congregational prayer, Saladin also ordered the removal of a silver ribbon on which the names of the Fatimid caliphs were inscribed from the mihrab of the mosque. He also ordered the removal of similar silver ribbons from other mosques worth 5,000 dirhams. Saladin did not completely ignore the maintenance of the mosque, and according to the favorite, one of the minarets of the mosque was restored during the reign of Saladin.

The star of Al-Azhar also failed as a center of religious education, student funding was withdrawn, Fiqh classes were no longer held in the mosque, and professors, who became famous during the Fatimid era, were forced to look for other means of earning their living. The huge library of the mosque was also neglected, the manuscripts of Fatimid teachings that were taught at Al-Azhar were destroyed. However, Al-Azhar remained a place to teach some other sciences throughout that period, while official classes were stopped at the mosque, private lessons continued to teach Arabic, and some sources mention that Baghdadi studied several subjects such as law and medicine at Al-Azhar, and Salah al-Din ordered that he be paid a salary of 30 dinars, and then increased to 100 dinars from the successors of Salah al-Din to combat what they consider the heresy of the teachings of the "Shiites", these colleges have been ranging in size It focused on teaching the Sunni doctrine, and it had a fixed and unified curriculum that included courses outside of purely religious subjects, such as rhetoric, mathematics, and science, and 26 Sunni schools were built in Egypt only during the reign of Saladin and the Ayyubid rulers who came after him, including the Salih school.

Al-Azhar eventually adopted the educational reforms imposed by Saladin, and its fortunes improved under the Mamluks, who restored the salaries of students and the salaries of Sheikhs.

In the era of the Mamluk state

Prayer in Al-Azhar was re-established during the Mamluk rule by order of Sultan Baibars in 1266, and with the rapid expansion of Cairo, and the need for the role of the mosque, Sultan Baibars ignored the history of Al-Azhar as an institution for the dissemination of Ismaili Shiism, ordered the return of salaries for students and teachers, as well as the beginning of work to repair the mosque, which had been neglected for almost 100 years. According to the favorite, Emir Izz al-Din aydamur al-Hilli built his house next to the mosque, to monitor the repair work. Taqi al-Din al-maqrizi reported that the Emir repaired the walls and ceiling, and provided new mats. The first sermon since the reign of the ruling Fatimid caliph was delivered on January 16, 1266, and the sermon was delivered on a new pulpit that was completed five days before the sermon.

In 1302 an earthquake caused significant damage to Al-Azhar and a number of other mosques throughout Egypt. The responsibility for the reconstruction was divided among the princes of the Sultanate and the person in charge of the restoration of Al-Azhar was Prince Salar, thus he took over the first repair work since the reign of Baibars, and seven years later the domed madrasa was built along the wall located in the northwest of the mosque, and parts of the mosque wall were removed to accommodate the new building, and the construction of another madrasa, called the Tiberian madrasa, began in 1332-1333. This building was completed in 1339-1340, and also built a structure for the mosque, a fountain for ablution. All schools and buildings were built to complement Al-Azhar, with separate entrances and prayer halls.

Although the mosque regained its status during the Mamluk era, the repair and expansion works were carried out on the orders of those in positions lower than the Sultan, and this changed under the rule of Zahir barquq, the first Circassian Mamluk, who gave the mosque his direct patronage, and during the late Mamluk rule improvements and additions were made by sultans Qaitbay and qansuh Al-Ghuri, each supervised many repairs and the construction of minarets. It was a common practice among the Mamluk Sultans to build minarets, seen as a symbol of power and the most effective way to strengthen the image of the city of Cairo, and every Sultan wished to have a prestigious touch in Al-Azhar.

Although the Al-Azhar mosque was a leading university in the Islamic world and regained royal patronage, it did not surpass other madrasas, as a favorite place of education among the elite in Cairo. The reputation of Al-Azhar as an independent place of education continued, while the religious schools built during the reign of Saladin were fully integrated into the state educational system. Al-Azhar continued to attract students from other regions in Egypt and the Middle East, and the number of students exceeded the numbers attending other religious schools, and the branches of Islamic law were studied with an average study period of six years. In the XIV century, Al-Azhar achieved prominence as a center of Sharia studies, jurisprudence, and the Arabic language, and became the eye-catcher for students from all over the Islamic world. Even the number of those who studied with him amounted to about a third of the Muslim scholars in Egypt.

In the era of the Ottoman Empire

During the beginning of the era of the Ottoman caliphate in 1517, the Turks showed great respect for the mosque and its college, despite the cessation of direct royal patronage to it. after he entered Egypt, Sultan Selim I attended Friday prayers at Al-Azhar mosque, during his last week in Egypt. Ottoman princes also regularly attended Friday prayers at Al-Azhar, and the Ottomans provided salaries for students and teachers; but hardly any developments or expansions were carried out at the mosque during the Ottoman era, unlike the Mamluk era, in which many expansions and additions were made.

The Mamluks remained a special influence in Egyptian society despite their defeat at the hands of Selim I and the Ottomans in 1517, becoming Bayats and governors of the Ottoman Empire, rather than princes and owners of a state and Empire. Khayr Bey is considered the first ruler of Egypt under Selim I after Yunus Pasha, a Mamluk prince who defected to the Ottomans during the Battle of Marj Dabiq, although the Mamluks staged multiple revolts to restore the Mamluk state, including two revolts in 1523, the Ottomans did not completely exterminate the Mamluks in Egypt.

The Mamluks suffered losses – both economic and military – in the wake of the Ottoman victory, and this is reflected in the lack of financial assistance provided to Al-Azhar in the first hundred years of Ottoman rule. In the eighteenth century, an elite group of Mamluks managed to regain much of their influence, and they carried out numerous renovations throughout Cairo and Al-Azhar.

Kazdugli Bey Mamluk made many additions and renovations at the beginning of the 18th century. Under his direction, a portico for blind students was added in 1735. He also reconstructed Turkish and Syrian arcades, both of which were originally built during the reign of qaytbay.

He was appointed katakana (head of the Janissary) in 1749 and embarked on several projects throughout Cairo and Al-Azhar. Under his administration, three new gates were built to the mosque: Bab al-mazayneen (barbers gate), so named because students come out of it to shave their heads, which eventually became the main entrance to the mosque; and Bab al-Saida, dedicated to the entry of the people of Upper Egypt, and later Bab al-Sherba was established, and Sherba is rice soup, which is one of the dishes that is often served to students, a prayer hall was added in the south of the original chapel, and the size of the space available for prayer was also doubled. Katkhada also renovated or rebuilt many of the arcades that surround the mosque. Katkhada was buried in Al-Azhar in 1776, and Katkhada became the first (and last) person to be buried inside the mosque since Nafisa Al-bakriya, died around 1588.

During the Ottoman era, Al-Azhar regained its status as the largest educational institution in Egypt, surpassing the religious schools founded by Saladin, and Al-Azhar expanded significantly with the efforts of the Mamluks. By the end of the eighteenth century, Al-Azhar became closely associated with the scholars of Egypt, and the scholars could influence the government in an official capacity, and several sheiks were appointed to the advisory councils reporting to the Pasha, this period saw the inclusion of more educational courses to be taught at Al-Azhar, with science and logic philosophy was included in the school curriculum. During this period, Al-Azhar witnessed the first sheik of Al-Azhar who was not from the Maliki school, Abdullah Al-shabrawi Al-Shafi'i school, and the position of Sheikh of Al-Azhar did not return from the Maliki school until 1899 when Salim Al-Bishri became the sheik of Al-Azhar.

Al-Azhar also served as a focal point for protests against the governors during the Ottoman rule of Egypt, whether protests were within the scholarly community, within the student community, or from the general public. Student protests held at Al-Azhar were popular among the general public, shops were closed in the vicinity of the mosque in solidarity with students, and scholars were also sometimes able to challenge the government.

Between 1730 and 1731, the agawat of the Ottoman Empire harassed the residents living near Al-Azhar while pursuing some fugitives, the gates in Al-Azhar were closed in protest, and the Ottoman governor ordered the agawat to refrain from going near Al-Azhar, fearing a major uprising, another disturbance occurred in 1791 caused by the harassment of the Wali near the Imam Hussein mosque and then went to Al-Azhar to justify his position. The governor was subsequently removed from his post.

The French campaign

Napoleon invaded Egypt in July 1798, he arrived in Alexandria on July 2 and entered Cairo on July 22, and in an attempt to appease the Egyptian population and the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon gave a speech in Alexandria in which he declared how much he respected Islam and the Sultan:

"The people of Egypt will be told that I have come to destroy your religion: I don't think so! And my answer to this is I have come to restore your rights and punish the rapists, and for the Mamluks, I respect Allah, His Messenger, and the Koran... Are we not the ones who have been friends with the sultan over the centuries »
On July 25, Napoleon established a Diwan consisting of nine sheikhs of Al-Azhar and assigned them to manage Cairo, the first official body of Egyptians since the beginning of Ottoman rule, and formed the first council in Alexandria, and later included all parts of Egypt under French occupation. Napoleon also sought a fatwa from the imams of Al-Azhar, which would stipulate the permissibility of loyalty to Napoleon under Islamic law, but to no avail.

Napoleon's efforts to dominate the Egyptians and Ottomans failed; the Ottoman Empire declared war on September 9, 1798, and a revolt against the French troops from Al-Azhar began on October 21, 1798, and the Egyptians armed with stones and spears only performed heroic deeds against Napoleon's tractor army, and the next morning the Diwan met with Napoleon in an attempt to reach a peaceful end to hostilities, Napoleon was initially outraged but agreed to the French rejected it, and following this Napoleon ordered to fire on the city from the Cairo fortress, aiming Fire on the azure directly. During the Rebellion, about three hundred French soldiers were killed, 3,000 Egyptians were injured, and six Al-Azhar scholars were killed after being sentenced to death. French troops arrested every Egyptian who participated in the demonstrations and put him in prison. if they found a weapon, he was beheaded. French troops deliberately desecrated the mosque, walking in it with their shoes and guns on display. The troops tied their horses in the mihrab, looted student quarters and libraries, and threw copies of the Koran on the ground. Then the leaders of the revolution tried to negotiate a settlement with Napoleon, and their request was rejected.

Napoleon lost the respect and admiration of the Egyptians after the revolution, after he was highly respected in Egypt, and after he was called the great Sultan among the people in Cairo, in March 1800, the French General Jean-Baptiste Clipper was assassinated by Suleiman Al-Halabi, a student at Al-Azhar. After the assassination, Napoleon ordered the mosque to be closed, and its doors remained closed until the arrival of Ottoman and British aid in August 1801, and the mosque lost much of its contents to Napoleon's invasion.

Al-Azhar benefited greatly from the innovation of the modern printing press, which in turn added another dimension to the field of education, and the school curriculum was transformed from oral lectures and memorization of the lesson by text to printed lectures, and he acquired his printing press in 1930.

After the withdrawal of the French, Muhammad Ali Pasha encouraged the introduction of non-religious education in Al-Azhar such as the study of history, mathematics, and modern sciences, and he relied on the curricula received before 1872, under the supervision of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, and European philosophy was added to the curriculum.

Muhammad Ali and the British occupation

After the withdrawal of the French, Wali Muhammad Ali appointed himself Khedive (Prince) over Egypt and sought to consolidate his control over the modern Egypt he founded, to this end, he took several steps to limit and eliminate the ability of Al-Azhar scholars to influence the government. In June 1809, he ordered the confiscation of all rizqa lands and their annexation to state property in a move that provoked widespread outrage among the ulama, as a result, Omar Makram staged a revolution in July 1809, the revolution failed and Makram, an ally of the Ulama, was exiled to Damietta.

Muhammad Ali also sought to limit the influence of the sheiks of Al-Azhar by distributing positions within the government to those who were educated outside Al-Azhar. He sent students specifically to France, to be brought up under a Western educational system, and he created an educational system based on and parallel to this model, thus bypassing the Al-Azhar system.

Major public works projects were initiated under the rule of Ismail Pasha, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, with the aim of transforming the city of Cairo to the European style, at first these projects were funded by the cotton factory, but he owed huge debts from the British, and those debts became a pretext for Britain to occupy Egypt in 1882, after forcing Ismail Pasha to pay them in 1879.

Ismail Pasha's reign also witnessed the return of royal patronage to Al-Azhar, Ismail restored Bab al-Saida (first built during the reign of Katkhada) and the Kabgawi school, and Tawfik Pasha Ibn Ismail - who in turn became the Khedive after he overthrew his father as a result of British pressure-continued to restore the mosque, Tawfik renovated the prayer hall that was added during the reign of katkhada, along the southeastern facade of the hall and the street behind it, and remodeled several other areas of the mosque. Tawfiq's son, Abbas II Khedive of Egypt and Sudan succeeded in 1892 by restructuring the main facade of the mosque and building the new portico and the renovations written by his grandfather Ismail continued. Under his rule, the committee for the preservation of Arab art monuments (initially formed under the French occupation) was restored, and also the original Fatimid Bowl was restored.

A large set of reforms that began under the rule of Ismail Pasha also continued under the British occupation, and with the advent of Sheikh Al-Azhar Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Abbasi, a set of reforms aimed at forming a teaching staff and an educational structure to standardize students ' exams was developed in 1872.an effort was made to modernize the educational system under Helmy's administration during the British occupation, collected the manuscripts of the mosque in a central library, also improved student health facilities, and developed an examination system. In 1885, other colleges in Egypt were placed directly under the administration of Al-Azhar University.

During Saad Zaghloul's time as Minister of education, before he moved to lead the Egyptian revolution of 1919, other efforts were made to modify Al-Azhar's educational policy, and the Conservative current supported him in his policy, while Saad Zaghloul met the opposition of other currents such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded in 1928, the school attracted students from all over the world, including students from Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia.

During the reign of King Fuad I, two laws were issued that would regulate the educational structure of Al-Azhar. The first of these laws, in 1930, provided for the division of the school into three departments: Arabic language, Sharia, and the origins of religion, each department was located in a building outside the mosque throughout Cairo, and students took an official exam to earn a certificate in one of these three areas of study, and six years later, the second law was issued that moved the main office of the school to a newly constructed building parallel to the mosque Street, and additional structures were added later to complete the Departments of the three buildings.

The ideas advocated by many reformists began to increase at the entrance of the twentieth century, such as Mohammed Abdo, Mohammed Ahmadi al-Zawahiri, and other thinkers, and these ideas began to take root in Al-Azhar, and in 1928 Mohammed Mustafa al-Maraghi was appointed Sheikh of Al-Azhar, a follower of Mohammed Abdo. The vast majority of scholars opposed his appointment, and the administration of al-Maraghi and his successors began a series of reforms and updates to the mosque and its university, expanding educational curricula beyond the framework of traditional subjects. King Fuad disliked al-Maraghi, replaced him one year after his appointment, and appointed al-Zawahiri in his place, but al-Maraghi returned to the post of Sheikh of Al-Azhar in 1935 and remained in his position until he died in 1945. Under his leadership, Al-Azhar's curriculum was expanded to include non-Arabic languages and modern sciences.

Al-Azhar and the July Revolution

Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, carried out by the Free Officers Movement led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, which led to the fall of the Egyptian monarchy, during this period the stages of separation of the University from the mosque were completed. Much of the property surrounding the mosque was annexed and demolished to provide space for the modern campus, and in 1955, the mosque ceased to serve as a school, and official faculties of the University were established in 1961, and in 1961 a law was passed that provided for the separation of the dual roles of the educational institution and the religious institution that was heard throughout the Islamic world, the law provided for the establishment of non-religious faculties within Al-Azhar, such as the faculties of medicine, engineering, economics, and strengthening efforts in modernization for the first time after the French occupation, curriculum reforms have led to a tremendous growth in the number of Egyptian students who attended schools, in particular young people attending primary schools According to statistics, the number of students attending Al-Azhar primary and secondary schools increased from less than 90,000 students in 1970 to 300,000 students in the early eighties, then to almost a million students in the early nineties, and exceeded 1.3 million students in 2001.

Gamal Abdel Nasser.

During his tenure as prime minister, and then President, Gamal Abdel Nasser continued his efforts to limit the power of Al-Azhar scholars and to use their influence to his advantage, and in 1952 the Awqaf was nationalized and placed under the authority of the newly established Ministry of Awqaf, which cut off the ability of the mosque to control financial affairs, abolished Sharia courts, and merged religious courts with the judicial system of the state in 1955, severely limiting the independence of scholars, and in 1961 the reform law was passed, which provides for the annulment of the Al-Azhar resignation law in 1936, and the president of Egypt Sheikh of Al-Azhar, a position first established during the Ottoman rule.

Al-Azhar, which remained a symbol of the Islamic character of the nation and the state, continued to influence the population while not becoming able to impose its will on the state. Al-Azhar was increasingly exposed to the state bureaucracy after the revolution and the independence of its curriculum and function as a mosque ceased, as well as the authority of scholars was weakened by the establishment of government agencies responsible for providing interpretations of religious laws, while these reforms radically reduced the independence of the authority of scholars, and also had the effect of re-establishing their influence by integrating them into the state apparatus, as stipulated by the reform law of scholars of 1961, by allocating state resources to them, although the treasury of money was outside the control of Al-Azhar, while Gamal Abdel Nasser sought to subordinate scholars under the state, no more radical proposals were allowed to reduce the influence of Azhar. Such was the proposal of Taha Hussein in 1955. Hussein sought to dismantle the Al-Azhar system of primary and secondary education and turn the university into a Sharia college within the modern educational system, and scholars opposed him on this plan, although Nasser's choice to preserve the status of Al-Azhar is due to personal political considerations, such as the use of Al-Azhar to grant legitimacy to the system, and avoids the opposition of scholars.

Al-Azhar in this period fully became an arm of the government, and then was used to justify the actions of the government. Although the scholars had earlier issued that socialism could not be compatible with Islam, but after the revolution and land reclamation, the scholars of Al-Azhar issued new rulings that corresponded to Nasser with their religiously justified and called Islamic Socialism, and the use of scholars became a parallel force for the Muslim Brotherhood, reducing Wahhabi influence in Saudi Arabia, blamed the assassination attempt on Nasser some restrictions on Al-Azhar have been relaxed. In turn, Al-Azhar scholars supported Nasser in his attempts to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood, and this continued to be the case in subsequent regimes, and despite the efforts made by Al-Azhar to discredit the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Brotherhood continued its work, and Al-Azhar also provided legitimacy to the war with the Zionist entity in 1967, declaring jihad against the Zionist entity.

After Nasser's death in 1970, Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt, and Sadat expressed his desire to restore Al-Azhar as a symbol of Egyptian leadership throughout the Arab world, saying that: "the Arab world can not function without Egypt and Al-Azhar," this recognition increased the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sadat has relaxed several restrictions on the Brotherhood and scholars as a whole. However, in September 1971, a campaign of journalists and organizations was launched against Sadat and attacked his positions in a surprise, so Sadat put sanctions against scientists who criticized official state policies. He also continued to use Al-Azhar scholars as a tool of the government, which provoked criticism among several groups, including Islamist and other more moderate groups, Shoukry Mustafa accused Al-Azhar scholars of making religious judgments for the sole purpose of comforting the government, and when Sadat offered to make peace with Israel, the vast majority of the Egyptian population considered him a traitor, and Al-Azhar made a statement stating that it was time to make peace.

After Sadat's assassination, Hosni Mubarak became president of Egypt in 1981, and Al-Azhar continued to grant religious legitimacy to what the government dictates, and the Mubarak regime as a result gave independence to Al-Azhar mosque and its scholars, and then Gad Haq Ali Gad Haq became Sheikh of Al-Azhar from 1982 until his death in 1996, he confirmed his desire for independence of Al-Azhar from the state like other scholars of Al-Azhar, Gad Haq said that if the government Al-Azhar has the greatest degree of independence from the state and Al-Azhar should have a voice in which the state does not interfere, and under Mubarak, he ceded a number of state powers to Al-Azhar, and during the beginning of the nineties Amendments were made to the existing censorship laws and Al-Azhar was given the ability to censor all publications and electronic media. Although the law stipulates that Al-Azhar may only participate in writing a complaint, for example, television scripts were routinely sent to Al-Azhar for approval before they were broadcast.

Al-Azhar continued to hold high positions for other Sunni religious authorities all over the world since Sunnis make up the vast majority of the total Muslim population, and Al-Azhar has had a great influence on the entire Islamic world, in addition to being the religious authority inside Egypt, Al-Azhar has been asked for consultations on religious rulings from outside Egypt. For example, before the "Gulf War", King Fahd bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia asked the sheik of Al-Azhar instead of the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia for a fatwa authorizing the stationing of foreign troops inside the kingdom, despite the presence of two of the holiest Muslim places inside Saudi Arabia, and in 2003 French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy asked for a fatwa from Al-Azhar to allow Muslim girls not to wear the hijab in French public schools, despite the presence of the "French Council for Islam". The sheik of Al-Azhar made a statement saying that while wearing the hijab is an Islamic duty, Muslim women in France are obliged to respect and follow French laws. The sheik of Al-Azhar has been subjected to a lot of criticism inside Egypt, and the fatwa was considered a concession to Islamic principles to please the French government.

After 2011

Al-Azhar was not affected by the Egyptian revolution, which witnessed the removal of Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt in 2011, and the student government elections in the months following the revolution resulted in a landslide victory for the Muslim Brotherhood, after which protests broke out demanding the ruling military council of Egypt to restore the independence of the mosque from the state, the mosque itself was tasked with writing a bill that would give Al-Azhar greater independence from the government, meanwhile, a discussion conference was dissolved in Al-Azhar about its future and its legitimate role within the state, and different views on the role of Al-Azhar in the future in Egypt come from several parties, including so leading Islamic organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, liberal voices that like In the vision of Al-Azhar standing as a bulwark against extremists, Al-Azhar hopes to become completely independent of the state.

Architecture

The architecture of Al-Azhar is inextricably linked with the history of Cairo. It used materials taken from multiple periods of Egyptian history, which benefited from the Fatimid style of architecture in ifriqiya, and then the mosque received additions and expansions from successive rulers of Egypt, so the architecture of the mosque was influenced by several architectural styles from both inside and outside Egypt, these influences blended together, and new architectural styles emerged with it that were later inspired, such as domes built during the Ottoman period and minarets built by the Mamluks.

The mosque was initially built in the form of a prayer hall with five aisles and a modest central courtyard.since then, the mosque has been expanded several times with additional facilities surrounding the original building. many minarets were added by the Mamluks, Gates were added during the Ottoman rule, the mihrab was replaced by a new mihrab. some of the original minarets and domes have survived and remain until now, and some have been rebuilt several times.

Fatimid era

The original structure of Al-Azhar mosque was 280 feet (85 m) in length and 227 feet (69 m) in width, consisting of three baptismal arcades located around a courtyard, and in the southeast side of the courtyard, the original prayer hall was built in the form of a baptismal lobby, with five deep corridors, measuring 260 feet (79 m) in length and 75 feet (23 m) in width, the qibla wall slightly deviated from the right angle, and marble columns were reused to support the four arcades leading to the prayer hall from sites located at different times in Egyptian history, from Pharaonic times through Roman rule to the Coptic era, resulting in varying column level heights to be used as bases The plaster also shows influences from Abbasid, Coptic and Byzantine architecture.

He eventually built three domes, a common feature among the earliest mosques in North Africa, none of which survived during the renovations that followed Al-Azhar, and the historian Al-maqrizi recorded that in the original dome built by the Sicilian, he wrote:

"Which was ordered to be built by Abdullah and his guardian Abu Tamim Ma'ad Imam Al-Mu'izz for the religion of Allah, the Prince of believers.. By Abdo Johar, the Sicilian writer, in the year sixty-three hundred."
The Sicilian has received honorable patronage from Al-Mu'izz, he has appointed him, his "private secretary" and the Sicilian is considered the first person to receive the position of secretary before it became a public position.

The original mihrab, unveiled in 1933, has a semi-dome above it with a marble column on each side, intricate stucco decorations have been a prominent feature of the mosque, and all the walls and mihrab were decorated with inscriptions, two sets of Quranic verses have been written on the mihrab included in its shell, which is still intact, the first set of verses are the first three verses of the:

The Believers have succeeded ١ those who are afraid in their prayers ٢ and those who are prone to falsehood ٣ ﴾ [believers: 1-3]
The second group of verses 162, and 163 of Surah Al-Anaam:

 say that my prayer, asceticism, life, and death are for Allah, the Lord of the worlds ١٦٢ there is no partner for him, and therefore I, the first of the Muslims, commanded ١٦٣ ﴾ [Anaam: 162-163]
These inscriptions are the only surviving piece of decoration that dates back to the Fatimid era.

The marble-paved central courtyard was added between 1009 and 1010, and the corridors that surround the courtyard also have an arched transom with frescoes. The arches were built during the reign of Hafiz Ladin Allah from ornaments and stucco, they were reconstructed in 1891 using two types of ornaments, the top shows the center of the first Arch and consists of a sunken Rondel and twenty-four lobes. A circular band of floral motifs was added in 1893, and the second decoration used, which is between each arch, consists of shallow niches under a grooved cover forming a ceiling of shared columns, which are surrounded by a collection of Quranic writings in Kufic script. Quranic texts were added after the rule of Al-Hafiz during the Fatimid period, the walls are topped in the form of a star with decorations for the balcony on three levels, the southeast corridor of the courtyard contains the main entrance to the prayer hall. The Persian framing gate, whose center Arch has a rectangular passage opens into the prayer hall.

A new wooden door and a new wooden mihrab were installed during the reign of the ruler Amr Allah in 1009, and in 1125, an additional dome was constructed during the reign of Hafiz Ladin Allah, in addition, he ordered the creation of a fourth corridor around the courtyard, and the balcony was built on the western end of the nave.

Mamluk additions

Salah al-Din was initially appointed minister by the last Fatimid caliphs who supported the religion of Allah, and trusted Salah al-Din, and the Fatimid state collapsed during the reign of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi and his dynasty, and Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi in Egypt, allied with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, and because of his distrust of the Shiite Al-Azhar historically, the mosque lost its status during the reign of Salah al-Din, however, the mosque regained its status during the period of the Mamluks among the restorations carried out by the Mamluks was the modification of the mihrab, with the installation of colored marble for its facade.

In 1339, a dome and a minaret were built to cover the AL-aqabgawi madrasa, which contains the Tomb of Prince Aqabga Abdul Wahid, it was initially a stand-alone mosque and a madrasa, then it became an integrated madrasa and was integrated into the Al-Azhar mosque, either: the entrance, the qibla wall, the Mosaic and glass in the mihrab with the original dome dating back to the Ottoman period.

In 1440, the Gohar madrasa was built and contains the Tomb of Prince Gohar Al-qunqabai, who held the post of Khazindar (supervisor of the royal money vaults) during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Saif al-Din barsbay, the floor of the madrasa was made of marble, the walls were lined with vaults, the inlaid was decorated with ebony, ivory, and mother-of-pearl, and the tomb chamber was covered by a small decorative Dome.

Tiberian school

In 1309, the Tiberian madrasa was built, which contains the Tomb of Prince Alaeddin Tiberias, it was originally built to function as a complementary mosque to Al-Azhar and since then it has been integrated with the rest of the mosque, Maliki and Shafi'i doctrines were studied in this madrasa, and the madrasa is now used to keep manuscripts from the library.

Al-maqrizi stated that the madrasa was only used to study Shafi'i doctrine, while a historian of Ibn daqmaq stated that one of the madrasa's iwans was for Shafi'i teachings while the other was for Maliki teachings.

The madrasa was completely rebuilt during the reign of Abdul Rahman Katkhada, leaving only the Southeast wall and the mihrab, the only original pieces remaining from the reign of Prince Alaeddin Tiberias, the mihrab measuring 1.13 meters in width and 76 cm in depth. On each side of the mihrab stands a porphyry column with a height of 2.78 meters (9.1 feet). There are decorative drawings with colorful geometric shapes above the columns, and a Half Dome was added at the top of the mihrab inside the outer arch, this is surrounded by a rectangular outer frame, and this mihrab is considered the first in Egypt to use this type of frame, and the historian Creswell described this mihrab as "one of the finest architectural masterpieces in Cairo.»

The Qaitbay minaret.

The Qaytbay Minaret was built in 1483, it is in the form of a cylindrical column divided into two octagonal parts, and the Qaytbay Minaret consists of three balconies, supported by stalactites, and its roof has a stalactite knotted shape that provides a smooth transition from a flat surface to a curved one, the first use of which was recorded in Egypt in 1085, the lower part is octagonal, decorated with braided, the second porch separates this part with a cylindrical part at the end of the minaret, decorated with four arches. Above this is the third balcony, which is located in the highest part of the minaret.

It is believed that the minaret was erected on the site of the Fatimid brick minaret, which was rebuilt several times. Contemporary accounts indicate that the Fatimid minaret had defects when it was built, and it needed to be rebuilt several times, it was rebuilt under the supervision of Sadr Al-Din al-Azrai Damasci Hanafi, a judge of judges during the reign of "Sultan Baybars", and it was rebuilt again during the reign of barquq in 1397, the minaret began to tilt at a dangerous angle, and was rebuilt in 1414 by order of Taj al-Din al-shawbaki, the governor and as part of the reconstruction of the entrance to the mosque in 1432.

Soldier's door

Bab al-Jundi (Bab Qaitbay) is located immediately after the entrance courtyard of Bab al-mazaineen, which in turn leads to the main courtyard from the prayer hall, and was built in 1495.

Al-Ghouri minaret

The double-headed minaret was built in 1509 during the reign of Qansuwah Al-Ghouri, it is located on a square base, the lower part of which is octagonal, and its four sides are arched with decorative beams, separated from its sides by two columns, the central area is separated from the lower part by Cubic balconies supported by Muqarnas, it is in the form of an octagon decorated with blue faience, the upper part consists of two rectangular columns with horseshoe-shaped arches on each side of which there are shafts. The upper part is topped by a square with two pear-shaped heads each holding a copper crescent moon.

Ottoman renovations and additions
Several additions and renovations were made during the era of the Ottoman caliphate in Egypt, many of which were completed under the supervision of Abdul Rahman Katkhada, who almost doubled the size of the mosque, and added three gates, namely:

The door of the decorators became the main entrance to the mosque.
The door of the drink.
The Saida door.
He also added a prayer hall south of the original Fatimid hall, with an additional mihrab, to double the total area of the prayer hall.

The door of the decorator

The scheme of the mosque

It is the largest and most important of the eight doors of Al-Azhar mosque and is the main entrance to the mosque, and the reason for its name is that the decorators sit in front of it to shave the heads of the neighbors, and it is a model of Ottoman architecture in Cairo, thanks to its construction by Abdul Rahman katkhada in 1753. It had a free-standing minaret outside the gate built by Katkhada, the minaret was demolished before the opening of Al-Azhar Street by Tewfik Pasha during the modernization efforts that took place throughout Cairo.

Current layout and structure

The current main entrance to the mosque is Bab al-mazayneen, one of the doors of Al-Azhar, which leads to a courtyard of white marble on the opposite side of the main prayer hall, to the northeast of Bab al-mazayneen, we find the courtyard surrounding the facade of the domed madrasa, and at the southwest end of the courtyard we find the Tiberian madrasa, and directly across the courtyard from the entrance to Bab al-mazayneen we find Bab al-Jundi (gate of Qaitbay), built in 1495, standing above the minaret of Qaitbay, and through this gate we find the location of the courtyard of the prayer hall. The mihrab has recently been changed to plain marble faced with gold inscriptions.

Sheikh of Al-Azhar

The Sheikh of Al-Azhar also called the "Grand Imam" is the highest position in the management structure of the mosque, and the system was to be elected from among the Senior Scholars, and the position of Sheikh of Al-Azhar mosque was established during the Ottoman rule to take over the head of its scholars, supervise its administrative affairs, and maintain security and order in Al-Azhar.

The sheiks of Al-Azhar in chronological order are:

Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-kharshi
(1090 Ah - 1101 Ah)
Ibrahim al-barmawi
(1101 Ah - 1106 Ah)
Mohamed nasherti
(1106 Ah - 1120 Ah)
Abdelbaki Al-Qalini
(1120 Ah-e)
Mohammed Shannan
(E-E)
Ibrahim ibn Musa al-fayyumi
(1133 Ah - 1137 Ah)
Abdullah Al-shabrawi
(1137 Ah - 1171 Ah)
Mohammed bin Salem Al-hafni
(1171 Ah - 1181 Ah)
Abdul Rauf Al-Sajini
(1181 Ah - 1182 Ah)
Ahmad Al-Damanhouri
(1182 Ah - 1190 Ah)
Ahmed Ibn Musa al-Arusi
(1192 Ah - 1208 Ah)
Abdullah Al-Sharqawi
(1208 Ah - 1227 Ah)
Mohammed Al-shenwani
(1227 Ah - 1233 Ah)
Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Arusi
(1233 Ah - 1245 Ah)
Ahmed bin Ali al-damhouji
(1245 Ah - 1246 Ah)
Hassan Al-Attar
(1246 Ah - 1250 Ah)
Hassan al-quwaysni
(1250 Ah - 1254 Ah)
Ahmed bin Abdul-Jawad al-Safti
(1254 Ah-1263 Ah)
Ibrahim al-bajouri
(1263 Ah - 1277 Ah)
Mustafa al-Arusi
(1281 Ah - 1287 Ah)
Mahdi Abbasi
(1287 Ah - 1299 Ah)
Shams al-Din al-inbabi
(1299 Ah - 1313 Ah)
Hassouna al-Nawawi
(1313 Ah - 1317 Ah)
Abdul Rahman Al-Qutb al-Nawawi
(1317 Ah - 1317 Ah)
Healthy human
(1317 Ah - 1320 Ah)
Ali ibn Muhammad al-Beblawi
(1320 Ah - 1323 Ah)
Abdul Rahman Al-Sherbini
(1323 Ah - 1327 Ah)
Hassouna al-Nawawi
(1327 Ah - 1327 Ah)
Healthy human
(1327 Ah - 1335 Ah)
Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Al-Jizawi
(1325 Ah - 1348 Ah)
Mohamed Mostafa el Maraghi
(1348 Ah - 1350 Ah)
Mohammed Al-Ahmadi al-Zawahiri
(1350 Ah - 1354 Ah)
Mohamed Mostafa el Maraghi
(1354 Ah - 1364 Ah)
Mustafa Abdel Razek
(1364 Ah - 1366 Ah)
Mohammed Mamoun El-Shenawy
(1366 Ah - 1369 Ah)
Abdul Majid Salim
(1369 Ah - 1370 Ah)
Ibrahim Hamroush
(1370 Ah - 1371 Ah)
Abdul Majid Salim
(1371-1371 Ah)
Mohammed al-Khader Hussein
(1371 Ah - 1373 Ah)
Abdurrahman Taj
(1373 Ah - 1377 Ah)
Mahmoud Shaltout
(1377 Ah - 1383 Ah)
Hassan Mamoun
(1383 Ah - 1389 Ah)
Mohammed Al-faham
(1389 Ah - 1393 Ah)
Abdul Halim Mahmoud
(1393 Ah - 1398 Ah)
Mohamed Abdelrahman besar
(1398 Ah - 1402 Ah)
Gad-ul-Haq Ali Gad-ul-Haq
(1402 Ah - 1417 Ah)
Mohamed Sayed Tantawi
(1417 Ah - 1431 Ah)
Ahmed El Tayeb
(1431 ah - until now)