Al-Azhar University – Gaza Faculty

Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned by Jawhar al-Siqilli shortly after Cairo was established as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from ''az-Zahrāʾ'' (meaning "the shining one"), a title given to Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad.

After its dedication in 972, and with the hiring by mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989, the mosque slowly developed into what is today the second oldest continuously run university in the world after Al Karaouine in Idrisid Fes. Al-Azhar University has long been regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the study of Sunni theology and ''sharia'', or Islamic law. The university, integrated within the mosque as part of a mosque school since its inception, was nationalized and officially designated an independent university in 1961, Al-Azhar Al Sharif, following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Over the course of its over a millennium-long history, the mosque has been alternately neglected and highly regarded. Because it was founded as a Shiite Ismaili institution, Saladin and the Sunni Ayyubid dynasty that he founded shunned al-Azhar, removing its status as a congregational mosque and denying stipends to students and teachers at its school. These moves were reversed under the Mamluk Sultanate, under whose rule numerous expansions and renovations took place. Later rulers of Egypt showed differing degrees of deference to the mosque and provided widely varying levels of financial assistance, both to the school and to the upkeep of the mosque. Today, al-Azhar remains a deeply influential institution in Egyptian society that is highly revered in the Sunni Muslim world and a symbol of Islamic Egypt.

Name

The city of Cairo was established by the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī, a former Greek slave from Sicily, on behalf of his then-master Caliph al-Mu'izz, following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt in 969. It was originally named ''al-Manṣūriyya'' () after the prior seat of the Fatimid caliphate, al-Mansuriya in modern Tunisia. The mosque, first used in 972, may have initially been named ''Jāmiʿ al-Manṣūriyya'' (, "the mosque of Mansuriyya"), as was common practice at the time. It was al-Mu'izz who renamed the city ''al-Qāhira'' (, "Cairo", meaning, "the Victorious"). The name of the mosque thus became ''Jāmiʿ al-Qāhira'' (, "the mosque of Cairo"), the first transcribed in Arabic sources.

The mosque acquired its current name, ''al-ʾAzhar'', sometime between the caliphate of al-Mu'izz and the end of the reign of the second Fatimid caliph in Egypt, al-Aziz Billah. ''ʾAzhar'' is the masculine form for ''zahrāʾ'', meaning "splendid" or "most resplendent". ''Zahrāʾ'' is an epithet applied to Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, wife of caliph Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib. She was claimed as the ancestress of al-Mu'izz and the imams of the Fatimid dynasty; one theory is that her epithet is the source for the name ''al-ʾAzhar''. The theory, however, is not confirmed in any Arabic source and its plausibility has been both supported and denied by later Western sources.

An alternative theory is that the mosque's name is derived from the names given by the Fatimid caliphs to their palaces. Those near the mosque were collectively named ''al-Quṣūr az-Zāhira'' (, "the Brilliant Palaces") by al-Aziz Billah, and the royal gardens were named after another derivative of the word ''zahra''. The palaces had been completed and named prior to the mosque changing its name from ''Jāmiʿ al-Qāhira'' to ''al-ʾAzhar''.

The word ''Jāmiʿ'' is derived from the Arabic root word ''jamaʿa'' (g-m-ʿ), meaning "to gather". The word is used for large congregational mosques. While in classical Arabic the name for al-Azhar remains ''Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar'', the pronunciation of the word ''Jāmiʿ'' changes to ''Gāmaʿ'' in Egyptian Arabic.

History

Fatimid Caliphate

Caliph al-Mu’izz li-Din Allāh, the fourteenth Ismāʿīli Imam, conquered Egypt through his general Jawhar, wresting it from the Sunni Ikhshidid dynasty. By order of the Caliph, Jawhar then oversaw the construction of the royal enclosure of the Fatimid Caliphate and its army, and had al-Azhar built as a base to spread Ismāʿīli Shi'a Islam. Located near the densely populated Sunni city of Fustat, Cairo became the center of the Ismāʿīli sect of Shi'a Islam, and seat of the Fatimid empire.

Jawhar ordered the construction of a congregational mosque for the new city and work commenced on April 4, 970. The mosque was completed in 972 and the first Friday prayers were held there on June 22, 972 during Ramadan.

Al-Azhar soon became a center of learning in the Islamic world, and official pronouncements and court sessions were issued from and convened there. Under Fatimid rule, the previously secretive teachings of the Ismāʿīli '' madh'hab'' (school of law) were made available to the general public. Al-Nu‘man ibn Muhammad was appointed '' qadi'' (judge) under al-Mu’izz and placed in charge of the teaching of the Ismāʿīli ''madh'hab''. Classes were taught at the palace of the Caliph, as well as at al-Azhar, with separate sessions available to women. During Eid ul-Fitr in 973, the mosque was rededicated by the caliph as the official congregational mosque in Cairo. Al-Mu’izz, and his son—when he in turn became caliph—would preach at least one Friday '' khutbah'' (sermon) during Ramadan at al-Azhar.

Yaqub ibn Killis, a polymath, jurist and the first official vizier of the Fatimids, made al-Azhar a key center for instruction in Islamic law in 988. The following year, 45 scholars were hired to give lessons, laying the foundation for what would become the leading university in the Muslim world.

The mosque was expanded during the rule of the caliph al-Aziz (975–996). According to al-Mufaddal, he ordered the restoration of portions of the mosque and had the ceiling raised by one cubit. The next Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim, would continue to renovate the mosque, providing a new wooden door in 1010. However, al-Hakim's reign saw the completion of the al-Hakim Mosque, and al-Azhar lost its status as Cairo's primary congregational mosque. In May 1009 the al-Hakim Mosque became the sole location for the caliph's sermons; prior to this, al-Hakim would rotate where the Friday sermon was held. Following al-Hakim's reign, al-Azhar was restored by al-Mustanṣir. Additions and renovations were carried during the reign of the remaining Fatimid caliphs. Al-Hafiz undertook a major refurbishment in 1138, which established the keel-shaped arches and carved stucco decoration seen in the courtyard today, as well as the dome at the central entrance of the prayer hall.

Initially lacking a library, al-Azhar was endowed by the Fatimid caliph in 1005 with thousands of manuscripts that formed the basis of its collection. Fatimid efforts to establish Ismāʿīli practice among the population were, however largely unsuccessful. Much of its manuscript collection was dispersed in the chaos that ensued with the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate, and Al-Azhar became a Sunni institution shortly thereafter.

Ayyubid dyn