Al-Azhar Al-Sharif

Egypt’s renowned Islamic institution, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, has been serving the Islamic World for more than 1,000 years. Built in Cairo in 971 AD by Johar Al-Siqilli on the order of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu’iz, and named in the honor of Fatima Al-Zahraa, daughter of the Prophet Mohammad, Al-Azhar soon became the focus of Muslim scholars and students from around the world. Over the centuries, it played a key role in teaching Islam and preserving Islamic culture.

Originally a single minaret mosque composed of a courtyard and an oratory, Al-Azhar was extended through the years into a 5-minaret mosque and a vast teaching and research complex, incorporating schools of Islamic jurisprudence, theology, and Arabic language, as well as a modern university that teaches medicine, engineering, and agriculture, and an Islamic Women Faculty. The Academy for Islamic Research, Al-Azhar Library (consisting of about 600,000 volumes of Islamic manuscripts and rare books) and the Holy Qur’an Printing Service also form part of the complex.

Al-Azhar is not only the most important mosque in Egypt but also one of the oldest universities in the world. It started accepting students from all parts of the Islamic World in 976 AD. Both education and lodging were free of charge at that time. Countless numbers of renowned Muslim scholars and leaders graduated from it. Today, students from 85 countries are enrolled in the main campus in Cairo and many others are receiving education in its branches and institutes in other parts of the Islamic World. Among the objectives of Al-Azhar University, apart from formal education, is the propagation of the Islamic religion and culture, and Arabic language, preservation of Islamic heritage, training of preachers and judging on individual Islamic questions through its Committee of Scholars.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.