History
History
Founded in 970 by the Fatimids at the heart of their new capital, Cairo, Al-Azhar was inaugurated in 972 and very quickly became far more than a mosque: one of the oldest universities in the world, where theology, law, grammar and sciences have been taught for over a thousand years.
Every dynasty left its mark here: Mamluk minarets with double finials, Ottoman gateways, white marble courtyards. This architectural palimpsest tells a thousand years of Cairo's history, and its scholarly authority still radiates across the entire Sunni world.
Anecdotes & highlights
- "Al-Azhar" ("the resplendent") is believed to reference Fatima al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), from whom the Fatimids claimed descent.
- Students from around the world used to lodge there by "riwaq", galleries assigned by country of origin.
- The mosque has five minarets from different eras, a veritable textbook of Egyptian architectural history.
