Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Ian Henderson Douglas, Abul Kalam 

Azad: An Intellectual and Religious Biography, eds. Gail 

Minault and Christian W. Troll (New Delhi: Oxford Uni-

versity Press, 1988); Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Islamic 

Seal on India’s Independence: Abul Kalam Azad, A Fresh 

Look (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998).

al-Azhar

 

(Arabic: the brilliant one)

Al-Azhar is now the most important center of 

Islamic learning in and the institution most sym-

bolic of the world of Sunni Islam. It was built by 

the Fatimid rulers of e

gypt

 (r. 969–1171) as the 

primary 

mosqUe

 and center of missionary out-

reach in their new capital of c

airo

. With the rise 

to power of the Ayyubid dynasty under s

aladin

in 1171, al-Azhar lost much of its prestige, par-

ticularly to other 

madrasa

s that arose at this time.