Encyclopedia of Islam

al-Azhar

  

79  J

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Scholars at al-Azhar taught the Islamic precepts of 

q

Uran

, hadith, and law (

fiqh

) but also such fields 

as 

philosophy

 and 

science

. In the 13th century, 

under the Mamluks, al-Azhar slowly regained 

its prominence and was rebuilt and refurbished. 

But it was under the o

ttoman

 

dynasty

, which 

conquered Egypt in 1517, that al-Azhar became 

again the dominant religious institution in Egypt, 

especially in the 18th century.

The graduates of al-Azhar were the most highly 

educated in Egypt as that country began to con-

front the challenges of modernity in the 19th 

century. Napoleon Bonaparte, during his brief con-

quest of Egypt (1798–1801), looked to the scholars 

of al-Azhar as potential leaders in the Egypt he 

intended to create, but the university was also the 

site of much resistance to the French presence. As 

Egypt was brought under the firm rule of Muham-

mad Ali (d. 1848), like Napoleon, it was to the 

graduates of al-Azhar that he turned to find men 

who would lead the country in its modernization. 

Among those he sent to Europe in the 19th century 

to acquire modern scientific learning, many were 

Azharites. In fact, until the founding of the modern 

University of Cairo in 1908, al-Azhar was the only 

institution of higher learning in the country.

Because al-Azhar combined a great deal of 

religious prestige with a formidable, if traditional, 

academic program, successive governments have 

striven to reduce its power or to turn its power to 

their own ends. The religious endowments that 

had made al-Azhar financially independent have 

been under governmental control since 1812. The 

state also controls the appointment of the rector 

of the university, a powerful and influential posi-

tion in Egypt. In the 1960s, the Egyptian national 

government under President Jamal Abd al-Nasir 

(r. 1954–70) reformed and modernized the edu-

cational program, expanding its teaching to such 

fields as engineering and medicine. While this 

broadened and expanded the university, it also had 

the effect of weakening its religious character.

Nonetheless, al-Azhar, which is not a strictly 

hierarchical institution, retains a certain tradition 

of independence from the government and can 

influence government decisions in some areas. 

The government of Egypt has, thus, recently 

granted al-Azhar an expanded role in the censor-

ship of films and books. More problematic for the 

government, however, are the independent schol-

ars within the institution who condemn specific 

government policies, such as Egypt’s peace with 

i

srael

 or the United States. On the whole, how-

ever, the government-appointed rector and his 

associates tend to have national and international 

prestige, and when they speak for al-Azhar, they 

often claim to be speaking for the Muslim com-

munity as a whole.

See also 

edUcation

; s

Unnism

.

John Iskander