Al-Azhar is deemed as Islam’s most prestigious seat of learning

By Adel Abdel Halim, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, July 4 (IslamOline.net) – Al-Azhar is determined to build more educational institutes in Egypt, which hosts Islam’s most prestigious seat of learning and highest Sunni authority.

The revered body strongly rejects a decision taken by the Egyptian Governors Council on May 25 to freeze the construction of more Azharite (religious) institutes and change some of existing institutes into state-run schools, a senior Al-Azhar official told IslamOnline.net Saturday, July 3.

However, the official, who asked not be named, said Al-Azhar has not yet received any official notification of the decision, putting at 6828 the number of institutes nationwide.

"How on earth that the motherland of Al-Azhar [Egypt] slaps a freeze on the construction of Azharite institutes, while helps build others abroad?" Wondered the official.

He said the construction of institutes is purely an internal affair and a right safeguarded by the Egyptian government.

"Such government decisions, therefore, are null and void," he stressed.

Al-Azhar Deputy Mahmmoud Imbabi categorically denied that Al-Azhar administration has rebuffed any new requests to build institutes or agreed to delegate some of its responsibilities to the Ministry of Education.

He also said the time-honored body has come along away over the years and developed itself to keep pace with other educational forts worldwide.

Established in 359 AH (971 CE), Al-Azhar mosque drew scholars from across the Muslim world and grew into a university, predating similar developments at Oxford University in London by more than a century.

The issue came to the fore when Members of Parliament Abdul Moti Baioumi, Abdul Rahman Al-Adawi and Ali Laban requested the Peoples’ Assembly (parliament) to revoke the decision of the Governors Council.

Bombshell

Adawi told IOL Saturday that the decision, which was taken under Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, came as a bombshell to Egyptian society, which regarded it as part of the US colonial scheme targeting Islam.

He said the Islamic Research Center, Al-Azhar’s highest and most influential arm, has not yet released an official statement in this regard as it has not yet been notified of the decision.

Al-Azhar, which means the "most flourishing and resplendent," was named after Fatima Al-Zahraa, daughter of prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who gave rise to the Fatimid dynasty which governed Egypt from 969 to 1171 CE.

The first courses at Al-Azhar were given in 975 CE and the first college was built 13 years later.

Al-Azhar first admitted women students in 1961, albeit in separate classes. Also in 1961, subjects in engineering and medicine were added to classes on Shari’ah, the Noble Qur’an and the intricacies of Arabic language.

More recently, the venerable body revealed it planned to launch a satellite channel to counter anti-Islam onslaughts and highlight the true essence of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance.