CAIRO, July 10 (IslamOnline.net) - Senior officials in Al-Azhar have recognized the importance of upgrading school curricula, but warned of a camouflaged secular scheme to marginalize the role of the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.

"The upgrading of Al-Azhar institutes should come from within and should not be imposed by parties in or outside Egypt," Omar Al-Deeb, the head of Al-Azhar Institutes Department, told IslamOnline.net.

He said the development drive is aimed at keeping pace with the latest in modern subjects and sticking to the religious nature of the education system in the time-honored institution.

"Modern subjects are already being taught alongside religious ones across different grades and Al-Azhar institutes have made impressive strides in this regard," said the official, rejecting claims that Al-Azhar educational system has failed to adapt to the modern age.

He added that officials are working on redressing minuses flawing the education system, chiefly the shortage in teachers and classes.

It rather expressed resolve to build more institutes in Egypt.

The issue came to the fore when lawmakers Abdul Moti Baioumi, Abdul Rahman Al-Adawi and Ali Laban asked the Peoples’ Assembly (lower house of parliament) to revoke the Governors Council's decision.

Al-Deeb, meanwhile, rejected suggestions to including technical education in Al-Azhar institutes.

"Al-Azhar shouldn’t be expected to graduate a generation of technicians. Families who want to teach their children a craft should enroll them in schools affiliated to the ministry of education," he said.

Jamaludin Mahmmoud, member of Al-Azhar’s highest and most influential arm, the Islamic Research Academy, agreed.

"The education system in Al-Azhar is basically religious and can by no means be put on the backburner," he told IOL.

He said that shifting the student attention from religious subjects to modern ones under the slogan of development will eventually undermine the entire education system in Al-Azhar.

"We only welcome developments based primarily on the Noble Qur’an and Sunnah [Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) traditions]," said the official.

Shawki Al-Fangari, another members of the academy, warned of a secular drive targeting the education system of Al-Azhar.

But he said Azharites should cautiously open up to the world by learning foreign languages and modern subjects in order not to be left behind.

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.

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.

According to official statistics, there are now 6828 institutes educating 147,425 students with a 6.7 percent increase compared to 2003.