Al Azhar Mosque is considered by many to be the most important mosque in Egypt and one of the most important in the world. It is not only a mosque, but is also one of the biggest educational centres in the Islamic world. It is the second oldest continuously run university in the world. From the beginning of its time, Al Azhar was intended to be a knowledge-spreading beacon, and today it can be said that it is the most eminent Islamic institution in the world.

Al Azhar was built by the Fatimids when they conquered Egypt, with the intention of building a mosque to be the main mosque for their newly conquered land and to be a centre for spreading their faith, which was Ismaili Shia Islam. The Fatimid commander Jawhar Al-Siqilli ordered the mosque’s construction in 970 and in 972 the mosque was completed. Soon after its construction, Al-Azhar became a learning centre, where the teaching of the Ismaili Madhab (school of law) was offered to the public and where official pronouncements and court issues were held. In 988, several scholars were invited and hired to teach at Al-Azhar, which laid the way for the mosque’s status as a leading university. Under the Fatimids, the mosque saw constant additions and improvements; for example, a rich library of thousands of manuscripts was added to the mosque. The only exception of this period was the reign of Al-Hakim bi Amr Allah, who built another close mosque, the mosque of Al-Hakim, that would rival and overshadow Al-Azhar as the primary congregational mosque of Cairo. But Al-Azhar quickly regained its position by the Fatimid Caliphates that succeeded Al-Hakim.

After the Fatimid Dynasty was ended by Saladin, who marked the beginning of the Ayyubid Dynasty, Al-Azhar witnessed its stalest period. Saladin was a Sunni who aimed to restore Egypt to its Sunni adherence, which it followed before the Fatimid. As a result, the Ayyubids stripped the Azhar of being the congregational mosque of Cairo, closed down its library and made Al-Hakim Mosque the main mosque in Cairo. This caused the Azhar’s status to deteriorate and the scholars working in it to find other jobs. Instead of Al-Azhar’s schools, the Ayyubids built smaller madrasas (schools) throughout Cairo and the main Egyptian cities, building in total twenty six schools. These schools had a uniform curriculum and their some of their teachings focused on spreading Sunni Islam and reversing the teachings of Shia Islam. However, there was still some private teaching held in Al-Azhar, but the taught subjects were non-religious, such as mathematics and sciences.

Following the Ayyubid period, Al-Azhar started a new chapter under the Mamluks. The Mamluks returned to Al-Azhar its congregational state, and under them Al-Azhar returned to its educational activities and students began to fill it again. However, Al-Azhar was still behind the local madrasas that were built by the Ayyubids, in terms of popularity among the people, due to the fact that those madrasas were centralized and had a common educational curriculum, but slowly Al-Azhar was gaining more popularity. The Mamluks also did lots of fixing and improvement to the mosque. This trend of growth and prosperity continued under the Ottomans, too. The Ottomans respected Al-Azhar as a religious centre and this was obvious when Sultan Selim attended the Friday prayers in his last week in Egypt before returning to Turkey. Under the Ottomans, it was more clear that Al-Azhar has surpassed the local madrasas.

An interesting time in Al-Azhar’s history was during the French period in Egypt. By the time the French arrived in Egypt, Al-Azhar was known throughout the Islamic world and had some of the leading pioneering figures among its staff. When Napoleon invaded Egypt, he formed a council of the ulama (scholars) of Al-Azhar to govern Cairo. However, the relationship between the French and the Egyptians and Al-Azhar was a great centre of opposition for the French, which led the French to attack the mosque. The French occupation of Egypt lasted only three years before leaving Egypt, but in those three years Al-Azhar was exposed to press printing which exposed it to more sciences and secular subjects, some of which were added to the curriculum of Al-Azhar.

Following the French occupation, in which Al-Azhar has shown leadership of the Egyptians against its invaders, a continuous phase of diminishing of the roles of Al-Azhar followed, which was during Muhammed Ali’s dynasty and through till Nasser’s presidency. The educational value of Al-Azhar continued to grow during this phase, but its roles in the social life of Egyptians decreased. Today, the role of Al-Azhar has been increased, but still not to the same level as when it was before. However, Al-Azhar remains a great institution that has the respect and trust of muslims around the world, due to its governing role in Islam and its role in spreading the sciences.

As for the mosque itself of Al-Azhar, it’s one of the greatest and largest in Egypt, with an area of around 12,000 m². When it was first built, the mosque had three iwans and five riwaqs (a riwaq is an aisle where students had their rooms in which they stayed). Throughout the times several iwans, riwaqs, minarets and other structures were added until the mosque has doubled in its size than at its beginning. Some of the most beautiful structures of the mosque are the double-finial minaret of Qansuh al-Ghuri, the mihrab (a mihrab is a semi-circular niche in the wall which indicates the direction of prayer) of the main prayer hall and the main entrance door, which is called Bab al-Muzayinin.