الأزهر الشريف | |
 Logo | |
 Al-Azhar al-Sharif building | |
 | |
| Formation | 971 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Organizations |
| Headquarters | Cairo, Egypt |
Official language | Arabic |
| Ahmed el-Tayeb[1] | |
| Budget | 19.9 Billion EGP[2] |
| Website | www |
Al-Azhar al-Sharif (Arabic:الأزهر الشريف,romanized: al-Azhar al-Sharīf) is anIslamic scientific body and the largest religious institution inEgypt. Its headquarters is located in the building of the Sheikhdom of Al-Azhar in the center of the Egyptian capital,Cairo. The history of the establishment of theAl-Azhar Mosque dates back to the year 970 by theFatimid CaliphAl-Muizz Li-Din Allah.
The Al-Azhar institution in its current form was reorganized according to Law No. 10 of 1911, amended by Law No. 32 and 33 of 1923, and then Law No. 103 of 1961,[3] which stipulated that Al-Azhar is the major Islamic scientific body based on the preservation and study of Islamic heritage, and it has an independent moral personality, headed by it. It is led by theGrand Imam of al-Azhar, currentlyAhmed el-Tayeb, and consists of several basic bodies.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar is a prestigious and a prominent official title inEgypt.[5] He is considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority in Sunni Islamic thought andIslamic jurisprudence[6] and holds great influence on followers of the theologicalAsh'ari andMaturidi traditions worldwide. The Grand Imam heads the Al-Azhar Al Sharif,al-Azhar Mosque, and by extensional-Azhar University, and is responsible for official religious matters along with theGrand Mufti of Egypt.
Historically, Al-Azhar had a membership that represented diverse opinions within Islam. It has a long tradition of teaching all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi,Maliki,Shafi, andHanbali). The chiefmufti of each school of thought acted as thedean, responsible for the teachers and students in that group.[7] During the time of the Ottomans, the Hanafi dean came to hold a position asprimus inter pares.[7] It also had membership from the seven mainSufi orders.[8] Al-Azhar has had an antagonistic relationship withWahhabism.[9] According to a 2011 report issued by theCarnegie Endowment for International Peace, Al Azhar is stronglySufi in character:
Adherence to a Sufi order has long been standard for both professors and students in the al-Azhar mosque and university system. Although al-Azhar is not monolithic, its identity has been strongly associated with Sufism. The current Shaykh al-Azhar (rector of the school),Ahmed el-Tayeb, is a hereditary Sufi shaykh from Upper Egypt who has recently expressed his support for the formation of a world Sufi league; the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and senior al-Azhar scholarAli Gomaa is also a highly respected Sufi master.[10]
However, in the early 20th century,enlightened Modernist thinkers such asMuhammad Abduh led a reform of the curriculum, reintroducing a desire for legal reform throughijtihad.[11][12] Subsequently, disputes were had between modernist intellectuals and traditionalists within al-Azhar.[13] Al-Azhar now maintains amodernist position, advocating "Wasatiyya" (centrism), a reaction against the extreme textualism of manyWahhabiSalafi ideologues. Wasatiyya covers a range of thinkers, some of whom are liberal intellectuals with religious inclinations, preachers such asYusuf al-Qaradawi and many members of theMuslim Brotherhood since the 2013 coup. Al-Azhar, led by its current Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb—who was appointed by President Mubarak and previously affiliated with his loyalist National Democratic Party[14]—has taken a stance against the Brotherhood.[15]
The nineteenth and current Grand Mufti of Egypt and Al Azhar scholar, isShawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam. The university is opposed to overt liberal reform of Islam and issued afatwa against the liberalIbn Rushd-Goethe mosque inBerlin because it banned face-covering veils such as burqa and niqab on its premises while allowing women and men to pray together. The fatwa encompassed all present and futureliberal mosques.[16]
