Description of the attraction
The Al-Azhar Mosque is known as the famous religious university of Cairo, where everyone is engaged in the study of the Koran, Arabic language and literature, various religious disciplines. The mosque was erected by the famous military leader Dzhokhar in 969-972 simultaneously with the construction of the city itself and was the main mosque of the state. For many centuries, the mosque has been a haven for local residents and refugees during times of war and persecution. The mosque became an educational institution in 988. With money from income from waqfs, the mosque was repeatedly rebuilt, restored and completed with additional classrooms in order to expand the premises.
Since the middle of the twentieth century, the mosque has become the largest and most prestigious Islamic university. There are about 50 faculties and Muslims from all over the world study here. At the moment, the university is equipped with a library, which has sixty thousand books and fifteen thousand manuscripts.
Al-Azhar is a fine example of architecture. The entrance to the mosque is a trefoil arch. The inner halls are decorated with an abundance of relief forms, numerous arches, various graphic and floral ornaments and patterns on the walls and columns. The mosque is surrounded by an arcade and has an underground passage to the Al-Hussein Mosque. Nearby is the city market and the oldest coffee shop in Cairo.
During its existence, the mosque has significantly changed its appearance, but the ancient foundation remained intact. This is an inner courtyard, which is framed along the perimeter by an arcade, and a huge hall for ceremonial receptions, unique in that it has 380 columns. These buildings look the same today as they did in 973. It should be noted that the main buildings of the mosque are made of bricks covered with plaster. But the structures, already completed later, were made of stone.
Description added:
Ismail 2013-03-01
Al-Azhar Mosque today is a higher spiritual school, which has been functioning for almost a thousand years and enjoys a well-deserved prestige among Muslims around the world as the largest center of Islamic theology. It began with the creation of a religious school, which was founded by Caliph Aziz, the son of Caliph al-
Show full text Al-Azhar Mosque today is a higher spiritual school, which has been functioning for almost a thousand years and enjoys a well-deserved prestige among Muslims around the world as the largest center of Islamic theology. It began with the creation of a religious school, which was founded by Caliph Aziz, the son of Caliph al-Muizza. In 989, 35 scholars worked in the mosque and gradually the building turned into a university where Sunni theology and Sharia were studied.
In 1005, under Caliph Hakim, they began to study philosophy, chemistry and astronomy here. The library, founded at the mosque in the XIV century, today contains more than 60 thousand books and 15 thousand manuscripts, many of which are the most valuable sources for studying the history and culture of the Arab East. Already in the middle of the twentieth century, the mosque-university became known among the most prestigious and largest Islamic universities in the language and religion. Today, Al-Azhar is a gigantic educational and religious complex.
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