알-아즈하르에 대한 고찰

A Study on al - Azhar

AI-Azhar is one of the oldest Islamic university. one of the largest and the most important of all, end also mosque. Furthermore it houses administrative buildings and student lodgings. It is a type of world centre of Islamic tradition. It was founded in 970 by the Fatimid general Jawhar al Siqilli as a Friday mosque and shortly afterwards, under the Caliph al 'Aziz, became a university and teaching centre for the propagation of the Isma'ili Shi'a doctrine of the Fatimid Caliphate. Because of its association with the Shi' a, the Ayyubids initially proscribed al Azhar when they reestablished Sunni orthodoxy in Egypt in 1171. However, under the Mamluk dynasty al-Azhar was transformed into a centre for religious studies wihtin the Sunni Islamic tradition, becoming in time one of the leading universities in the Islamic world. After the collapse of Mamluk dynasty by the Othman Turkey in 1517 Egypt became the part of Othman Empire. Therefore al-Azhar position was degraded like Egypt. Although it was degraded, the Othman Turkish governors of Egypt continued the patronage the instituion enjoyed under the Mamluks, making grants and constructing buildings. The students at the university were supported by a religious endowment and pursed studies of Islam and Arabic. And al-Azharian Sheikhs became a leading spiritual group to heal the people's suffering from the fragmented Egyptian society. The invasion of Napoleon and the French army in 1798 shocked the Islamic world. Some of the religious figures from al Azhar had found the power of Europe. Therefore they studied and observed the researches of European scholars accompanying Napolean and were to play an important role in the dissemination of their ideas. Others, like 'Umar Makram emerged as leaders of popular resistance against both foreign influence and the choas caused by the power strnggles among the Mamluke in the wake of French withdrawal in 1801. But educationally, the al-Azhar university suffered the effects of the previous century of decline. Throughout the nineteenth century there was a growth in the political awareness of al-Azharians. After long deliberations in al-Azhar they undertook a sustained campaign to reform its curriculum and teaching methods continuously. Al-Azhar was subjected to further regulation in the 1930s and again during the 1950s. After the 1952 Revolution al-Azhar was affected by government controls on its disbursals by waqfs for their funding. Al-Azhar was also the subject of government educational reform measures promulgated in 1961 and on the the basis of these promulgated regulations the university established many nonreligious faculties like medicine, pharmarcy, agriculture, engineering, commerce. education, translation … etc. Al-Azhar is directed by an adminstrative committee and Sheikh al-Azhar. Al-Azhar has, through the large numbers of foreign stdents who train there. an enormous and continuing impact on the Islamic world. Al-Azharians are proud of al-Azhar, and they consider that they work in the honorable and holy place. They think that they intend to take the way for the spreading of Islam in peace. However al-Azharians regret that they have positions in life inferior to those of their colleagues in the State universities. They are anxious that there is a decline in the Muslim faith in many educational facilities. Al-Azhar is continuously questioned what exactly al-Azhar's real mission is with respect to the needs of the Muslim community of today, and further the intellectual and moral instruction that it provides is adapted to these needs.