al-azhar is one of the oldest islamic university which had also the role of mosque. it is a kind 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 unibersity. egypt became the part of othman empire by othman turkey in 1517. however, mamlukes were the governors of the provinces and the real ruling caste in egypt. frequent disputes between the othman officials and mamlukes, of among mamluk princes plunged the country into civil war. egyptian people had suffered from the corrupted and incompetent political system of othman turkey. in this social environment al-azharian sheikhs became a leading spiritual group to heal people's anguish. napoleon and french army landed at alexandria on july 01, 1798. the resistance of sword-wielding mamlukes on horseback was in vain. lacking modern arms and discipline, the mamlukes were routed at imbaba, near pyramid, and the french entered cairo on july 21. napoleon assured the egyptians that he did not want to destroy islam, but want to free them from mamluk tyranny. few egyptians believed that. whatever the response of the egyptians was, he considered al-azharian sheikhs and some notables as the leaders of the egyptian people. he appointed them as members of diwan, civil government. although it didn't have authority its members possessed the broader power. however napoleon's ultimate aim was to colonize egypt for the benefit of france. when nelson destroyed napoleon' fleet he tried to raise taxes in egypt. this move angered the egyptian people and a rebellion broke out under al-azharian leadership on october 21, 1798. but egyptians lacked the means to resist. and the rebellion was crushed by french cannons and rifles. al-azharians had realized the superiority of europe. napoleon sailed back to france, where be organized the coup d'etat that brought him to power. kleber succeeded napolen and monou did him. the anlo-othman forces managed to force the french to evacuate egypt in august 1801. al-azharians and notables who had been entrusted with administrative functions by french were exposed for the first time to the idea of popular rule, and began to see mamluk rule in egypt has to be ended. they observed that the powerful ability of the infidel was made possible by some kind of new powerful knowledge.