Al-Azhar Mosque

A friend and I made a trip down to the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar this morning to buy gifts for our upcoming trips back to the U.S. and visited the Al-Azhar Mosque afterward. The mosque was built in two years beginning in 971 AD and is one of the oldest mosques in Cairo. Its sheikh is considered the highest theological authority for Egyptian Muslims. In 988 AD a university grew in connection with this mosque and became the world's second oldest educational institution.





The academic focus of Al-Azhar has remained much the same for over a millenium: its students study the Qur'an and Islamic law in detail, along with logic, grammar, rhetoric, and how to calculate the lunar phases of the moon. Most of this learning is done by listening in a circle at the feet of a sheikh and rote memorization. Al-Azhar is considered by most Sunni Muslims to be the most prestigious school of Islamic law, and its scholars are seen as the highest scholars in the Muslim world.

The entrance to the mosque is through the 15th-century Barber's Gate, where students traditionally had their heads shaved. The photo above was taken just inside this gate. Once through the gate you turn in your shoes (be sure to wear socks) and women must cover their hair with a scarf. You then proceed into a great courtyard, which dates from the 10th century and is overlooked by three minarets. These tall needle-like towers are where the call to prayer is sung from. The courtyard's white facade is accented by rosettes and keel-arched panels.

Students studying at the university live within this mosque in the latticework-screened residential quarters. These are not open to visitors, but we were fortunate to meet a teacher from the school who showed us the prayer hall, which is carpeted and supported by alabaster pillars (photos below).

Notice the individual prayer spaces marked in the carpet pattern. Each points toward Mecca.

My friend and I had a guide take us up the spiral stone stair case of one of the minarets for a spectacular view of Cairo. From the top we could see the alabaster mosque of Mohammed Ali which lies within the walls of the Citadel (first photo below).