Al-Azhar University

The Al-Azhar University (/ˈɑːzhɑːr/ AHZ-har; Arabic: جامعة الأزهر (الشريف), IPA: [ˈɡæmʕet elˈʔɑzhɑɾ eʃʃæˈɾiːf], "the University of (the honorable) Al-Azhar") is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic learning.[2][3] In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students.[4] As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.[5]

For the university in Gaza, see Al-Azhar University – Gaza. For the historic mosque building, see Al-Azhar Mosque. For people named Azhar, see Azhar (name) and Azhari (name).
Al-Azhar University
Arabic: جامعة الأزهر الشريف
Al-Azhar University portal
TypePublic
Establishedc. 972 (972)
  • 970/972
    first foundation: Fatimid era
  • 1961 – university status
Religious affiliation
Sunni Islam
(generally Ash'ari, Maturidi.)
PresidentDr. Salama Dawood
Location
Cairo
,
Egypt

30°02′45″N 31°15′45″E
CampusUrban
Websiteazhar.edu.eg
University rankings
Global – Overall
QS World[1]701+

Founded in 970 or 972 by the Fatimid Caliphate as a centre of Islamic learning, its students studied the Qur'an and Islamic law in detail, along with logic, grammar, rhetoric, and how to calculate the phases of the moon. Today it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world.[6] In 1961 additional non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.[7]

Its library is considered second in importance in Egypt only to the Egyptian National Library and Archives.[8] In May 2005, Al-Azhar in partnership with a Dubai information technology enterprise, IT Education Project (ITEP) launched the H.H. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum project to preserve Al Azhar scripts and publish them online (the "Al-Azhar Online Project") to eventually publish online access to the library's entire rare manuscripts collection, comprising about seven million pages of material.[9][10]

History

Beginnings under the Fatimids
The courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque, which largely dates to the Fatimid period

Al-Azhar is one of the relics of the Isma'ili Shi'a Fatimid dynasty, which claimed descent from Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad and wife of Ali, son-in-law, and cousin of Muhammad. Fatimah was called al-Zahra (the luminous), and the institution was named in her honor.[11] It was founded as a mosque by the Fatimid commander Jawhar al-Siqilli at the orders of the Caliph and Imam Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah as he founded the city for Cairo. It was begun (probably on Saturday) in Jumada al-Awwal in the year AH 359 (March/April 970 CE). Its building was completed on the 9th of Ramadan in AH 361 (24 June 972 CE). Both Caliph al-Aziz Billah and Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah added to its premises. It was further repaired, renovated, and extended by al-Mustansir Billah and al-Hafiz li-Din Allah.[12]

Prayer hall of Al-Azhar Mosque

The Fatimid caliphs always encouraged scholars and jurists to have their study-circles and gatherings in this mosque and thus it was turned into a madrasa which has the claim to be considered as the oldest such institution still functioning.[12][13] The mosque provided teaching on a variety of subjects from a variety of scholars.[14] According to Syed Farid Alatas, these subjects included Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, Islamic philosophy, and logic.[15] Under the Fatimids, Al-Azhar also notably promoted Shia Islam.[16][17]

Saladin

In the 12th century, following the overthrow of the Isma'ili Fatimid dynasty, Saladin (the founder of the Sunni Ayyubid Dynasty) converted Al-Azhar to a Shafi'ite Sunni center of learning.[6][18] Therefore, "he had all the treasures of the palace, including the books, sold over a period of ten years. Many were burned, thrown into the Nile, or thrown into a great heap, which was covered with sand, so that a regular "hill of books" was formed and the soldiers used to sole their shoes with the fine bindings. The number of books said to have disposed of varies from 120,000 to 2,000,000."[19][20] Abd-el-latif delivered lectures on Islamic medicine at Al-Azhar, while according to legend the Jewish philosopher Maimonides delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin though no historical proof has corroborated this.[21]

Saladin introduced the college system in Egypt, which was also adopted in Al-Azhar. Under this system, the college was a separate institution within the mosque compound, with its own classrooms, dormitories and a library.[22]

Mamluks

Under the Mamluks, Al-Azhar gained influence and rose in prestige.[23] The Mamluks established salaries for instructors and stipends for the students and gave the institution an endowment.[22] A college was built for the institution in 1340, outside of the mosque. In the late 1400s, the buildings were renovated and new dormitories were built for the students.[22]

During this time Cairo had 70 other institutions of Islamic learning, however, Al-Azhar attracted many scholars due to its prestige. The famed Ibn Khaldun taught at Al-Azhar starting in 1383.[23]

During this time texts were few and much of the learning happened by students memorizing their teachers' lectures and notes. In fact, blind young boys were enrolled at Al-Azhar in the hopes that they could eventually earn a living as teachers.[22]

Ottomans
The Gate of the Barbers, one of the entrances to the mosque embellished during the Ottoman period

During the Ottoman period, Al-Azhar's prestige and influence grew to the point of becoming the preeminent institution for Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world.[23] During this time, the Shaykh Al-Azhar was established, an office given to the leading scholar at the institution; prior to this the head of the institution was not necessarily a scholar.[24] In 1748, the Ottoman pasha tried to get Al-Azhar to teach astronomy and mathematics, to little avail.[22]

During the time there wasn't a system of academic degrees, instead the shaykh (professor) determined if the student was sufficiently trained to enter a professor (ijazah). The average length of study was 6 years. Despite the lack of bureaucracy, the training remained rigorous and prolonged.[22] Students were loosely organized into riwaq (a sort of fraternity) organized according to their nationality and branch of Islamic law they studied. Each riwaq was supervised by a professor. A rector, usually a senior professor, oversaw the finances.[22]

Post-Ottoman

By the mid 19th century, al-Azhar had surpassed Istanbul and was considered the capital of Sunni legal expertise;[25] a main centre of power in the Islamic world; and a rival to Damascus, Mecca and Baghdad.

When the Kingdom of Egypt was established in 1923, the signing of the new nation's constitution was delayed because of King Fuad I's insistence that Al-Azhar and other religious institutions were to be subject to him and not the Egyptian parliament.[26] The King Fuad I Edition of the Qur’an[27] was first published on 10 July 1924 by a committee from Al-Azhar University[28] Prominent committee members included Islamic scholar, Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Husayni al-Haddad. Noteworthy Western scholars/academics working in Egypt at the time include Bergsträsser and Jeffery. Methodological differences aside, speculation alludes to a spirit of cooperation. Bergsträsser was certainly impressed with the work.[29]

In March 1924, Abdülmecid II had been deposed as Caliph, supreme religious and political leader of all Muslims across the world.[30] The Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar repudiated the abolition[31] and was part of a call from Al-Azhar for an Islamic Conference. The unsuccessful "caliphate conference" was held under the presidency of the Grand Chancellor of Azhar in 1926[32][33] but no one was able to gain a consensus for the candidacy across the Islamic world. Candidates proposed for the caliphate included King Fuad.[32][33]

Modernization
An Azhari institute in Tanta

The pioneering Pakistani journalist Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah became the first woman to address the university in 1955. In 1961, Al-Azhar was re-established as a university under the government of Egypt's second President Gamal Abdel Nasser when a wide range of secular faculties were added for the first time, such as business, economics, science, pharmacy, medicine, engineering and agriculture. Before that date, the Encyclopaedia of Islam classifies the Al-Azhar variously as madrasa, center of higher learning and, since the 19th century, religious university, but not as a university in the full sense, referring to the modern transition process as "from madrasa to university".[7][34] Other academic sources also refer to al-Azhar as a madrasa in pre-modern times before its transformation into a university.[35][36][37] An Islamic women's faculty was also added in the same year, six years after Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah had been the first woman to speak at the university.[38]

Religious ideology
Part of a series on
Ash'arism
Rock carved with al-'Aqida al-Murshida by Ibn Tumart
Background
Eminent scholars
3rd AH/9th AD
4th AH/10th AD
5th AH/11th AD
6th AH/12th AD
7th AH/13th AD
8th AH/14th AD
9th AH/15th AD
10th AH/16th AD
11th AH/17th AD
12th AH/18th AD
13th AH/19th AD
14th AH/20th AD
Theological works
Institutions
Events
Related groups
Classic
Modern
One of the study halls attached to the mosque

Historically, Al-Azhar had a membership that represented diverse opinions within Islam. The theological schools of al-Ash'ari and al-Maturidi were both represented. It has a long tradition of teaching all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, and Hanbali). The chief mufti of each school of thought acted as the dean, responsible for the teachers and students in that group.[39] During the time of the Ottomans, the Hanafi dean came to hold a position as primus inter pares.[39] It also had membership from the seven main Sufi orders.[40] Al-Azhar has had an antagonistic relationship with Wahhabism.[41] According to a 2011 report issued by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Al Azhar is strongly Sufi 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 scholar Ali Gomaa is also a highly respected Sufi master.[42]

However, in the early 20th century, enlightened Modernist thinkers such as Muhammad Abduh led a reform of the curriculum, reintroducing a desire for legal reform through ijtihad.[43][44] Subsequently, disputes were had between modernist intellectuals and traditionalists within al-Azhar.[45] Al-Azhar now maintains a modernist position, advocating "Wasatiyya" (centrism), a reaction against the extreme textualism of many Wahhabi Salafi ideologues. Wasatiyya covers a range of thinkers, some of whom are liberal intellectuals with religious inclinations, preachers such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi and many members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since the 2013 coup however, Al-Azhar has taken a position against the brotherhood.[46]

The nineteenth and current Grand Mufti of Egypt and Al Azhar scholar, is Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam. The university is opposed to overt liberal reform of Islam and issued a fatwa against the liberal Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in Berlin 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 future liberal mosques.[47]

Council of Senior Scholars

Al-Azhar University's Council of Senior Scholars was founded in 1911 but was replaced in 1961 by the Center for Islamic Research. In July 2012, after the law restricting Al-Azhar University's autonomy was modified by the incoming president Mohamed Morsi, the council was reformed.[48] The Council consists of 40 members and as of February 2013 had 14 vacancies[49] all appointed by the current imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayeb,[50] who was appointed by the prior president, Hosni Mubarak. Once the remaining 14 vacancies are filled, new vacancies will be appointed by the existing Council itself.[49] All four madhahib (schools) of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence are proportionally represented on the council (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Maliki) and voting is on a majority basis.[48] In addition to El-Tayeb, other prominent members of the Council include the outgoing Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa.[51] The council is tasked with nominating the Grand Mufti of Egypt (subject to presidential approval), electing the next Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, and is expected to be the final authority in determining if new legislation is compliant with Islamic law.[48] Although the council's decisions are not binding (absent new legislation), it is expected that it would be difficult for the parliament to pass legislation deemed by the council as against Islamic law.[48]

In January 2013, Al-Tayeb referred a relatively minor issue related to Islamic bonds to the council, for the first time asserting the council's jurisdiction.[48] In 2013, the Council elected Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam to be the next Grand Mufti of Egypt. This marks the first time that the Grand Mufti would be elected by Islamic scholars since the position was created in 1895. Prior to this, the Egyptian head of state made the appointment.[50]

Views

Al-Azhar's muftis have a history of being consulted on political issues. Muhammad Ali Pasha appointed Al-Azhar muftis to the Consultative Council in 1829 and this would be repeated by Abbas I and later Isma'il Pasha. At the same time, there were many cases where the Egyptian ruler would disregard the opinion of Al-Azhar scholars.[39] Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy noted that among the priorities of Muslims are "to master all knowledge of the world and the hereafter, not least the technology of modern weapons to strengthen and defend the community and faith". He added that "mastery over modern weaponry is important to prepare for any eventuality or prejudices of the others, although Islam is a religion of peace".[52]

Sheikh Tantawy also reasserted that his is the best faith to follow and that Muslims have the duty of active da'wa. He has made declarations about Muslims interacting with non-Muslims who are not a threat to Muslims. There are non-Muslims living apart from Muslims and who are not enemies of Islam ("Muslims are allowed to undertake exchanges of interests with these non-Muslims so long as these ties do not tarnish the image of the faith"), and there are "the non-Muslims who live in the same country as the Muslims in cooperation and on friendly terms, and are not enemies of the faith" ("in this case, their rights and responsibilities are the same as the Muslims so long as they do not become enemies of Islam"). Shi'a fiqh (according to a fatwa by Al-Azhar)[53] is accepted as a fifth school of Islamic thought.

In October 2007, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, then the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, drew allegations of stifling freedom of speech when he asked the Egyptian government to toughen its rules and punishments against journalists. During a Friday sermon in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and a number of ministers, Tantawy was alleged to have stated that journalism which contributes to the spread of false rumours rather than true news deserved to be boycotted, and that it was tantamount to sinning for readers to purchase such newspapers. Tantawy, a supporter of then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, also called for a punishment of eighty lashes to "those who spread rumors" in an indictment of speculation by journalists over Mubarak's ill health and possible death.[54][55] This was not the first time that he had criticized the Egyptian press regarding its news coverage nor the first time he in return had been accused by the press of opposing freedom of speech. During a religious celebration in the same month, Tantawy had released comments alluding to "the arrogant and the pretenders who accuse others with the ugliest vice and unsubstantiated charges". In response, Egypt's press union issued a statement suggesting that Tantawy appeared to be involved in inciting and escalating a campaign against journalists and freedom of the press.[56] Tantawy died in 2010 and was succeeded by Mohamed Ahmed el-Tayeb.

In 2016 Ahmed el-Tayeb reissued the fatwa on Shia Muslims, calling Shia the fifth school of Islam and seeing no problem with conversions from Sunni to Shia Islam.[57] However, the NGOs report that violence and propaganda against the country's Shia minority continues. Shia Muslims are frequently denied services in addition to being called derogatory names. Anti-Shia sentiment is spread through education at all levels. Clerics educated at Al-Azhar University publicly promote sectarian beliefs by calling Shia Muslims infidels and encourage isolation and marginalization of Shia Muslims in Egypt.[58][59]

Scholars from Al-Azhar declared the writings to Farag Foda to be blasphemous.[60] Muhammad al-Ghazali, a member of Al-Azhar, declared Foda to be guilty of apostasy.[60] According to Geneive Abdo, Muhammad al-Ghazali also added that anyone killing an apostate would not be punished, while according to Nathan Brown, Muhammad al-Ghazali stopped just short of condoning Foroda's assassination. [61] Foda was assassinated in June 1992,[62][63] by an Egyptian terrorist group al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya, who claimed justification from Al-Azhar's fatwas.[64] In response, a scholar at Al-Azhar published Man Qatala Faraj Fawda.[65]

Notable people

10th–17th centuries

19th – early 20th centuries

1910s–1950s

1950–present

See also

Notes
  1. "Al-Azhar University".
  2. Delman, Edward (February 26, 2015). "An Anti-ISIS Summit in Mecca A". The Atlantic.
  3. Aishah Ahmad Sabki (2018). Pedagogy in Islamic Education: The Madrasah Context. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 16.
  4. Brown, Nathan J. (September 2011). Post-Revolutionary al-Azhar (PDF). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  5. Roy, Olivier (2004). Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. Columbia University Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9780231134996. Retrieved 4 April 2015. In Egypt the number of teaching institutes dependent on Al-Azhar University increased from 1855 in 1986-7 to 4314 in 1995-6.
  6. "Al-Azhar University". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  7. Skovgaard-Petersen, Jakob. "al-Azhar, modern period." Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas and Everett Rowson. Brill, 2010, retrieved 20/03/2010:
    Al-Azhar, the historic centre of higher Islamic learning in Cairo, has undergone significant change since the late 19th century, with new regulations and reforms resulting in an expanded role for the university. 1. From madrasa to university
  8. Egyptian National Library Publications. Egyptian National Library Press.
  9. "AME Info, 26 September 2005". AME Info. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  10. ITEP press release, 10 October 2006
  11. Halm, Heinz. The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning. London: The Institute of Ismaili Studies and I.B. Tauris. 1997.
  12. Shorter Shi'ite Encyclopaedia, By: Hasan al-Amin, http://www.imamreza.net/old/eng/imamreza.php?id=574
  13. "The World's Oldest Universities, Some That Have Been Around For More Than A Thousand Years". IndiaTimes. 2022-11-30. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  14. Goddard, Hugh (2000). A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh University Press. p. 99. ISBN 0-7486-1009-X.
  15. Alatas, Syed Farid (2006). "From Jāmi'ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue". Current Sociology. 54 (1): 123. doi:10.1177/0011392106058837. S2CID 144509355.
  16. Hassan, S. F. (2016). "Al-Azhar: The Challenge of Reforming Religious Education in Egypt". Education and the Arab Spring. Brill. pp. 129–149. ISBN 9789463004718. al-Azhar was the center where the Shia ideology of the Fatimids was advocated
  17. Abdullayev, Z. (2023). "Al-Azhar Madras". Innovations of Modern Scientific Development in the Age of Globalization: Problems and Solutions. 1 (2): 39–40.
  18. Encyclopædia Britannica p.37 1993 edition ISBN 0-85229-571-5
  19. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 1936, 3rd vol., p. 353
  20. , End of the Fatimid Caliphate
  21. Necipogulu, Gulru (1996). Muqarnas, Volume 13. Brill Publishers. p. 56. ISBN 90-04-10633-2.
  22. Sina Dubovoy. Carol Summerfield and Mary Elizabeth Devine (ed.). International Dictionary of University Histories. Taylor & Francis. p. 10.
  23. Florin Curta, Andrew Holt (ed.). Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History. ABC-CLIO. p. 561.
  24. Dodge 1961, p. 82.
  25. Oliver Leaman, ABDU, MUHAMMAD, The Quran: an Encyclopedia Routledge
  26. The Times, Egyptian Constitution Delay. 19 April 1923
  27. Brill, “[ <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_intro> Supplement II - Qurʾān Concordance]”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 10 July 2020
  28. Stefan Wild, "basmallah" The Quran: an Encyclopedia, Routledge
  29. Reynolds, "Quranic studies and its controversies", 2008
  30. Özcan 1997, pp. 45–52.
  31. The Times, The Caliphate, 18 March 1924
  32. Ardıç 2012, p. 85.
  33. Pankhurst 2013, p. 59.
  34. Jomier, J. "al- Azhar (al-Ḏj̲āmiʿ al-Azhar)." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2010, retrieved 20/03/2010:
    This great mosque, the 'brilliant one' ... is one of the principal mosques of present-day Cairo. This seat of learning ... regained all its activity—Sunnī from now on—during the reign of Sultan Baybars. ... Al-Azhar at the beginning of the 19th century could well have been called a religious university; what it was not was a complete university giving instruction in those modern disciplines essential to the awakening of the country.
  35. Lulat, Y. G.-M. (2005). A history of African higher education from antiquity to the present : a critical synthesis. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 0-313-32061-6. OCLC 57243371. As for the nature of its curriculum, it was typical of other major madrasahs such as al-Azhar and Al Quaraouiyine, though many of the texts used at the institution came from Muslim Spain. Al Quaraouiyine began its life as a small mosque constructed in 859 C.E. by means of an endowment bequeathed by a wealthy woman of much piety, Fatima bint Muhammed al-Fahri.
  36. "Al-Azhar University". Times Higher Education (THE). 2020-02-04. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  37. "Qantara - Al-Azhar Mosque". www.qantara-med.org. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  38. Anwar, Zainah; Abdullah, Rashidah (2000). Islam, Reproductive Health, and Women's Rights. Sisters in Islam (SIS Forum Malaysia). ISBN 978-967-947-249-3.
  39. Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (1997). Defining Islam for the Egyptian State: Muftis and Fatwas of the Dār Al-Iftā. BRILL. p. 100.
  40. Jadaliyya: "The Identity of Al-Azhar and Its Doctrine" by Ibrahim El-Houdaiby July 29, 2012
  41. Islamopedia: "Al-Azhar’s relations with other Sunni groups"
  42. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" "Salafis and Sufis in Egypt" by Jonathon Brown December 2011, p 12
  43. Jung, Dietrich. "Islamic Reform and the Global Public Sphere." The Middle East and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012. 153-169.
  44. Gauvain, Richard. "SalafiSm in modern egypt: panacea or peSt?." Political Theology 11.6 (2010): 802-825.
  45. Hatina, Meir. "Historical legacy and the challenge of modernity in the Middle East: the case of Al-Azhar in Egypt." The Muslim World 93.1 (2003): 51.
  46. Brown, Nathan J. Post-revolutionary al-Azhar. Vol. 3. New York, NY: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2011.
  47. Oltermann, Philip (2017-06-25). "Liberal Berlin mosque to stay open despite fatwa from Egypt". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  48. Hani Nasira and Saeid al-Sonny, Al Aribiya: "Senior scholars and the new Egyptian constitution", Al Arabiya, January 10, 2013
  49. Nathan J. Brown, "Egypt’s new mufti" Archived 2021-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, Foreign Policy, February 12, 2013
  50. Issandr El Amrani, "Goodbye Pope, Hello Mufti", New York Times], February 13, 2013
  51. "Egypt's new Grand Mufti elected for first time ever", Ahram Online, February 11, 2013
  52. "The Grand Imams of Al-Azhar". Archived from the original on 19 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
  53. al-Azhar Verdict on the Shia – Shi'ite Encyclopedia v2.0, Al-islam
  54. "allheadlinenews". Feedsyndicate. 2007-10-10. Archived from the original on 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  55. aljazeera.net (Arabic Online)
  56. "International Herald Tribune". 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  57. "Fatwa of Al-Azhar's Grand Imam on Shia". 19 October 2016.
  58. Shia Rights Watch: Egypt: For the people or against the people?
  59. Al-Monitor: Iranian cleric calls out Egypt's Al-Azhar for anti-Shiite activities Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  60. Geneive Abdo. No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 68.
  61. Brown, Nathan J. (1997). The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf. Cambridge University Press. p. 114. While he [Muhammad al-Ghazali] stopped just short of condoning Fawda's assassination, his testimony also implied that the government was operating outside the bounds of Islam...
  62. Miller, Judith (2011-07-19). God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting from a Militant Middle East. Simon and Schuster. p. 26. ISBN 9781439129418.
  63. "EGYPT: Human Rights Abuses by Armed Groups". amnesty.org. Amnesty International. September 1998. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  64. Bar, Shmuel (2008). Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of Radical Islam and the Duty to Jihad. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 16, footnote 8.
  65. de Baets, Antoon (2002). Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide, 1945-2000. Greenwood Publishing. p. 196. ISBN 9780313311932. In December 1992 Foda's collected works were banned
  66. "THE 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS 2010" (PDF). The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  67. "Serving Dawoodi Bohras Worldwide". Mumineen.org. 2010-03-04. Archived from the original on 18 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  68. David D. Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience, (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), p. 102
  69. ATIGHETCHI, DARIUSCH (2006-12-02). Islamic Bioethics: Problems and Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-4962-0.
  70. "Cordoba University". Cordoba University. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  71. Supreme Court of the Government of the Maldives Archived 2010-09-10 at the Wayback Machine

References

Further reading

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