قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ – الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ – وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ
ISLAM in EGYPT
The Arms of the Arab Republic of Egypt
(Ǧumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyah)
جمهورية مصر العربية
The republic of Egypt has recognized Islam as the state religion since 1980.
Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims comprising about 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians.
Almost the entirety of Egypt's Muslims are Sunnis.
Most of the non-Muslims in Egypt are Christians, though estimates vary.
Prior to Napoleon's invasion, almost all of Egypt's educational, legal, public health, and social welfare issues were in the hands of religious functionaries.
Ottoman rule reinforced the public and political roles of the ulama (religious scholars) because Islam was the state religion and because political divisions in the country were based on religious divisions.
For more information about Ottoman rule in Egypt see
For more information about Ottoman rule in Egypt see
and
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, successive governments made extensive efforts to limit the role of the ulama in public life and to bring religious institutions under closer state control.
The secular transformation of public life in Egypt depended on the development of a civil bureaucracy that would absorb many of the ulama's responsibilities in the country.
After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the government assumed responsibility for appointing officials to mosques and religious schools.
The government mandated reform of Al-Azhar University beginning in 1961.
These reforms permitted department heads to be drawn from outside the ranks of the traditionally trained orthodox ulama.
for more information about Egypt see
القاهرة
The Mosques of Cairo
Egypt
As of 1917, Egyptian Islam was a complex and diverse religion.
Although Muslims agreed on the faith's basic tenets, the country's various social groups and classes applied Islam differently in their daily lives.
The literate theologians of Al-Azhar University generally rejected the version of Islam practiced by illiterate religious preachers and peasants in the countryside.
Most upper- and middle-class Muslims believed either that religious expression was a private matter for each individual or that Islam should play a more dominant role in public life.
Islamic religious revival movements, whose appeal cut across class lines, were present in most cities and in many villages.
Today devout Muslims believe that Islam defines one's relationship to God, to other Muslims, and to non-Muslims.
Today devout Muslims believe that Islam defines one's relationship to God, to other Muslims, and to non-Muslims.
They also believe that there can be no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular.
Many Muslims say that Egypt's governments have been secularist and even anti-religious since the early 1920s.
Politically organized Muslims who seek to purge the country of its secular policies are referred to as "Islamists."
Egypt's largely uneducated urban and rural lower classes are intensely devoted to Islam, but they lack a thorough knowledge of the religion.
Even village religious leaders have only a rudimentary knowledge of Islam.
The typical village imam or prayer leader has at most a few years of schooling; his scholarly work is limited to reading prayers and sermons prepared by others and to learning passages from the Qur'an.
Popular religion includes a variety of unorthodox practices, such as veneration of saints, recourse to charms and amulets, and belief in the influence of evil spirits.
Popular Islam is based mostly on oral tradition.Imams with virtually no formal education commonly memorize the entire Qur'an and recite appropriate verses on religious occasions.
They also tell religious stories at village festivals and commemorations marking an individual's rites of passage.
Predestination plays an important role in popular Islam.This concept includes the belief that everything that happens in life is the will of God and the belief that trying to avoid misfortune is useless and invites worse affliction.
Monotheism merges with a belief in angels, spirits (called Jinns), and Revelations from God in the form of Books.
Popular Islam ranges from informal prayer sessions or Qur'an study to organized cults or orders. Because of the pervasive sexual segregation of Egypt's Islamic society, men and women often practice their religion in different ways.
Women specially trained by their mothers or other women in zar lore organize the ceremonies. A zar organizer holds weekly meetings and employs music and dance to induce ecstatic trances in possessed women.
Wealthy women sometimes pay to have private zars conducted in their homes; these zars are more elaborate than public ones, last for several days, and sometimes involve efforts to exorcise spirits.
A primarily male spiritual manifestation is Sufism, an Islamic mystical tradition.
A primarily male spiritual manifestation is Sufism, an Islamic mystical tradition.
Sufism has existed since the early days of Islam, some odd years after the prophet Muhammad died. and is found in many Islamic countries.
The name derives from the Arabic word suf (wool), referring to the rough garb of the early mystics.
Sufism exists in a number of forms, most of which represent an original tarika developed by an inspired founder, or shaykh.
These shaykhs gradually gathered about themselves murids, or disciples, whom they initiated into the tarika.
Gradually the murids formed orders, also known as turuq, which were loyal to the shaykh or his successors.
The devotions of many Sufi orders center on various forms of the dhikr, a ceremony at which music, body movements, and chants induce a state of ecstatic trance in the disciples.
Since the early 1970s, there has been a revival of interest in Sufism.
جامعة الأزهر الشريف
Game'at Al-Azhar al-Šarif - Al-Azhar University
Game'at Al-Azhar al-Šarif - Al-Azhar University
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Sunni Islamic learning in the world.
It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt after Cairo University.
In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.
Al-Azhar is one of the main sources of fatwas in the world.
It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt after Cairo University.
In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.
Al-Azhar is one of the main sources of fatwas in the world.
It is associated with Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo.
The university's mission includes the propagation of Islamic religion and culture. To this end, its Islamic scholars (ulamas) render edicts (fatwas) on disputes submitted to them from all over the Sunni Islamic world regarding proper conduct for Muslim individuals and societies.
Al-Azhar also trains Egyptian government appointed preachers in proselytization (da'wa).
The university's mission includes the propagation of Islamic religion and culture. To this end, its Islamic scholars (ulamas) render edicts (fatwas) on disputes submitted to them from all over the Sunni Islamic world regarding proper conduct for Muslim individuals and societies.
Al-Azhar also trains Egyptian government appointed preachers in proselytization (da'wa).
Its library is considered second in importance in Egypt only to the Egyptian National Library and Archives.
In May 2005, Al-Azhar in partnership with a Dubai information technology enterprise, ITEP launched the H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Project to Preserve Al Azhar Scripts and Publish Them Online (the "Al-Azhar Online Project") with the mission of eventually providing online access to the library's entire rare manuscripts collection (comprising about seven million pages).
In May 2005, Al-Azhar in partnership with a Dubai information technology enterprise, ITEP launched the H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Project to Preserve Al Azhar Scripts and Publish Them Online (the "Al-Azhar Online Project") with the mission of eventually providing online access to the library's entire rare manuscripts collection (comprising about seven million pages).
جامعة الأزهر الشريف
Game'at Al-Azhar al-Šarif - Al-Azhar UniversityThe Ghuri Minaret
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
The double finial minaret was built in 1509 by Qansah al-Ghuri.
Sitting on a square base, the first shaft is octagonal, and four sides have a decorative keel arch, separated from the adjacent sides with two columns.
The second shaft, separated from the first by a fretted balconies supported by muqarnas, is also octagonal and decorated with blue faience.
A balcony separates the third level from the second shaft.
The third level is made up of two rectangular shafts with horseshoe arches on each side of both shafts.
Atop each of these two shafts rests a finial, with a balcony separating the finials from the shafts.
جامع الأزهر
Gama` al-Azhar - The Mosque of the Most Resplendent
Interior
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Interior
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Al-Azhar Mosque is a mosque in Islamic Cairo in Egypt.
Al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah of the Fatimid Caliphate commissioned its construction for the newly-established capital city in 970.
Its name is usually thought to allude to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, a revered figure in Islam who was given the title az-Zahra' ("the shining one").
It was the first mosque established in Cairo, a city that has since gained the nickname "the city of a thousand minarets."
جامع الأزهر
Gama` al-Azhar - The Mosque of the Most Resplendent
Courtyard Wall
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Courtyard Wall
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
After its dedication in 972, and with the hiring by mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989, the mosque slowly developed into what is today the second oldest continuously run university in the world after Al Karaouine.
Al-Azhar University has long been regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the study of Sunni theology and sharia, or Islamic law.
جامع الأزهر
Gama` al-Azhar - The Mosque of the Most Resplendent
Courtyard
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Courtyard
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
The university, integrated within the mosque as part of a mosque school since its inception, was nationalized and officially designated an independent university in 1961, following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
Over the course of its over a millennium-long history, the mosque has been alternately neglected and highly regarded.
Because it was founded as an Ismaili institution, Saladin and the Sunni Ayyubid dynasty that he founded shunned al-Azhar, removing its status as a congregational mosque and denying stipends to students and teachers at its school.
These moves were reversed under the Mamluk Sultanate, under whose rule numerous expansions and renovations took place.
Later rulers of Egypt showed differing degrees of deference to the mosque and provided widely varying levels of financial assistance, both to the school and to the upkeep of the mosque.
Today, al-Azhar remains a deeply influential institution in Egyptian society and a symbol of Islamic Egypt.
جامع الأزهر
جامع الأزهر
Gama` al-Azhar - The Mosque of the Most Resplendent
Mustafa in the Courtyard of al-Azhar
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Mustafa in the Courtyard of al-Azhar
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
جامع الأزهر
Gama` al-Azhar - The Mosque of the Most Resplendent
Kohme praying at al-Azhar Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Kohme praying at al-Azhar Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
مسجد الإمام الحسين - (جامع سيدنا الحسين)
Al-Hussein Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Al-Hussein Mosque is a mosque built in 1154 and located in Cairo, Egypt, near the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar.
مسجد الإمام الحسين - (جامع سيدنا الحسين)
Shrine of Sayyidna al Hussein Mosque
Al-Hussein Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
It is named after the grandson of Muhammad, Husayn ibn Ali, whose head is believed by some to be buried on the grounds of the mosque.
The mosque, considered to be one of the holiest Islamic sites in Cairo, was built on the cemetery of the Fatimid caliphs, a fact that was later discovered during the excavation.
The mausoleum (dating back to 1154) is the oldest part of the complex.
مسجد الإمام الحسين - (جامع سيدنا الحسين)
Shrine of Sayyidna al Hussein Mosque
Al-Hussein Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
مسجد الإمام الحسين - (جامع سيدنا الحسين)
Al-Hussein Mosque - Interior
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
The current building was built in the 19th century, and was influenced by Gothic Revival architecture.
The Mosque houses some very sacred items like the oldest believed complete manuscript of the Quran.
Al-Hussein Mosque - Interior
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
There is a marble slab on the mosque which contains the hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad says: "Husain is from me and I am from Husain. May Allah love whoever loves Husain. Husain is a grandson (chief) from the grandsons (chieftains)."
At the bottom of the slab, it says this is a good (hasan) hadith related by Tirmidhi, and also related by Bukhari and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
مسجد الإمام الحسين - (جامع سيدنا الحسين)
Al-Hussein Mosque - Interior
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Al-Rifa'i Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
The Al-Rifa'i Mosque (named in English as the Royal Mosque), is located in Cairo, Egypt, in Midan al-Qal'a, adjacent to the Cairo Citadel.
The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure.
This was part of a vast campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and modernize the city.
The mosque was constructed next to two large public squares and off of several European style boulevards constructed around the same time.
The Al-Rifa'i Mosque was constructed in two phases over the period between 1869 and 1912, when it was finally completed.
It was originally commissioned by Khushyar Hanim, the mother of the 19th century Khedive Isma'il Pasha to expand and replace the preexisting zawiya (shrine) of the medieval era Islamic saint Ahmad al-Rifa'i.
The zawiya was a pilgrimage site for locals who believed that the tomb had mystical healing properties.
Khushayer envisioned a dual purpose for the new structure as a house for sufi relics and a mausoleum for the royal family of Egypt.
Over the course of its construction the architect, design, and purpose were changed.
The original architect was Husayn Fahmi Pasha al-Mi'mar, a distant cousin in the dynasty founded by Muhammad Ali in 1803.
He died during the first phase of construction, and work was halted after Khedive Isma'il Pasha abdicated in 1880.
Khushayar Hanim herself died in 1885, and work was not resumed until 1905 when the Khedive Abbas Hilmi II ordered its completion.
The building itself is a melange of styles taken primarily from the Mamluk period of Egyptian history, including its dome and minaret.
The building contains a large prayer hall as well as the shrines of al-Rifa'i and two other local saints, Ali Abi-Shubbak and Yahya al-Ansari.
The mosque is the resting place of Khushyar Hanim and her son Isma'il Pasha, as well as numerous other members of Egypt's royal family, includingKing Farouk, Egypt's last reigning king, whose body was interred here after his death in Rome in 1965.
The mosque served briefly as the resting place of Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, who died in exile in South Africa in 1944, and was returned to Iran after World War II.
Part of the burial chamber is currently occupied by Reza Shah's son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who died in Cairo in 1980.
مسجد الرفاعى
Mustafa at the Tomb of Sha Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
Al-Rifa'i Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
مسجد الرفاعى
Mustafa at the Tomb of Malik Farouk
Al-Rifa'i Mosque
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
مسجد محمد علي
Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha - (Mehmet Ali Pasa Camii)
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
The Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque is a mosque situated in the Citadel of Cairo in Egypt and commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1830 and 1848.
Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo.
The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died in 1816.
This mosque, along with the citadel, is one of the landmarks and tourist attractions of Cairo and is one of the first features to be seen when approaching the city from no matter which side.
مسجد محمد علي
Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha - (Mehmet Ali Pasa Camii)
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
مسجد محمد علي
Mustafa at the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha
القاهرة Cairo - Egypt
Dr. Ahmed Al Tayyeb and Mustafa Abd el Nabi
Mustafa Abd el Nabi - also known as Peter Crawford - is the author of this blog
Mustafa Abd el Nabi - also known as Peter Crawford - is the author of this blog
Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Tayyeb
Grand Sheikh of Al-Azar
Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb أحمد محمد الطيب (Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb Arabic: الشيخ أحمد محمد الطيب) is the current Imam of al-Azhar Mosque.
He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy in 2010.
Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad al Tayeb was formerly the president of the Al Azhar for seven years and prior to that, served for two years as the second most powerful cleric in Egypt as its Grand Mufti.
Al Tayeb’s scholarly influence as a leading intellectual of Sunni Islam spans the globe. He has served as the dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Aswan, and the theology faculty of the International Islamic University in Pakistan. He has also taught in universities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh al Tayeb holds a PhD in Islamic philosophy from Sorbonne University.
Al Tayeb has emphasised his mission to promote traditional Islam since becoming Grand Sheikh. He has since issued decisions to teach all four schools of traditional Islamic thought at Al Azhar University, while stressing the importance of teaching students about Islamic heritage - considering Al Azhar graduates as ambassadors of Islam to the world. Sheikh al Tayeb leads the second-oldest university in the world, where teaching has continued without interruption since 975 CE. Al Azhar represents the center of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. It is a key institution that issues authoritative religious rulings and has provided extensive Islamic education to Egyptian and international students since its inception over a millennium ago.
This history makes Al Azhar a bastion of Sunni traditionalism.
The university is considered one of the most prominent Islamic educational institutions, and the foremost center of Sunni Muslim scholarship in the world.
Al Azhar is the second oldest, and currently the largest, university in the world, having risen from a group of three schools in the 1950s to its current state with 72 feeder schools, and close to 400,000 students studying there at any one time. Including schools that are part of Al Azhar waqf initiatives there are close to 2 million students.
Al Azhar is the second oldest, and currently the largest, university in the world, having risen from a group of three schools in the 1950s to its current state with 72 feeder schools, and close to 400,000 students studying there at any one time. Including schools that are part of Al Azhar waqf initiatives there are close to 2 million students.
This immense size and grounded respect make the head of Al Azhar an extraordinarily powerful and academically influential person. In spite of his huge workload as president, and now as Grand Sheikh, al Tayeb publishes regularly in numerous academic journals, dealing particularly with the reception of Islamic culture and philosophy in the Western world.
Al Tayeb is also a member of the Egyptian Society of Philosophy, the Supreme Court of Islamic Affairs and is the head of the Religious Committee at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union.
