In Egypt, the world’s oldest university continues to teach—and to evolve—as it has for 1000 years.
For one thousand and one years the lives of the people of old Cairo have revolved round al-Azhar.
Out of the tradition of the Prophet himself, a university…
There are two faces to Egypt’s Al-Azhar University. One is new, barely 10 years old; the other is nearly as old as Islamic civilization. Between them stand 1,000 years of history.
Like any Muslim city, medieval Cairo was studded with ornate mosques. One of the most impressive was al-Azhar. Founded in 970, al-Azhar became an educational foundation 18 years later when Caliph al-‘Aziz added learned studies to pious teachings by providing for the intellectual training of 35 students.
Ismailimail 
Interesting and relevant quotes by Mawlana Hazar Imam relating to the Al Azhar University/Mosque:
1)”As you may know, the developing world has been at the centre of my thinking and my work throughout my lifetime. And I inherited a tradition of educational commitment from my grandfather. It was a century ago that he began to build a network of some 300 schools in the developing world through the Aga Khan Education Services – in addition to founding Aligarh University in India.
The legacy which I am describing actually goes back more than a thousand years, to the time when our forefathers, the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs of Egypt, founded Al-Azhar University and the Academy of Knowledge in Cairo. For many centuries, a commitment to learning was a central element in far-flung Islamic cultures. That commitment has continued in my own Imamat through the founding of the Aga Khan University and the University of Central Asia and through the recent establishment of a new Aga Khan Academies Program.”(Aga Khan IV, “The Peterson Lecture” on the International Baccalaureate, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 18 April 2008.)
2)”A thousand years ago, my forefathers, the Fatimid imam-caliphs of Egypt, founded al-Azhar University and the Academy of Knowledge in Cairo. In the Islamic tradition, they viewed the discovery of knowledge as a way to understand, so as to serve better God’s creation, to apply knowledge and reason to build society and shape human aspirations”(Aga Khan IV, Speech, 25th June 2004, Matola, Mozambique.)
3)”Education has been important to my family for a long time. My forefathers founded al-Azhar University in Cairo some 1000 years ago, at the time of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Discovery of knowledge was seen by those founders as an embodiment of religious faith, and faith as reinforced by knowledge of workings of the Creator’s physical world. The form of universities has changed over those 1000 years, but that reciprocity between faith and knowledge remains a source of strength”(Aga Khan IV, 27th May1994, Cambridge, Massachusets, U.S.A.)
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