File:Mosquée_Al-Azhar.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Affiliation
- Sunni Islam
- Ecclesiastical or organizational status
- Mosque
- Leadership
- Ahmad al-Tayyeb
- Status
- Active
- Location
- Islamic Cairo
- Country
- Egypt
- Type
- Mosque
- Style
- Fatimid (with later Mamluk additions)
- Established
- 970 CE
- Completed
- 972 CE (with later additions)
- Capacity
- 20,000 worshippers
- Dome
- Many
- Site area
- 15,600 m (168,000 sq ft)
- Criteria
- Cultural: (i)(v)(vi)
- Designated
- 1979 (3rd session )
- Part of
- Historic Cairo
- Reference no
- 89-002
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Al-Azhar Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الأزهر, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit. 'The Resplendent Congregational Mosque'), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in the historic Islamic core of the city of Cairo, Egypt. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970 CE, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from az-Zahrāʾ (lit. 'the shining one'), a title given to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad.
After its dedication in 972, and with the hiring by mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989, the mosque slowly developed into what it is today.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Al-Azhar Mosque” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.