President of Al-Azhar University and Vice-President of the World Organization for Al-Azhar Graduates during “Dawah Week” at Al-Azhar Mosque: If Columns and Courtyards of the Mosque Could Speak, They Would Tell us about Ibn-Khaldun and Other Scholars who Enriched Life with Knowledge and Understanding. Al-Azhar’s Voice Is Loud and Proactive about Events Taking Place in our Islamic Ummah, and Grand Imam’s Stances Are Clear to Everyone
President of al-Azhar University and Vice-President of the World Organization for al-Azhar Graduates, Prof. Salama Dawood, said that it is clear from the name al-Azhar that it is attributed to Fatima al-Zahra, daughter of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Al-Azhar is a superlative adjective indicating that anyone associated with it is never inferior but always holds his head high. It is a beautiful name, containing the beauty of blossoming flowers that open to reveal knowledge. He explained that it was also called “the mosque” because it gathers the surrounding nation. No event passes by the nation without its voice being loud and proactive. The Grand Imam’s calls to the nation and the world for solidarity with Gaza, Palestine, and everywhere else, along with other humanitarian and national stances, are clear to everyone.
He also added during his talk, in a seminar on “Al-Azhar; History and Civilization,” that regular education in Egypt did not begin except through this ancient mosque. Medicine and sciences were taught alongside Hadith, Fiqh, and Tafsir until it became a beacon of knowledge that started here and spread its light throughout all of Egypt’s governorates. Then, regular institutes were established, reaching 12,000 Azhari institutes, where nearly 3 million Egyptians are studying in addition to international students. It also embraces nearly a hundred faculties, as well as its ruwaqs that spread throughout Egypt, the edifices of the fatwa, Islamic research, its global observatory, and other fortresses that fortified sound moderate thought.
In addition, he referred to the columns and courtyards of the mosque, saying: If they could speak, they would tell us about Ibn Khaldun, al-Fasi, al-Maghribi, and al-Andalusi. Here sat Husayn al-Marsafi, who led the literary renaissance in Egypt, and other scholars who enriched life with knowledge and understanding. They came to al-Azhar Mosque from all corners of the world like doves to al-Haram al-Makki. If there were a body that brings together nations, al-Azhar would encompass within its faculties and institutes nearly 60,000 students representing their nations.
It is worth mentioning that “Islamic Dawah Week” meetings, which continue throughout this week at al-Azhar Mosque, come within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s initiative, “A New Beginning for Building the Human Being.” It aims to prepare an intellectual map that addresses the building of the human being from all intellectual, doctrinal, and social aspects and to anchor a system of values, ethics, and high ideals in society, with the participation of a group of scholars from al-Azhar ash-Sharif.
