Learning · a Light

Al-Azhar was founded by one sect and outlived it

Construction of the mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo began in 970 under the Fatimids, and the first Friday prayer was held there in 972. It was built to teach and spread Ismaili Shi'i doctrine, and for two centuries that is what it did. When Salah ad-Din ended Fatimid rule in 1171 the mosque was turned to Sunni teaching, and it has taught, with one long interruption, ever since. Its method was circles on the floor: a teacher against a pillar, students around him, a licence granted by the teacher rather than the institution. More than a thousand years later it is still one of the central seats of Sunni learning, in a building begun by the people whose theology it now teaches against.

Cairo · founded 970, first prayer 972