Al-Azhar University

The marble courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, with the Mamluk minarets of Sultan Qaytbay and Sultan al-Ghuri, the second crowned with twin heads. The Fatimid commander Jawhar began the mosque on April 4, 970, and the first Friday prayer was held there in 972. Teaching soon followed, and under the caliph al-Aziz, who reigned from 975, the vizier Ibn Killis made it a regular institution of learning. Al-Azhar is often called the world's oldest mosque-university, and some accounts rank it second only to al-Qarawiyyin. Its modern university form came in the 20th century, with new colleges created under a law of 1961.