AL-AZHAR. Literally al-Azhar means "most luminous" (an allusion to the prophet Muḥammad's daughter Fāṭima, nicknamed al-Zahrāʾ, the eponymous ancestor of the Fāṭimids). Al-Azhar is the world's oldest mosque-university and Sunnī Islam's foremost seat of learning. Following his conquest of Egypt, Jawhar, the Sicilian commander of the army sent by the Fāṭimid caliph-imām al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh (r. 953–975 CE) from North Africa, founded this mosque on Saturday, 24 Jumādā I 359/April 4, 970 CE, after having laid the foundations of a new capital, Cairo (al-Qāhira, meaning "the victorious"). Al-Azhar, situated near the royal palace at the southeast corner, was intended to serve as the official congregation mosque of the new dynasty, which was competing with the ʿAbbāsid caliphs of Baghdad for control of the Muslim world. The first Friday prayer in the mosque was inaugurated during Ramaḍān 972 CE. In addition...