Towards a Grand Renewal: The Salient Features of the Azhari Approach

Towards a Grand Renewal: The Salient Features of the Azhari Approach

Numerous are the schools and institutions that have risen to carry the trust (amanah) of our religion (din)—schools and institutions for which God has decreed acceptance and approval and which people have favourably endorsed— and to such an extent that these schools and institutions have served and imparted the religion for centuries. These schools and institutions became the eyes through which the Umma of Muhammad viewed events and methods, and through which it formulated a methodology and issued its view of what is to be accepted and rejected. And in the forefront of these schools and institutions was the illustrious al-Jami’ al-Azhar (Al-Azhar University), which has supplied the Muslim Umma throughout the ages with great religious leaders and scholars and during its illustrious history has recorded in its name many noble positions. It has emitted the lights of knowledge, realization and guidance to the entire Umma in the East and the West.