Al-Azhar Reform and the Pressures of Globalization: Reorienting Turath Pedagogy in the Twenty-First Century
Abstract
This article examines ongoing reform efforts within al-Azhar University as it responds to the multidimensional pressures of globalization and the demands for modernizing Islamic scholarship. Through institutional analysis and interviews with Azharite scholars, the study explores how traditional turath-based pedagogy—characterized by classical texts, memorization, and sanad transmission—is being reinterpreted to address contemporary social, scientific, and ethical issues. The findings indicate that reform initiatives aim to strengthen critical thinking, integrate modern humanities and social sciences, and enhance global engagement, while preserving the authenticity of classical Islamic knowledge. However, tensions remain between traditionalists who fear epistemic dilution and reformists advocating interdisciplinary approaches. The article argues that sustainable reform requires balancing epistemological continuity with adaptive educational strategies that prepare graduates to contribute to global intellectual discourse. This study offers insight into how one of the world’s oldest Islamic institutions negotiates the relationship between heritage and modernity.
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Spannaus, N. (2018). History and Continuity: Al-Azhar and Egypt. In Modern Islamic Authority and Social Change (Vol. 1, hal. 79–101). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Diambil dari https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85099255045&partnerID=40&md5=1950a021a979b40c21dc79ed160d3f79
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Zeghal, M. (1999). Religion and politics in Egypt: The ulema of al-Azhar, radical Islam, and the state (1952-94). International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31(3), 371–399. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800055483
Zeghal, Malika. (2007). The ‘Recentering’of Religious Knowledge and Discourse: The Case of al-Azhar in Twentieth-Century Egypt.”. Hefner and Zaman, Schooling Islam, 107–130.
Zengin, Ü. N. (2022). The Arab Republic of Egypt (hal. 623–650). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1208-5_22
As’ad, Putra, D. I. A., & Arfan. (2021). Being al-Wasatiyah Agents: The Role of Azharite Organization Indexing in the Moderation of Indonesian Religious Constellation. Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 11(2), 124–145. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.32350/iitc.11.2.07
Aşik, M. O. (2012). Contesting religious educational discourses and institutions in contemporary Egypt. Social Compass, 59(1), 84–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768611432119
Bano, M. (2018a). Al-Azhar University: A Crisis of Authority (Vol. 1, hal. 55–78).
Bano, M. (2018b). At the tipping point? Al-Azhar’s growing crisis of moral authority. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50(4), 715–734. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743818000867
Bano, M, & Benadi, H. (2019). Official al-Azhar versus al-Azhar Imagined: The Arab spring and the revival of religious imagination. Die Welt des Islams, 59(1), 7–32. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-00591P02
Bano, Masooda, & Benadi, H. (2018). Regulating Religious Authority for Political Gains: Al-Sisi’s Manipulation of al-Azhar in Egypt. Third World Quarterly, 39(8), 1604–1621. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1369031
Brunner, R. (2009). Education, politics, and the struggle for intellectual leadership: Al-Azhar between 1927 and 1945. In Meir Hatina (Ed.), Guardians of faith in modern times: ʿUlamaʾ in the Middle East. Leiden: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Cochran, J. (2013). Education in Egypt. London: Routledge.
El-Ashmouni, M. M., & Salama, A. M. (2020). Contemporary architecture of Cairo (1990–2020): mutational plurality of “ISMS”, decolonialism, and cosmopolitanism. Open House International, 45(1–2), 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-04-2020-0007
El-Sherif, M. (2018). Rethinking the Eurocentric gaze in narratives of urban modernity: the Shaykh, the Flâneur, and the orientalist in Takhlīṣ al-Ibrīz and ʿAlam al-Dīn. Middle Eastern Literatures, 21(1), 28–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475262X.2018.1492190
El Hakam, F. E. Z. A., Farrag, I., Abd Elgalil, H. M. A., Hammad, R., Khired, Z. A., Kujumdshiev, S., & Abdelmohsen, S. R. (2025). Satisfaction with elective courses among undergraduate medical students at Al-Azhar and Jazan Universities. BMC Medical Education, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-07728-0
ELGENDI, Y. (2021). Modernizing Religious Discourses and Theologies of Pluralism: A Comparison Between the Azhar and the Holy See. Annali di Scienze Religiose, 14(2), 323–351. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.ASR.5.126978
Elston, M. (2022). Becoming Turāth: The Islamic Tradition in the Modern Period. Die Welt des Islams, 63(4), 441–473. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-20220026
Gesink, I. F. (2009). Islamic reform and conservatism: Al-Azhar and the evolution of modern Sunni Islam. London: Tauris Academic Studies.
Hatina, M. (2003). Historical legacy and the challenge of modernity in the Middle East: The case of al-Azhar in Egypt. The Muslim World, 93(1), 51.
Ibrahim, M. F. (2024). Natural Sciences in The Era of ‘Decline’: Discovering Manuscripts At Jāmi’ Al-Azhar. Australian Journal of Islamic Studies, 9(2), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v9i2.679
Jakes, A. G. (2023). Peaceful Wars and Unlikely Unions: The Azhar Strike of 1909 and the Politics of Comparison in Egypt. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 65(1), 141–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417522000366
Ma`arif, M. A., Mumtahana, L., Mansyuri, A., & Nasith, A. (2023). Developing Pesantren Educator Resources through Optimizing the Learning Organization. Nazhruna: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam, 6(3), 475–491. https://doi.org/10.31538/nzh.v6i3.4415
Mayeur-Jaouen, C. (2021). Family and brotherhood in Egypt. The case of the Šarnubiyya tariqa, from the Ottoman era to the revolution of 2011. MIDEO - Melanges de l’Institut Dominicaine des Etudes Orientales du Caire, (36), 161–208. Diambil dari https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85152891078&partnerID=40&md5=73f49a75add99e42eb84c735944ead17
Nakissa, A. (2014). An epistemic shift in Islamic law educational reform at al-Azhar and Dar al-Nakissa. Islamic Law and Society, 21(3), 209–251. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00213p02
Nakissa, A. (2022). Islam and the cognitive study of colonialism: The case of religious and educational reform at Egypt’s al-Azhar. Journal of Global History, 17(3), 394–417. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022821000267
Ragab, A. (2019). Medicine and Religion in the Life of an Ottoman Sheikh. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429001031
Reimer, M. J. (1997). Contradiction and consciousness in Ali Mubarak’s description of Al-Azhar. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 29(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800064151
Scott, R. M. (2012). What might the muslim brotherhood do with al-Azhar? Religious authority in Egypt. Die Welt des Islams, 52(2), 131–165. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006012X641674
Spannaus, N. (2018). History and Continuity: Al-Azhar and Egypt. In Modern Islamic Authority and Social Change (Vol. 1, hal. 79–101). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Diambil dari https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85099255045&partnerID=40&md5=1950a021a979b40c21dc79ed160d3f79
Zeghal, M. (1996). Nasser et les oulemas d’al-Azhar: La ré-invention d’une mémoire politique. Peuples Mediterraneens, Mediterranean Peoples, (74–75), 101–118. Diambil dari https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-28244502293&partnerID=40&md5=8719026bc99ff2703990d9b31491c1e9
Zeghal, M. (1999). Religion and politics in Egypt: The ulema of al-Azhar, radical Islam, and the state (1952-94). International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31(3), 371–399. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800055483
Zeghal, Malika. (2007). The ‘Recentering’of Religious Knowledge and Discourse: The Case of al-Azhar in Twentieth-Century Egypt.”. Hefner and Zaman, Schooling Islam, 107–130.
Zengin, Ü. N. (2022). The Arab Republic of Egypt (hal. 623–650). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1208-5_22
Published
2026-01-13
How to Cite
EL-MASRY, Rifaat Hamdi.
Al-Azhar Reform and the Pressures of Globalization: Reorienting Turath Pedagogy in the Twenty-First Century.
Bestari, [S.l.], v. 22, n. 2, p. 151-169, jan. 2026.
ISSN 2807-6532.
Available at: <https://riset-iaid.net/index.php/bestari/article/view/1584>. Date accessed: 09 feb. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.36667/bestari.v22i2.1584.
Section
Articles
