Analysis Of Al-azhar And Its Foreign Affair (1952-2021)

In the process of modernization in the Middle East countries,Islam has a profound impact on the reform of national political system,and the evolution of official religion is largely rooted in the political process of modern countries.As far as Egypt is concerned,Al-Azhar,as an Islamic Sunni authority with a long history,plays an important role in the development of political modernization in Egypt.This paper combs and introduces the historical evolution and functions of Al-Azhar,takes the interaction between azhar and the regime as the starting point,and examines the external functions,influencing factors and prospects of azhar from the aspects of structural function,ideology,diplomatic practice,political role and prospect challenges under the framework of the regional political environment in Egypt,and draws the following conclusions.First,Al-Azhar is an Islamic Sunni institution with Al-Azhar University and Al-Azhar mosque as the core,which plays the authoritative role of Sunnis with thousands of years of historical accumulation.However,with the development of Egyptian authoritarian rule,Al-Azhar gradually became a government machine,and its leadership status was inevitably weakened.Second,due to the needs of the Egyptian regime,the improvement of Al-Azhar’s awareness of independence and the spread of terrorist forces,Al-Azhar’s foreign exchanges are becoming more and more frequent.Third,after Al-Azhar obtained the independent status granted by the Constitution in 2012,it not only deepened the degree of game with the regime,but also widened the field of foreign participation and made different voices from the position of the Egyptian regime on some specific matters.Fourth,although Al-Azhar continues to try to expand international participation and appears in different international occasions,it still has constraints as a religious institution.Just like the current tension and interaction between Al-Azhar and the Sisi regime,Al-Azhar will still be affected by the political environment of Egypt in its foreign exchanges.