Page 359 - Neglected Arabia (1916-1920)

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movement centres around the ancient Muslim University—El Azhar.
It is the Oxford of Orthodox Islam. Situated in the heart of Cairo,
this great institution continues a powerful influence.
One Saturday morning we went to visit this old Muslim University,
elated at our success in securing Dr. Zwemer as our guide.
The Azhar was built about 980 years ago. It was used only as a
place of worship for some time. Later, buildings were added, and the
t whole lavishly endowed as a place of religious instruction for Muslims
of all sects. Only since the time of Napoleon has the eye of the
“infidel” been suffered to rest upon its treasures and his feet—securely
tied into “clean" mosque slippers—to wander about its sacred precincts.

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A TYPICAL CAIRO SCENE

As one passes through the Muski (or low-lying native quarter and
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bazaar of Cairo) the streets become gradually narrower. The chief
indication that we are nearing our objective is the large number of
) native bookshops: the street seems lined with them—unpretentious little
shanties, very much like rows of linen cupboards without doors, but
containing piles of musty-looking books of print or manuscript, mostly
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on yellow or discoloured paper. A jerk! Why, that is the outer gate
of the Azhar, opening right on to the pavement at a sharp turn of the
dingy thoroughfare. We step across a yard of pavement and are
greeted in the doorway by a crowd of men with bundles of baggy yellow i
leather slippers which they tie over our boots. One notices an almost
pleasant look crossing their coarse avaricious features as they recognize

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