The Bolgar Islamic Academy to develop cooperation with Al-Azhar University

On October 14, after meetings at a high diplomatic level with the leadership of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov together with President of the Bolgar Islamic Academy Kamil Iskhakov and its Rector Rafik Mukhametshin, Mufti Kamil khazrat Samigullin, as well as other representatives of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Tatarstan and Russian Islamic Institute went to one of the oldest educational institutions in the world, namely Al-Azhar University, where they got acquainted with its activities and met the leadership of the university.

“Egypt for Russian Muslims has always been and remains the centre of scholarship and education. The Al-Azhar has more than a thousand-year history and is one of the most prestigious educational centers of the Islamic world. It has also always been the most important source of Islamic knowledge for the Tatars. Our greatest theologians as Ziya Kamali and Musa Bigiyev graduated this university and faithfully served their Ummah,” Minnikhanov said during a meeting.

He also noted that about 20 million Muslims live in Russia and the republic attaches great importance to issues of religious education, education of the clergy in Islamic traditions. Many Al-Azhar graduates are the backbone of the teachers of the Russian Islamic Institute in Kazan.

Minnikhanov said that about 1,500 mosques are operating in Tatarstan and the teaching is held in nine madrasas, at the Russian Islamic Institute and the Bolgar Islamic Academy, the opening of which was personally supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin. To date, as many as 120 people are studying at the Academy, in particular, 83 undergraduates and 37 doctoral students from 17 regions of Russia and seven countries.

During a visit to the University, the parties discussed issues of strengthening educational and scientific ties in the field of student exchange, advanced training courses for students and teachers, especially in the Arabic language and culture, development of joint educational projects in the field of Islamic sciences and theology, joint counteraction radicalism and other issues.

At the end of the meeting, Minnikhanov invited the delegation of the Al-Azhar University to visit Tatarstan and to take part in the Izge Bolgar Zhyeny celebrations, dedicated to the celebration of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria in 922.