Al Azhar Online project receives significant international interest

The Al Azhar mosque in Cairo, is one of the oldest and most prominent learning centres in the world. Its library contains over 40,000 ancient scripts of scientific and historical significance. The Al Azhar Online Project was launched to preserve these rare scripts by scanning them into a database and making them accessible to the public by publishing them on the web.

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum IT Education Project (ITEP) is spearheading the project and has so far scanned over 1450 manuscripts (120, 000 pages) in the last three weeks. ITEP aims to scan 42,000 manuscripts making the Al Azhar Online project the largest of its kind in the world.

One of the main objectives of the Al Azhar Online project is to allow easy access to Al Azhar's priceless manuscripts from anywhere in the world. Since its launch on 22nd May 2005, the project has already attracted an international following with 45% of the site's visitors logging in from the US.

'We are truly delighted with the amount of visitors the Al Azhar Online site has received. This is exactly the goal that H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister has sought to achieve through creating a new channel for Muslims around the world to access these rare manuscripts and benefit from their invaluable content,' said Dr. Abdulla Al Karam, CEO of Dubai Knowledge Village and Director of Al Azhar Online Project. 'We are confident that the site will continue to serve the Muslim community throughout the world.'

Al Azhar's manuscripts have tremendous historical value, with some of them more than 1100 years old. The collection covers fields such as religion, history, philosophy, science and more. H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum generously donated the entire funding for the project which costs USD 5 million.

'We continue to closely monitor the performance of the website from different angles. It was amazing to find that 45 % of the visits came from the US, which reflects the initial success of the website in reaching remote spots. Other hits on the site came from: UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, UK and a number of EU countries. We are confident that the international audience of the website will increase dramatically during the coming few months' said Mr. Moen Makki, Executive Director of Al Azhar Online Project.

The Al Azhar Online project was inaugurated on 21st May 2005 at a prestigious ceremony attended by H.E. the Grand Imam Dr. Mohamed Sayed Tantawy, The Sheikh of Al Azhar, and Mr. Ahmed Bin Byat, Director General of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone, on behalf of H.H Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Dr. Abdulla Al Karam, CEO of Dubai Knowledge Village and Director of ITEP.