Al-Azhar University

Standing in the courtyard of Al-Azhar, the one time greatest seminary of the Muslim world - and perhaps still to this day, though its quality has sadly dimmed. It began as a mosque in 971 C.E., built with a generous endowment by a Cairene woman. A decade later a madrasa was added to offer lessons in jurisprudence. It is regarded as the first full fledged university in the world, preceding Oxford by more than a century.