An independent academic institution located in the Gaza Strip, founded in 1978, emerged About Al-Azhar Religious Institute, operating under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, it obtained membership in the Union of Arab and Islamic Universities.
Origin and establishment
The Islamic University was established as an outgrowth of the Al-Azhar Religious Institute as a result of the increase in high school graduates and their lack of opportunity to receive higher education within the sector. The institute received students from primary to secondary levels.
After completing the secondary stage at the Al-Azhar Religious Institute, the management committee took a decision on April 12, 1977, to develop it into an Islamic university that primarily includes the faculties of Sharia, Law, and Fundamentals of Religion, and an Arabic language department that later became the nucleus of the Faculty of Arts.
Technical committees were also formed to develop a comprehensive study to establish scientific colleges such as the College of Medicine, the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the College of Agriculture, and the College of Commerce. Work began at the university and it opened its doors to students on November 6, 1978.
the site
The university is located west of Gaza City in the southern Rimal neighborhood, approximately one kilometer from the Gaza Strip’s seashore.
Starting from the tent
The university began its journey with 25 students and a faculty consisting of 5 lecturers, one of whom held a doctorate degree and 4 held master’s degrees. Its study halls were made of tents, but they were later transformed into temporary study halls. Its board of trustees included a number of prominent leaders of the Palestinian resistance, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Engineer Ismail Abu Shanab and others.
Students began studying in the Faculties of Sharia and Arabic Language, and then the faculties were opened successively. In 1979, the Faculties of Fundamentals of Religion and Education were opened, and the following year the Faculties of Commerce and Science were opened.
The university decided to open a college of nursing in 1985, but it was forced to postpone due to the refusal of the Israeli occupation authorities. However, it was able to open the college in 1992, in addition to the college of engineering, which opened in the same year. It also opened the college of information technology in 2004, then the college of medicine in 2006.
The Islamic University witnessed a new launch in the early 1990s with the expansion of its buildings and campus, in addition to hiring lecturers from the West Bank within its teaching staff.
At the beginning of the second millennium, it built many university buildings and facilities, and began to accommodate thousands of students and hundreds of faculty members and administrative employees, in addition to establishing many of its affiliated bodies and facilities, including:
- Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education.
- Business and technology incubator.
- Materials and soil laboratories.
- the central Library.
- Fatwa Committee.
- Holy Quran Radio.
- Al-Kitab TV.
- Heritage Architecture Centre.
- Oral History Center.
- Food Analysis Center.
Urban development
At the beginning of its inception, the Islamic University faced the Israeli occupation authorities preventing the establishment of its permanent and even temporary buildings, which remained until 1994. After the arrival of the Palestinian Authority, the urban development phase began at the university.
The university administration and its Board of Trustees made an effort to obtain financial support to build permanent buildings, and in fact began the reconstruction of its mosque to become a distinctive landmark for the city of Gaza. It was equipped with an area of 1,000 square meters to accommodate 700 worshipers, and its reconstruction was completed in 1996.
The period between 1996 and 2008 witnessed the construction of 15 permanent buildings at the university, with a total area of 90,92 square metres.
The Islamic University expanded to other governorates of the Gaza Strip after the Israeli army withdrew from Gaza. It built a central campus in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, a campus in Nuseirat on the liberated lands, and a third campus in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Facing difficulties
Since its inception, the Islamic University has faced many obstacles and difficulties, the majority of which resulted from the restrictions and practices of the Israeli occupation authority, including obstructing construction and financing, trying to dominate the university like other Palestinian universities, imposing taxes on its funds, and controlling workers’ residency permits. The occupation authorities required that a faculty member Residents outside the Gaza Strip stay for 3 months outside the Strip after leaving.
In 1985, the occupation refused to renew the residency of 34 members who held doctorates, so they were forced to travel abroad and the teaching staff began to suffer, forcing the university to freeze some departments, including the mathematics and geology departments.
The university was subjected to Israeli raids and searches on numerous occasions without justification, including on December 27, 1985, when occupation soldiers stormed the administration offices and classrooms under the pretext of searching for Palestinian flags. The next day, Israeli forces surrounded the university and blocked the roads leading to it.
On March 28, 1986, the Israeli army re-stormed the university with a force of about 250 soldiers. The next day, the roads leading to the university were closed and students and workers were searched. These measures came in anticipation of the celebration of the anniversary of Land Day, which falls on March 30 of each year. Despite this, the university commemorated this national occasion.
Intifada period
The occupation authorities closed the university with the outbreak of the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987. The closure continued until 1991 for a period of more than 4 years, and the Israeli authorities continued to storm the university almost every month.
The university did not submit to the Israeli military decision to close it, so the administration searched for ways to continue the educational process despite the closure, the intifada, and the accompanying arrests of students and academic staff. It worked to provide places for lectures, so it used mosques and the homes of some teachers. Some institutions and unions also allocated a number of rooms in their headquarters as halls for students. .
The university rented a number of houses and apartments to hold exams, in addition to some homeowners donating wages to the university, and the university was able to graduate 633 male and female students during the closure period.
The Israeli army closed the road between Khan Yunis and Gaza when the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out in 2000, making it impossible for students and workers to reach the university. The university rented a building in Khan Yunis and began arrangements for a new semester, which increased the burden on the academic staff. Then it developed a plan to overcome these circumstances. It completed the expansion of the service in the south according to the conditions available to some colleges, with the exception of colleges that have a practical aspect.
University recognition
Since its establishment, the university’s Board of Trustees has sought to obtain recognition from the occupation authority, so that its graduates can obtain government jobs in the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli occupation rejected this and continued to treat the university as the Al-Azhar religious institute.
But on December 3, 1987, the Arab affairs advisor, Colonel David Rabbi, sent a letter addressed to “Mr. Acting President of the Islamic University and members of the Board of Trustees.” The university considered this to be an implicit recognition of the university even though it was a letter preventing the opening of its doors.
Since its inception, the university has tried to obtain recognition from Arab, Islamic and international scientific institutions, and on April 7, 1983, it was able to obtain membership in the League of Islamic Universities.
Later, the university obtained membership in the Union of Arab Universities, the Union of Islamic Universities, the Association of Mediterranean Universities, and the International Federation of Universities, and has cooperative relations with many Arab and foreign universities.
The university was able to obtain recognition from the Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education on June 23, 1994, immediately after the arrival of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip.
Notable alumni
Many figures graduated from the Islamic University who later became important contributors to Palestinian organizational work. Among those figures were the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Al-Sinwar, Muhammad Al-Deif, and Ibrahim Al-Maqadmeh, who were members of successive student councils at the university.
The list also includes the former leader of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Muhammad Dahlan, who was the head of the Fatah Youth Organization at the university during his youth.
Awards and honors
- Best Palestinian University Award for the year 2013.
- Best Management Award 2013.
- International Star Award for Leadership in Quality in 2013.
- It ranked first among Palestinians and 29th among Arabs according to the “Uni Rank” global classification in 2018.
- It also ranked first in Gaza, fourth in Palestine, and 27th at the level of Arabic-speaking universities for the year 2022, according to the “Uni Rank” global classification.
Renewed bombing
On October 12, 2023, warplanes launched a series of violent raids on the main headquarters of the Islamic University, which led to its complete destruction, during the aggression that the occupation began against Gaza on October 7, 2023, following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by the resistance in the settlements. Gaza cover.
The university was subjected to an Israeli air strike in 2006, which damaged the student council building, following the capture of resistance soldier Gilad Shalit.
The occupation aircraft also targeted the scientific laboratory building at the university on December 29, 2008 during the Cast Lead aggression on the Gaza Strip, which led to its destruction and caused severe damage to other buildings, in addition to targeting the Board of Directors during the 2014 war, which resulted in severe damage to the building itself. And the buildings adjacent to it.