Despite the frosty relations between the Kurds and most Arab countries, Egypt was one of the Arab countries with close and historical relations with the Kurds, and it emerged clearly during the era of the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser from a political point of view. Many Kurds live in Egypt in several provinces, and despite their supporters in the Egyptian society, they retain their origins. The Kurds spread greatly in Egypt after the Islamic conquest of the regions of Kurdistan, and they became part of the Islamic community and an essential component of Islamic civilization, specifically with the assumption of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi. Kurdish origin”, which contributed to a large influx of Kurds to Egypt, as men of government, administration, military leaders, soldiers, merchants, and even students of science at Al-Azhar Mosque.

Just as Al-Azhar Al-Sharif gathered students who wanted to learn from all over the world, the Kurdish students had their own gallery in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Mosque called (The Kurdish Arcade), which includes rooms for dining and sleeping, in addition to the library, where they study day and night forensic sciences, and more recently. The painting was removed and changed to (The Turks Gallery). The influx of Kurdish students to Egypt, especially Al-Azhar University, began recently, after the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq announced the establishment of an institute in the Kurdistan region of Iraq affiliated with Al-Azhar University in the Arab Republic of Egypt to study the Azhar curricula in 2008. It is considered the only institute in Iraq in Erbil Governorate is affiliated with Al-Azhar University.

 

The study is for six years at the institute to obtain a bachelor degree certificate, after which the student has the option to complete his studies at Al-Azhar University in the Arab Republic of Egypt or to join a number of colleges and institutes within the Kurdistan region, where Al-Azhar Al-Sharif bears all university expenses, housing students and providing services to them in (the city of Islamic missions) in Cairo if they choose to study in Egypt. It is worth noting that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, allocated 25 seats to the Erbil Al-Azhari Institute annually. And Muhammad Yahya Aziz, the representative of Kurdish students at Al-Azhar, stated that the number of graduates of the Erbil Al-Azhari Institute who are now studying at Al-Azhar University in various fields and faculties is more than 70 students, in faculties and graduate studies.

Muhammad Yahya also mentioned that Kurdish students participate in festivals, competitions and scientific councils, except for their academic studies in the faculties of Al-Azhar. Muhammad Yahya Aziz was born in 1997 in the Rizgari complex known as (Topzawa) in Erbil, and a graduate of the Erbil Azhari Institute and a graduate of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar, where he now works as a representative and delegate for the Erbil Al-Azhari Institute in Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, and participated in several International conferences in Egypt, such as the (Al-Azhar International Conference in Support of Jerusalem and the Al-Azhar International Conference on Renewal in Islamic Thought) and has several visits to the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.

 Muhammad Yahya Aziz Kurdish students at Al-Azhar