Al-Azhar admits first Christian dental resident

A Christian dental student was recently granted admission to complete his final year of experiential training at Al-Azhar University’s faculty of dentistry in Assiut, an unprecedented rarity in the prestigious Islamic university, writes Ola Noureldin for Egypt Independent.

Abanoub Guirguis Naeem is the first recognised case of a Christian student enrolling at Al-Azhar University, which is considered a beacon of centrist, moderate Islam in Egypt. The 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islamic learning has been training clerics and scholars from around the world, and is known to only accept Muslim students into its colleges for educational purposes.

Naeem graduated from Nahda University in Beni Suef and as a medical school graduate he is obliged to complete a two-month or one-year residency before being allowed to practise in hospitals. However, as numerous private universities do not provide their students seats for the residencies needed to complete their medical bachelor, students instead opt to seek residencies in government-run hospitals, like in Cairo University, Ain Shams University and Al-Azhar University – as in Naeem’s case.
Full report on Egypt Independent site