Jamt Alazhr Albqa

Functioning as the regional extension of the venerable al Azhar institution, Jamia al Azhar al Biqa in Zahle serves the Bekaa Valley communities of eastern Lebanon, linking the students and scholars of the fertile plain to one of the oldest universities in the world. Al Azhar itself was founded as a masjid in Cairo in the tenth century and evolved into a global centre of Islamic learning whose graduates have shaped the intellectual life of the ummah across continents. The establishment of an Azhari presence in the Bekaa reflects the historic importance of this region as a corridor between Damascus and Beirut, its vineyards and orchards producing wines, arak, and fruits celebrated across the Levant, its ancient Heliopolis temple at Baalbek towering above the plain as one of the grandest Roman structures ever built. Zahle, the capital of the Bekaa governorate, has long been known for its cafes along the Berdawni River, its Lebanese cuisine perfected over generations, and its blended community whose traditions of hospitality cross religious lines. Jamia al Azhar al Biqa combines functions of a masjid, a madrasah, and a centre of Islamic instruction, its classrooms preparing students for further study at al Azhar in Cairo, its prayer hall hosting the five canonical prayers alongside Jumu'ah sessions, and its library holding classical texts of jurisprudence, Qur'anic sciences, hadith, and Arabic grammar. Architecturally the building follows contemporary Lebanese institutional design, cut limestone walls pale against the Bekaa sky, a modest dome over the prayer hall, twin minarets whose silhouettes join the many rising across Zahle's skyline, and ornamental arcades providing shade during the hot summers. Inside, A carpet of deep green, the mihrab finished with polished marble and inscribed with Qur'anic verses, and the mimbar carved from Lebanese cedar. Ramadan brings shared iftars featuring kibbeh nayyeh, tabbouleh, fattoush, arak, and the famous Zahle desserts. Visitors exploring Baalbek's ruins, the Bekaa wineries, or Anjar's Umayyad remains will find Zahle a gracious city and this jamia a cornerstone of its contemporary Islamic life. The jamia remains an essential bridge between the Bekaa Valley and the wider institutional fabric of Azhari learning whose graduates continue to shape the intellectual, spiritual, and legal lives of Muslim communities across Lebanon and the broader Levant in ways both public and quietly personal.