Founded in 970, this Cairene university may have been named for the prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah "al-Zahra" (the brilliant), the eponymous ancestor of the Fatimids, the dynasty which founded Cairo. Premodern al-Azhar had no formal admissions procedures, academic departments, written examinations, grades or degrees; the curricula focused on Quranic exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, grammar, rhetoric and the sciences. In the present day, the university has expanded its curricular base to include colleges of agriculture, engineering, medicine, commerce, science, and education. Women students are admitted, albeit educated in separate colleges. Outside Egypt, al-Azhar is prized as a champion of Sunni Islam and the Arabic language. It is generally recognized as the second oldest university in the world.