 Initially lacking a library , al @-@ Azhar was endowed by the Fatimid caliph in 1005 with thousands of manuscripts that formed the basis of its collection . Fatimid efforts to establish Ismāʿīli practice among the population were , however largely unsuccessful . Much of its manuscript collection was dispersed in the chaos that ensued with the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate , and Al @-@ Azhar became a Sunni institution shortly thereafter . 
