Umm al-Qura University was founded in 1981 by a royal decree issued by KingKhalid bin Abdulaziz –may Allah bless his soul. The two old colleges (the College of Shari'a and Islamic Studies, and the College of Education, along with the Arabic Language Institute), emanated several colleges as expansions to former departments. Thus, during the first decade of the 15th Hijri century, five colleges were added they are the College of Da'wa and Islamic Theology, the College of Arabic Language, the College of Applied Sciences, the College of Social Sciences, and the College Engineering and Islamic Architecture besides the College of Education in Taif, which was opened in 1981. By establishing the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences in 1997 in Makkah and transforming the Deanship of Community Service into a college, the number of UQU colleges was brought to twelve aside from the Institute for Arabic Linguistics Non-Native Speakers and the Hajj Research Institute. Later on, the College of Community Services was opened in al-Baha.
Currently, the University offers BA, Graduate Diplomas, Masters and Ph.D. degrees in a wide array of disciplines, such as Islamic studies, Arabic language, education, social sciences, applied sciences, medicine, and engineering. In the UQU premises in Makkah, there are currently over 30.000 students. And the disciplines offered by its colleges are on the increase. In doing so, the University takes part in meeting the community needs and satisfying the requirements of development plans by providing qualified, educated calibers capable of innovation in all walks of life. Coinciding with the inception of the University, work was initiated on the new UQU premises. Al-Abdiyah was chosen to be the University's new location. Based in southeast Makkah, the campus overlooks Mount Arafat. It was the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahad bin Abdulaziz, who laid the foundation stone of this giant project, the second phase projected to get completed soon.
In 1995, three UQU colleges were moved to the University's new campus in al-Abidiyah: they are the College of Shari'a and Islamic Studies, now recognized as the pioneer of Islamic studies and holding the academic accreditation of the Muslim World League, and the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture, in addition to the College of Arabic Language, which had taken up an annex building at first, before it was moved to an independent building by 2001. Established in 1998, the UQU College of Medicine and Medical Sciences had been temporarily annexed to the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture premises before it was moved to an independent building, the first phase of which was accomplished in record time.
Currently, the UQU premises are distributed to three campuses in Makkah. The first campus is in Aziziyah, accommodating the university leadership, supportive deanships, and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research, the Scientific Research Institute, in addition to the College of Community Service and some other colleges. The second campus is based in al-Zahir it accommodates the Deanship of Girls Undergraduate Studies and its subsequent colleges, the third being the new al-Abdiyah Campus.
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