The founder of the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez, Morocco, later became a university. It is considered the oldest operating and first degree-awarding university in the world.
Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriyya was born in Al Qayrawān (Kairouan), in nowaday, Tunisia. In the early 9th century, the family moved to Fez, Morocco, where her father became a successful merchant. The al-Fihris was a devoted Muslim family that valued education, and she and her sister Maryam learned the Fiqh – the Islamic jurisprudence, and the Hadith – the recorded stories and sayings of Prophet Muhammed.
In those years, many people migrated to Fez, which became a fusion of cultures, where science and art thrived together with religious devotion, and the mosques became overcrowded with worshipers. Upon her father’s death, al-Fihri and her sister decided to use the large fortune they inherited to benefit their community and establish two new mosques. Al-Fihri built the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, named after the immigrants from her hometown in Tunisia. Her sister built the Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque, named after Andalusia’s immigrants.
Al-Fihri supervised the mosque construction until the placed was opened to the public in 859 AD. In addition to being a religious worship place, the mosques served as social and education centers. At first, the al-Qarawiyyin offered mainly religious instruction courses and readings of the Quran. Over time, its curriculum expanded and included music, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and Arabic grammar, and by the 12th century, it began to grant degrees to its graduates. The Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque became a renowned intellectual center for scholars from all religions and various disciplines.
In 1963, it was renamed the University of al-Qarawiyyin. In later years, it got recognized by UNESCO and Guinness World Records as the oldest existing university worldwide and the first to grant educational degrees. Al-Fihri’s vision of a multidisciplinary academic center predates the earliest European universities – the University of Bologna in Italy (founded in 1088) and the University of Oxford in England (founded circa 1096).
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